They're talking past each other. Thing is, they're both right. Paul seems to be saying you don't have to be rich to do a startup. Matthew is saying lots of founder have some resources (family home, savings, great education, i.e. middle-class) that made doing a startup feasible Both these positions are true and aren't incompatible. Being middle class (Matthew's position) and prudent with savings can afford you probabl…
"You literally need six figures in your bank account to do a startup" isn't a thing that people actually argue. Paul might be technically correct but he's arguing against a strawman. In this context, rich is a shorthand for financial privilege, which doesn't tend to come in the form of dollars in your bank account when you're young.
Fuzzy definitions are great when you're posturing politically. In those cases, you want people to be able to apply their own definitions. But political posturing is antithetical to meaningful discussion, so...