Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship • Hacker News Board

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#11

Post by jeffreyrogers » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 4:10 PM UTC

exabrial wrote: post #7

Correlation, not Causation The actual cause is more than likely: parents who have high income set a precedent for self-employment.

Doesn't fit in with what I've seen personally. Most of the people I know who've started companies have parents in high-paying jobs where they work for someone else, e.g. finance, medicine.

Edit: I'm also not saying you need to have family help to be a successful entrepreneur. Maybe the most successful person I know personally did it on his own, but he is unusual.

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#12

Post by fred_is_fred » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 4:13 PM UTC

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #4

I've known this for decades. When Bill Gates started publishing Smart Basic (or whatever) in magazines, I got a copy and saw what crap it was. I could do better. Why didn't I? That was my very first thought. The reason was, I had to work halftime to pay tuition and buy food. I was mired in working to live. Ol Bill had a family to support him as he bought resources (ads in magazines etc), recruited staff, took meeting…

Bill's high school also had a PDP terminal connected to UW. Basically no other high school had that - which gave him an early head start.

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#13

Post by michaelbrave » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 4:22 PM UTC

elliebike wrote: post #5

I suspect a large part of this is due to the fact that those with wealthy parents are more likely to have a) family money to fall back on if things go wrong and b) family investment in the early days Everyone else has to seriously consider the (high) risks of their startup failing and not being able to afford rent, or whether their idea is worth burning their life savings.

I would also bet family connections and introductions.

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#14

Post by OneGuy123 » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 4:23 PM UTC

Or they have it completely upside-down:

Those parents who adopt a more enterprenurial mindset are able to make more money.

Thus they pass on this enterprenurial mindset on their children.

Children of middle class workers are indoctrinated into a 8 hour job.

In the same way one can think that children of enterprenurs are indoctrinated into entreprenurship.

Obviously being a company owner will net you much more money than being a worker.

Most middle class people are feeling guilty just for asking for a raise.

Children of enterpreneurs think completely differently.

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#15

Post by p2501 » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 4:27 PM UTC

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #11

exabrial wrote: post #7

Correlation, not Causation The actual cause is more than likely: parents who have high income set a precedent for self-employment.

Doesn't fit in with what I've seen personally. Most of the people I know who've started companies have parents in high-paying jobs where they work for someone else, e.g. finance, medicine. Edit: I'm also not saying you need to have family help to be a successful entrepreneur. Maybe the most successful person I know personally did it on his own, but he is unusual.

From my anecdotical experience: more children from well off families are optimistic and have more tolerance to economic risks. It's not that they need the family's money to start a venture, but that they know they can fall back on it, if it doesn't go well

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#16

Post by AlchemistCamp » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 4:29 PM UTC

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #11

exabrial wrote: post #7

Correlation, not Causation The actual cause is more than likely: parents who have high income set a precedent for self-employment.

Doesn't fit in with what I've seen personally. Most of the people I know who've started companies have parents in high-paying jobs where they work for someone else, e.g. finance, medicine. Edit: I'm also not saying you need to have family help to be a successful entrepreneur. Maybe the most successful person I know personally did it on his own, but he is unusual.

Fields like finance and medicine require both a good amount of intelligence and an exceptional work ethic.

Perhaps if the source of the parents' money were lottery winnings, the correlation with entrepreneurial success would vanish.

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#17

Post by cblconfederate » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 4:29 PM UTC

Those kids just made the smart choice of parents

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#18

Post by dudul » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 4:31 PM UTC

OneGuy123 wrote: post #14

Or they have it completely upside-down: Those parents who adopt a more enterprenurial mindset are able to make more money. Thus they pass on this enterprenurial mindset on their children. Children of middle class workers are indoctrinated into a 8 hour job. In the same way one can think that children of enterprenurs are indoctrinated into entreprenurship. Obviously being a company owner will net you much more money t…

Not all middle class workers are salaried. My electrician/plumber/etc own their businesses but they're closer to the middle class than the 1%. And while I have a salaried job I probably make twice their salary.

"Owning a company" is much broader than the SV startup scene.

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#19

Post by SilasX » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 4:34 PM UTC

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #4

I've known this for decades. When Bill Gates started publishing Smart Basic (or whatever) in magazines, I got a copy and saw what crap it was. I could do better. Why didn't I? That was my very first thought. The reason was, I had to work halftime to pay tuition and buy food. I was mired in working to live. Ol Bill had a family to support him as he bought resources (ads in magazines etc), recruited staff, took meeting…

Or all the UBI money would pump up rents to the point that living costs make it infeasible again.

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#20

Post by abhiyerra » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 4:34 PM UTC

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #4

I've known this for decades. When Bill Gates started publishing Smart Basic (or whatever) in magazines, I got a copy and saw what crap it was. I could do better. Why didn't I? That was my very first thought. The reason was, I had to work halftime to pay tuition and buy food. I was mired in working to live. Ol Bill had a family to support him as he bought resources (ads in magazines etc), recruited staff, took meeting…

Healthcare and Basic Income would do a lot to encourage entrepreneurship. I had to also wait till I paid off my student loans. There are a whole lot of shackles if you come from a humble background to starting a company full time.

On the other hand it has never been cheaper to start a side hustle.