[halfjoking]

“If you're happy working where you are, and you don't have any ambition to do anything else, you're probably going to get paid less and work more if you leave for a startup. If getting paid less and working more is unappealing to you, then I would recommend staying where you are!”

There's another option. You can pick a job that isn't a startup, that makes you hate your life, and phone it in every day just to get by. You save your energy and grind away at night on your own company. I say "company" instead of startup because I don't think venture capital is the right thing to pursue for a single founder doing this.

Just have a goal to build a product that has at least 1000 customers paying $10/mon so you can quit your dayjob. The hatred of your dayjob will fuel your motivation to work at night.

A startup is much riskier than taking this approach. You put in 60 hours a week at a startup and even in the very unlikely scenario it pays off and the startup becomes huge - at most you have a 1% stake and become a millionaire. You become a millionaire way easier working on your own project.

So my philosophy is to get a job you hate - work to build the future you want yourself - never let anyone else exploit you to the point where the only way you become a millionaire is if they become a billionaire.