Exactly. To draw from my experiences, working on historious is so amazingly fun that I can't wait to finish whatever else I'm doing to work on it.

It's not work, it's a hobby that (sometimes) pays. It's exactly the same as playing WoW, only more socially acceptable.

Yeah but when your startup isn't covering the bills and you're already eating and living cheap - what do you do?

If you think there's room for improvement, get consulting gigs. Otherwise, found a new startup.

The most important job of your startup is to MAKE MONEY.

So when there isn't money in the bank you go out and you MAKE SOME DAMN MONEY.

If all else fails get an out-of-focus purely-for-money project. There's usually a lot of those lying about if you're willing to work on them.

full disclosure: my startup has yet to pay bills, but we have a knack for getting government grants

If money is your sole motivator, I don't think you'll get very far, at least in the startup world.

You should do what you love. Make peoples' lives easier. Financial gain is just a by-product.

Go out and change the world, with a passion to change the world (rather than financial gain), and the rewards (whatever they may be, money or otherwise) will come.

Yes, obviously. But a startup that can't pay the bills for itself and the people who work there will die even quicker.

No, it's __FUN__.