[bryanlarsen]

Many people who join startups have "invested" an opportunity cost of similar magnitude. If the company they're working for goes south, they've lost the better salary they could have had at the larger company, they've lost their job, they've lost their health insurance, they've lost their equity they have in their company, et cetera.

That doesn't seem like much in today's hot market, but ask anybody who went through a crash how much a stable job is worth.

If you're not comfortable investing ~100K in a startup, you probably shouldn't join one.