[kesun421]

Sometimes I wonder if the guys who are providing the hosting, logo, font and design services are the ones making the money, not the startup founders. Web startups can depend on many paid services to make a web app work, yet not sure if their own web app can make money at all.

[gerner]

If you want to make a good living with little risk, be a dev, a designer or something like that. Given that most startups fail, and of the ones that don't, most are only modestly successful, you'll probably be better off (from a purely economic standpoint) as a paid employee (or service provider) to a startup than as an entrepreneur starting one up. I think there's something magical (insane?) about doing your own startup.

Note: I don't have the hard data about this, but this seems to be the consensus (although those people never presented their data) and my anecdotal experience. Please, tell me if I'm wrong :)

[truthtechnician]

Except the founder gets paid either way, and paid more than anyone else usually. If the business goes bust nobody takes his house, or his things - he just finds another job or starts another business with VC welfare.

[gerner]

I don't know if that's always true (at least, not for founders I want to work for). I worked at a startup where the founder totally ruined his personal credit, and was paid a small portion of what everyone else was making until well into profitability. I bought a beautiful house in a good neighborhood while working for him. He _still_ lives in a tiny rented condo.

If things work out, I'll walk away with enough to pay down some of my mortgage, and he'll be set for a life of luxury. But if things don't work out, then I still have a great house, and plenty of savings. He'll have no credit, and no savings.

It seems like a poor use of funding to pay the founder a great salary (i.e. more than key employees) at an early stage startup: before profitability, or even early into profitability.