"The entire point of joining a start-up is to 'play the lotto'."
I don't think that's "the entire point" for all of us. I enjoy the challenges of scaling products that already have product market fit; startups are a great place to do such work. I also enjoy small, but not too small, teams; somewhere between 50 and 150 is a nice sweet spot for me. This setup is also found at many startups. Sometimes, markets lack institutional players as well. If I want to work on certain kinds of healthcare, financial technology or cryptocurrencies, startups are also a great place.
I don't think that's "the entire point" for all of us. I enjoy the challenges of scaling products that already have product market fit; startups are a great place to do such work. I also enjoy small, but not too small, teams; somewhere between 50 and 150 is a nice sweet spot for me. This setup is also found at many startups. Sometimes, markets lack institutional players as well. If I want to work on certain kinds of healthcare, financial technology or cryptocurrencies, startups are also a great place.