I know plenty of YC founders (and even an early employee or two) that have ended up financially independent because of it.<p>Investing in, founding, and leading a company are three different skillsets.  The best founding CEOs usually are not venture capitalists; you don&#x27;t see Larry Page, Elon Musk, or Steve Jobs wishing they were investors.  Similarly, it&#x27;s possible to be a good <i>founder</i> and terrible <i>leader</i> (eg. Parker Conrad, Pierre Omidyar), or a good <i>leader</i> but incapable of founding something (Eric Schmidt, Sheryl Sandberg) or a mediocre founder but excellent investor (Sam Altman, Paul Graham, Eugene Kleiner, Don Valentine).