When I was in university I unsuccessfully attempted to start a company with two other students. We had a small amount of capital from a single investor. We did not pay ourself any salary. We had spent money on incorporating the company and buying a couple of iPads, and not yet spent money on marketing etc.

When after a few months we accepted that it wasn’t going to work, our investor got basically all his money back.

It was pocket change amounts compared to the sums of money that they deal with in Silicon Valley. But the point is the same anyway, the investor got back basically everything.