Win Lottery, Then Lose Your Life.

Gregg Hoffman hit the big-time in Hollywood.

Eschewing the comfort of employment at Disney, he and a few partners formed a film company. They also abandoned the conventional wisdom and self-financed the film, Saw. This high-risk strategy could have resulted in a loss of their million-dollar investment or provided returns approaching Himalayan heights. When 2004's Saw became a $102 million grosser, Hoffman and his partners earned monies perhaps beyond their wildest imaginations.

In fact, on November 16, 2005, the L.A. Times featured Hoffman and his business partners on the front page of its Business section. The thrust of this intriguing (and highly-recommended) story was their staggering financial success attained through Saw and this year's Saw II , which directly emanated from their high-risk/reward, unconventional self-financing strategy.

In his own words, Hoffman characterized his good fortune, thusly: "We've won the lottery."

Three weeks later, Hoffman died. At the age of 42.