I guess you could look at it as a sport then. Race cars and speed boats aren't a sound investment even if you occasionally drive them competitively, but they ca

I guess you could look at it as a sport then. Race cars and speed boats aren't a sound investment even if you occasionally drive them competitively, but they can be fun and are social indicators. There's not much of a point in investing in unsexy bootstrapped businesses because they're stable. Stability is boring. If you can turn a funded startup that is bleeding money left and right into a profit, that's a much bigger thrill to the investor. But it's not only VCs. "Serial entrepreneurs" pretty much admit they're in it as a sport. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of stock market investors weren't in it as a sport either. The amount you win or loose isn't as important as the thrill of winning or loosing.