So true. In the end, any truth is anchored in a beliefs system and you have to chose yours (or ignore that you've chosen one). Better chose one that helps you live a good and happy life...
If I invest pocket money (the same amount as you, or even more) into founding a startup with you and it fails, I lose pocket money. The engineer we hired together to help build the company loses his job and may find himself with serious problems because of that. Risk is in the eye of the beholder...
I don't see how.
You said that engineers can take risks if they want. I say that:
1. a lot can't take any risk at all, even if they'd be willing to, since they have no money.
2. the level of the risk you take depends enormously on your initial wealth. Wealthy founders take a lot less risk than founders who invest their life savings.
And when you get to the other side of the investment, when you win, the money you earn does not depend at all on the level of risk you took. But when you lose, it totally depends on it. the risk is not the same for everybody.
There is usually another reason (and I share it) : they don't have enough money to start their own company without it being too big a risk. It is an order of magnitude easier to take risks when you already have enough money so that your family is not at stake...
He helped me understand what money really is. He explains pretty complex things that most people have a hard time understanding, in a very simple way. I got the recommandation from another similar thread here on Hacker News.