[tekacs]

So if worried, do this after a university degree; make sure not to let your skills rust; pick up practical experience... and then take a job (even temporarily) if things go downhill?

Broke is better than massively in debt - so don't take on debt.

Burnt out is more difficult, but at least somewhat in your hands (and pretty easy to come by in the course of a 'professional' career).

Unemployable? Now that one's wholly in your hands.

Being an entrepreneur seems like a fair, if still-unorthodox way of gaining a lot of life experience, fast. Surely this a lot healthier than many alternatives (including 'just keep your shoes clean and get a white-collar job', right en-route for potential mid-life crisis and regret?)

Surely, with the experience gained (learning to execute, if naught else), the whole endeavour is a success of sorts irrespective of what happens to the startup?

[orbital303]

Unemployable is not wholly in your hands because burnout is not at all in your hands, as evidenced by the startup culture that expects and rewards long hours even though they know how unproductive and unsustainable that is. Burn out is just another way of saying "major depressive disorder" or some other mental illness. It is not glorious and it's only in your control if you never start down that road.

Is it possible to create a startup and working normal hours while still having tight deadlines? Sure. Accountants do it for startups all the time. Why can't founders or developers? Likely because they're spending too much time working long and late, getting done in 4 hours at 2am what they could have accomplished in half an hour at 2pm. It is possible, but I have yet to see it happen.

[sliverstorm]

I agree that burnout is not really in your control when you work for someone. There are games you can play to push out the hard wall, but it is hard to truly regulate it yourself when you are not your own boss.

This does not mean burnout will always happen. It just means your superiors play an important role in managing it.