Counterpoint: If you're looking for a life-changing outcome you probably shouldn't work on a hard startup until after you've already saved some money working so

Counterpoint: If you're looking for a life-changing outcome you probably shouldn't work on a hard startup until after you've already saved some money working somewhere else -- like at least spend two years somewhere stable so you can get approved for a mortgage. Investors in hard startups are often more like patrons who don't really understand the tech in which they are investing. They probably got their first taste at money from selling a software app and then invested that money in other "easy" software startups until they had enough money to patronize your quantum computing project. Think of the clout they are generating from magnanimously throwing money at PhDs they've convinced to waste their lives in a field that will never produce practical outcomes. When there's an economic downturn, the investor will still be rich, just not enough to continue patronizing your project. The PhDs may scrape by somehow or eventually be overcome by the existential dread that they should have worked on something with fewer hurdles and higher probability of success so they pivot to work on a location sharing app or venture capital investing.