The lottery is not a very good analogy. Let’s look at worst cases. In the lottery you put in cash and usually get nothing back. You literally learn nothing because every draw is random. At a VC-backed startup someone else gives you money. With that money you’re expected to pay yourself a salary. You get to learn at an incredibly fast rate on someone else’s dime. And you get that salary and learning even if your investors are awful and push you to do terrible things and you agree to do those terrible things and they tank the company. In the worst case, it’s a free education with room and board included. And, if it works, there’s a helluva upside.

So, lottery expected worst case: you lose all your money. VC-backed startup expected worst case: you learn a ton and end up no worse financially than you started.

As an aside, whether venture-backed or bootstrapped, having gotten to know a lot of successful founders the characteristic that seems to set them apart is their rate of learning. The best are relentlessly curious, always assume there’s something they don’t know, and seek to learn from as many people as possible.