Yes, but every VC knows that it's still a gamble that may not, and probably won't pay off. They spread their risk across many startups in order to minimize losses that are covered by huge windfalls the come from the big winners. At the end of the day though, it's still a gamble. They could end up losing it all.
Yes, but their investment still has a positive ROI (if they do their homework and the economy doesn't collapse, that is). The ROI on a lottery ticket is negative (unless you're at MIT and figure out a loophole like this).
