Not too much difference from tech entrepreneurs or “hackers” (in the HN sense) tbqh. Actually a lot of hackers do much crazier stuff than sell drugs, which is a pretty well established business. Selling boxes of cereal for $40 a pop is a lot more bizarre idea, for instance. Or look at any number of activities in the crypto world, which look like pure lunacy to outsiders, but have made a lot of money. The thing is, you often can’t tell whether it’s “big balls or small brains” until after the fact.
Selling boxes of cereal for $40 a pop might be a more bizarre idea, but the downside risk is that people ask you about that failed business venture for the rest of your life, not the death penalty.
Think the number of people willing to risk their lives helping some foreign smuggling contact they've just met for a couple of weeks' minimum wage income back at home (it's a lot easier to understand the incentive structure for locals in poverty or gangs than Western backpackers...) is rather higher than the number of cereal entrepreneurs though...
