>Or you can keep aiming for 6-figure salaries with a sports car. And a bottle of anti-depressants.
Excuse me, I want everyone to have six figures and a sports car. Yes, I realize this is not ecologically feasible, but other than that I don't see anything inherently wrong with being quite comfortable, as long as you do so in a basically egalitarian society.
Neither a six figure salary nor a sports car require winning the startup lottery or overwork. Nor do sports cars require six figure salaries: case-in-point, a good condition used Honda S2000 can be had for under $10,000 if not under $5,000 these days.
Nor are startups lottery tickets: people tend to overvalue equity at early startups, but tend to undervalue it at mature and well established ones (the equity percentage may be smaller, but the chance of that equity becoming liquid and appreciating is higher).
There are much easier ways to make 6-figures than playing the startup lottery. (I mean, unless perhaps we are considering multi-billion dollar businesses that happen to be located in California to be "startups").
Excuse me, I want everyone to have six figures and a sports car. Yes, I realize this is not ecologically feasible, but other than that I don't see anything inherently wrong with being quite comfortable, as long as you do so in a basically egalitarian society.