I lost $30,000 of my own money when my startup failed back in the day. It kind of sucked.

I could have used that money to get a master's degree, or put a down payment on a house.

I didn't have to live on the street and go to soup kitchens, but startup failure did set me back about 5 years economically. I had to work at jobs I did not particularly enjoy, and live in shitty shared roommate situations for longer than I would have liked in order to get out of debt.

If I had simply taken the job I was offered at Google way back when instead of trying to do my own startup, I'd be as rich as Marissa Meyer right now.

So yeah it isn't that bad and you do recover but it isn't the greatest experience.