Perhaps I am not as risk-taking as you are, but having to worry about paying student loan debt versus startup concerns seems like a mental battle I am not prepared to fight. I'd rather do the debt repayment independent of the startup so I can focus on each individually with undivided financial attention. On the other hand, the argument can be made that having debt repayment while you're running a startup makes you hungrier. Although, I predict that would make me rather short-sighted to live hand to mouth.