Before forgoing venture capital, I want you to honestly ask yourself these questions:

• Do you like the idea of living off of rice and beans for years?

• Do you mind slaving shoulder-to-shoulder with underpaid, sweaty teammates in a space far too small?

• Can you handle the endless nagging of concerned friends and relatives?

• Are you skilled at begging?

• How about convincing your team to stick with it and not to get real jobs?

• And then there’s the mad, monthly scramble to scrape together enough cash to keep the lights on and servers running.

• Are you willing to do all this on the statistically slim chance of someday striking it rich–even when there are other, less daunting options?

Hmmmm… Maybe venture capital isn’t so bad.