ADVENTURE: When it stops, leave and get a job

"You have to keep the startup an adventure! When that stops, leave and go become a wage slave." That shocked me the first time I heard it. Years later, I live it. So do serial entrepreneurs.

What is an "adventure"? It has four elements:
1. Unknowns. You never know how the startup will turn out. Not even if you are the most successful entrepreneur or venture capitalist in the world.
2. Risk. The risks are lottery odds that your idea will go IPO: 6 in 1 million. Statistically you are going bankrupt. Even after you get venture funding, your odds of not going IPO are 9 in 10.
3. Treasure. There are riches to be found, yes, indeed. But they are deep down in the mine, buried, hard to find, even harder to harvest.
4. Fun. It has to be fun, or its not an adventure. Serial entrepreneurs take fun very seriously. When the fun ends, they leave. They go find a job. It's over. The adventure has ended.

BOTTOM LINE: Think adventure from the first moment you start thinking startup. Keep checking in as the hard work starts. When adventure ends, it's time to move on.