I usually post under another name. I consider myself a startup casualty. I've worked for 3 startups as one of the first 5 employees. None of them panned out, in any definition of the word. I consider it mostly a waste of time, and if I could do it all again, I wouldn't. I decided to work at an investment bank for 3 years so that I would have at least some money and investments for retirement. The only useful part of my startup experience is that it made it possible to get a dead end, but high paying job at an investment bank. I don't think I would have been hired otherwise. I've got about a year left and then I'm going to move to the beach area of Oaxaca and hang out until I think of something else to do with my life.