- Bo Burnham

I came across this tweet from Bo Burnham and I think he has it spot on. It isn't just Taylor Swift. It could be any one of those successful people who give keynote speeches at University graduation ceremonies or the people whose biographies are written. 

Buy powerball tickets, yes. But don't liquidate your assets to do it.

You will often hear that you should quit everything that you are doing and focus all your time and effort on your startup (or your book or music) if you have to make it big and be a success. 

Not true.

The fundamentals of any business is to remove or mitigate the downsides of risk. This is what you do if you are running a startup or working for one. Or nowadays, even if you are working for a bigger firm. 

Fail fast. 

Every startup founder strongly advocates the fact that you have to fail fast. Failing fast is one of the most effective strategies for mitigating the downsides of risk. You invest the bare minimum and only continue investing resources if you can prove promise. 

So when the same startup founders tell you to quit your day job and follow your dreams, call them on the BS.

It might have worked for them. But for every one person it worked, it didn't work for a thousand others. And you don't seek out their advice because nobody knows who they are, and they don't have the credibility to be taken seriously.

So by all means, buy lottery tickets and buy them often. But just don't liquidate your assets to do it.