[balazsdavid987]

Gambling and founding a startup are two vastly different things, they are not on the same scale. While gambling is a zero-sum game and you have little control over the outcome, a startup creates value (or at least, tries to) and you do have the ability to change/improve the product based on feedback from the market. I might be too idealistic, but I believe this is what motivates hackers to found startups: create value + take control of their lives.