"I realize the general consensus around here may be that the best investment would be in yourself (have 25k? start a business!), but surely some people have "normal" investments, too. How do you hack it?"
Congrats on making this decision to do a startup, but that's not what he is looking for.
For what it's worth, I think that the way "big money" wins and "little guy" loses is exactly because of this. When people lose a ton of money, they lose confidence in the market and don't get to make much of it back in the subsequent rebound. To answer the OP's point, I invest in tech stocks/ETFs that I understand. I cut my losses very quickly, but buy more shares on my way up if it's going up. That's how after taking only a 10% loss in the market collapse I grew my portfolio about 80% the past 2 years in the recovery. Good luck! If you want more thoughts/ideas definitely email me- in profile. I'd be happy to discuss.