So save smart: Stay out of debt so you can max out your retirement savings, which should give you more breathing room for enjoying life later on.

WSJ: Getting Going: The Case for Spending It

Ultimately, the SVSC will persist as long as it attracts the kind of smart, talented, friendly, not-arrogant people that Max believes were so helpful to his start-up journey.

FORBES: Yelp Chair Max Levchin's Trek from Kiev to San Francisco