Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

qz.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 317 posts

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#51

Post by tezza »

metasean wrote: post #3

I missed it the first time round ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9913774 ). This aligns with Maslow's Hierarchy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs In other words, to reach a level where one pursues respect or self-actualization, one has to have their physiological and safety needs met first.

Maslow says that the layers overlap and that one does not need 100% of a lower level before one starts reaching for higher layer.

http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm

Degree of relative satisfaction. -- So far, our theoretical discussion may have given the impression that these five sets of needs are somehow in a step-wise, all-or-none relationships to each other. We have spoken in such terms as the following: "If one need is satisfied, then another emerges." This statement might give the false impression that a need must be satisfied 100 per cent before the next need emerges. In actual fact, most members of our society who are normal, are partially satisfied in all their basic needs and partially unsatisfied in all their basic needs at the same time.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#52

Post by acdha »

maratd wrote: post #17
radmuzom wrote: post #11

Ten years back, when I was fresh out of college, I joined a startup - not as a founder but as the first employee. A lot of it was driven by reading Paul Graham's essays, and I was naive and immature enough to believe that I was doing something great (as an aside, I came from an economically disadvantaged family; and every cent of my assets today is something I have earned and not something which I have inherited or o…

> It is very hard to take risks when you are not financially secure There's a caveat here. It depends on your responsibilities. If you have children, fixed expenses, then absolutely. If you have nothing to your name and no responsibilities, it's very easy to take risks without anything to fall back on. After all, you have very little to lose.

Even that varies based on your ability to find an alternative. If, say, you're a well-spoken geeky-looking white guy with a degree from a decent school, the worst-case scenario from a complete meltdown is something like “I took a job one cube over from Dilbert at which has trouble keeping developers”.

The further you deviate from that (not fluent in the right language, from the wrong minority/gender, self-taught, etc.) the more reasonable it is to question how a failure will impact your ability to get jobs at your level or even stay in the field.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#53

Post by beambot »

aianus wrote: post #50
radmuzom wrote: post #11

Ten years back, when I was fresh out of college, I joined a startup - not as a founder but as the first employee. A lot of it was driven by reading Paul Graham's essays, and I was naive and immature enough to believe that I was doing something great (as an aside, I came from an economically disadvantaged family; and every cent of my assets today is something I have earned and not something which I have inherited or o…

> Now after ten years mostly working in large companies, I have some savings which will allow me to last two years in case I lose my job. After 10 years of being a software engineer you should have enough to retire forever (albeit in some third world country).

From a disadvantaged family (no initial savings) and perhaps student loans (ill-advised, but not uncommon) -- it's not unthinkable that he hasn't hit "soft retire" numbers after 10 years.

But your sentiment is correct: If you're debt-free, you should be able to "soft retire" after 10 years as a software engineer in today's markets.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#54

Post by klibertp »

totallystupid wrote: post #33

Friends! If you find someone trying to criticize your achievement as being "just because you are privileged" say "I'm now further from where I started, than where I started was from where you started. So if you couldn't even make it from where you started to where I started, how do you expect that you could have made it from where I started to where I am now?" People may choose to respond to this by saying something…

> Being a fake victim doesn't work

What if you're a real victim, I wonder? What works then?

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#55

Post by mavelikara »

bildung wrote: post #9
warkid wrote: post #7

“This whole bulk of the population is being seduced into thinking that they can just go out and pursue their dream anytime, but it’s not true.” Cool. Know your place, leave enterpreneurship to blue bloods - that's the conclusion?

> “This whole bulk of the population is being seduced into thinking that they can just go out and pursue their dream anytime, but it’s not true.” > Cool. Know your place, leave enterpreneurship to blue bloods - that's the conclusion? No. "When basic needs are met, it’s easier to be creative; when you know you have a safety net, you are more willing to take risks. “ The solution is providing a social safety net that e…

Lenient bankruptcy laws are one such social safety net available in the US. Minimum income is another which is discussed in some countries.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#56

Post by notahacker »

patrickaljord wrote: post #28
bildung wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “This whole bulk of the population is being seduced into thinking that they can just go out and pursue their dream anytime, but it’s not true.” > Cool. Know your place, leave enterpreneurship to blue bloods - that's the conclusion? No. "When basic needs are met, it’s easier to be creative; when you know you have a safety net, you are more willing to take risks. “ The solution is providing a social safety net that e…

> The solution is providing a social safety net that enables that bulk of the population to pursue their dream. We have a huge "social safety net" here in France and yet we are way less entrepreneurial than in the US. I moved to Peru for 4 years to save some money and then came back to start a business, the entrepreneurial spirit was way strong stronger there even though the social safety net is inexistent. Fact is,…

Peru might have a lot more entrepreneurially minded people, and more self-employed people but France certainly has more successful tech startups (even on a per capita basis).

Just as lack of a safety net biases towards action and self reliance, it also skews the risk/reward ratio of those actions firmly towards those most likely to keep the roof over ones head.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#57

Post by klibertp »

totallystupid wrote: post #46
totallystupid wrote: post #33

Friends! If you find someone trying to criticize your achievement as being "just because you are privileged" say "I'm now further from where I started, than where I started was from where you started. So if you couldn't even make it from where you started to where I started, how do you expect that you could have made it from where I started to where I am now?" People may choose to respond to this by saying something…

How can people even read this to disagree with it -- wouldn't it be too faded out? o_O

The colors used for downvoted comments are customizable in your account settings.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#59

Post by current_call »

kang wrote: post #29
patrickaljord wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The solution is providing a social safety net that enables that bulk of the population to pursue their dream. We have a huge "social safety net" here in France and yet we are way less entrepreneurial than in the US. I moved to Peru for 4 years to save some money and then came back to start a business, the entrepreneurial spirit was way strong stronger there even though the social safety net is inexistent. Fact is,…

Safety is necessary but not sufficient.

Apparently not.

I moved to Peru for 4 years to save some money and then came back to start a business, the entrepreneurial spirit was way strong stronger there even though the social safety net is inexistent.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#60

Post by jchrisa »

paulhauggis wrote: post #58

It takes very little money to start an internet company these days. If you dont have the capital, work and save it. Stop making excuses.

It took me a couple of years after college working in restaurants etc before I had the skills to pat the bills. The only way I could afford the time to teach myself code was due to the relaxed schedule that comes from knowing you can ask your parents for help.
Post reply on HN