This is a good read, particularly for HN. As naturally optimistic people, we all believe that the "9 out of 10 startups fail" statistics apply to everyone else. This is a good read as perhaps it reminds us that 9 out of 10 means us, not just those other silly people with their terrible ideas and poor commercialization strategies. These companies all had super-smart people, worked really hard, were funded and had as much chance of succeeding as the rest of us plugging away.
I wonder whether it's really 9 out of 10, or higher, or lower. I suppose it depends how you define "fail," maybe something like "made less money for the liquidity event than I would have working for an established firm all those years." So the answer could be very different for founders than for employee 1 or employee 25.
