It&#x27;s funny that pointing out that someone made 10% RoI is spitting on walls. It&#x27;s not a fantastic return, but it&#x27;s certainly not a failure.<p>But that goes to the original problem: YC participation is advertised as a way to make money beyond your wildest dreams, but the only people who can actually <i>expect</i> to do that are investors. So many good and competent founders fail that even a modest success is enough qualification to lead YC; at the same time, the fact that so many good and competent founders fail is so taboo that pointing out that YC&#x27;s president was <i>only</i> modestly successful looks like an insult.<p>And, to bring this back on topic, it is more-or-less this taboo that compels companies like Zenefits to prioritize stupendous growth over complying with the law. They could have grown cautiously and still made well over a 10% RoI, but they wanted to gamble harder.