Is entrepreneurship glorified gambling?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Is entrepreneurship glorified gambling?". Your opponent's style: Nassim Taleb

W

Look, you're saying entrepreneurship is gambling? That's backwards thinking from someone who's never actually built anything. Gambling has negative expected value. You lose money predictably over time. Entrepreneurship, when done with skin in the game and real knowledge, compounds wealth. Nassim Taleb didn't make his fortune by rolling dice—he understood optionality and asymmetric payoffs. A startup founder studies their market, iterates, learns. A gambler pushes chips and prays. The difference is *leverage*. Winners in business multiply their edge through skill and repetition. Casinos multiply yours through house advantage. These are opposites. So tell me: if you really believed entrepreneurship was just gambling, why aren't you betting your life savings at the blackjack table instead?