Comment by numbsafari

Depends on what the backend motivations are.

Clearly, the amount of work involved here was way too much.

But if 72k can keep you alive on ramen and a futon so that you can make millions on the back-end ...

Regardless, it's a gamble. But the up-front money isn't the only consideration. Especially if everyone has a real stake (which is not the case for startups in general).