Most people think entrepreneurs are willing to take on more risk than the average person. I’ve often wondered if that’s really true. After almost three decades of working with large corporations and entrepreneurs, I’ve developed a theory. Now, this theory hasn’t been vetted with controlled experiments and testing. It is based solely on experiential and intuitive data drawn from my life experiences. For instance, I have 12 years of working with entrepreneurs as an early-stage venture capitalist; 19 years working for a large corporation (Bell Labs & AT&T) and consulting to their multi-national, multi-billion dollar customers; 10 years of mentoring entrepreneurs; and created a carve-out start-up within AT&T.