In Silicon Valley, we celebrate entrepreneurship. It seems like almost everyone is starting a start-up, or, at least, is starting an incubator for start-ups. The founders of tech companies are household names. There are start-ups aimed at helping people create start-ups, such as Founder Dating, which describes itself as “the premier online network for entrepreneurs, advisors, and co-founders.” Our schools teach entrepreneurship to our children. Entrepreneurship has delivered great rewards, not just to the founders of companies or to their investors, but to their employees and to all who use their products.

But is entrepreneurship for everyone? Surely not! Like any job, entrepreneurship requires skills that come easier to some people than others. And, like any job, because you can do it doesn’t mean that you should do it.

But let’s suppose you’ve got the skills, starting a business sounds fun, and you have an idea you think could make a lot of money. Should you set out to be an entrepreneur? Well, what you got to lose?

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