When I was talking to one of the local luminaries in the startup scene he said something that seemed really "on":
"It's uncertain what the worth of your startup will be. However, you can be certain that your personal worth will grow enormously."
If you approach your first startup as one of the foundational personal education experiments that you'll go through it's a win-win. Before starting a company I thought I knew something about business. A year in it's amazing how much I've had to learn just to keep things functioning. If you approach it with that mindset, and keep your cash-flow tight, I think you'll find that as a personal investment it's an extremely worthwhile experience -- even if it's just to realize that the startup game isn't for you.
"It's uncertain what the worth of your startup will be. However, you can be certain that your personal worth will grow enormously."
If you approach your first startup as one of the foundational personal education experiments that you'll go through it's a win-win. Before starting a company I thought I knew something about business. A year in it's amazing how much I've had to learn just to keep things functioning. If you approach it with that mindset, and keep your cash-flow tight, I think you'll find that as a personal investment it's an extremely worthwhile experience -- even if it's just to realize that the startup game isn't for you.