[sd]

Even though this article is brimming with hyperbole, it brings up a number of important points that are often glossed over by many readers of HN. These include:

1) For most entrepreneurs, the present value of expected personal profit from a startup is probably less than that from a salary at a big tech company -- or even less so than from on Wall Street. 2) Luck begets success in entrepreneurship. Sure, it requires hard work and some intelligence, but obviously there are far more smart and hard working people than people who started public companies. Perhaps the function should be "(success) = (hard work) * (intelligence) * (luck),” where hard work and intelligence = 0 or 1 and luck is any real number. 3) Many tech bloggers and journalists are writing about things in which they don't have expertise. It's commonly cited among the academics whom I’ve met that expertise requires 10+ years in a field. Many of these people are in their 20s. Something doesn't add up. Moreover, many experienced people extrapolate their previous lessons to situations that are too broad or not directly parallel.

[fallentimes]

If our start up works, it will primarily be due to luck and timing.

I certainly agree with points 1, 2, and 3, but I think you're forgetting a very important point: many of us are doing startups because we love the environment and type of work.

We wake up every day excited to work on TicketStumbler. Sure you have bad days or even rough weeks, but overall I'm much happier than I've ever been at a more formalized job. I think the last formalized job Tom had was "grocery bagger" so I can't really speak for him.

This certainly doesn't apply to everyone at a startup, but it applies to a lot of us.

[MisterMerkin]

In other words, a dose of reality sorely needed around here.