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

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

#41

Post by sudosysgen » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 5:04 PM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #36

thisisnico wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a landlord, and landlording in an area with restricted rent, it makes zero difference. It's only good if you stay where you rent, but if you move, it's market rent. You can't adequately control market rent because there are so so many variable on what market rent is for every individual unit, location, type, etc. I'm all for the eliminating zoning restrictions though.

That's the case for rent restrictions. It's actually worse - rent control decreases housing mobility (nobody wants to give up a rent-controlled apartment, even if it no longer meets their needs) and disincentivizes development, so the prevailing market rate for non -rent-controlled apartments goes up. But eliminating zoning restrictions and building more housing actually does work. Then when you move, you have your p…

I live in a rent-restricted area. There is quite a bit of construction, and the average person moves almost once every two years.

The effects of rent-restriction you quote are theoretical effects. In the real world, it does work, as long as the rent-restrictions are well-thought-out.

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

#42

Post by jeffreyrogers » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

AlchemistCamp wrote: post #16

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes, except I'm mostly talking about Harvard grads, so everyone is smart with a good work ethic.

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

#43

Post by methyl » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 5:06 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…

> pay tuition

Going to college is not required to become a successful entrepreneur.

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

#44

Post by dualthro » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 5:06 PM UTC

elliekelly wrote: post #22

fred_is_fred wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This was mentioned in Outliers , I think. I wonder what the equivalent one-in-a-billion “head start” technology is for kids today.

I would guess if your parents have a VR headset, a 3D printer, and some sort of home lab that you can tinker around with. And of course, as the OP indicates, without worrying about earning an income.

edit: and probably also superfast internet, and a machine with a GPU, and maybe even some way of setting up a server cluster

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

#45

Post by jl2718 » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 5:07 PM UTC

> income of someone’s parents is the factor that correlates most to entrepreneurship, with higher wealth connected to a greater likelihood of being a start-up founder

So which is it: income, or wealth?

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

#46

Post by dawsmik » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

Middle class in the US goes up to about $120k. I dont know any licensed tradespeople that work for themselves that make less than this.

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

#47

Post by orange_tee » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

So everything is at it should be. People who cannot afford to risk big, should not risk big. It is a simple fact that being wealthy allows one to risk more, financially. Even if you gave poor promising candidates free money with no strings attached, they would still be better of going into a stable career path with stable growth, rather than try to start a startup because of the opportunity costs.

And, why should smarts and entrepreneurship be correlated, anyway?

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

#48

Post by osullivj » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 5:11 PM UTC

rchaud wrote: post #38

I've heard a great deal about Bill Gates in my lifetime, but it wasn't until I read Paul Allen's 2011 autobiography that I learned that Bill's mother (a director at a bank) introduced him to IBM chairman John Opel in 1980. They both sat on the board for United Way[0]. It really struck me how these kinds of connections are less of a twist of fate, and more about environment and proximity. Even now it feels remarkable…

Not surprising to a British reader. Sutton Trust research [1] finds that positions of influence in the UK, and the professions generally, are dominated by the 7% who were privately educated. Conclusion: networks and connections are everything.

[1] https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/elitist-britain-201...

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

#49

Post by CalRobert » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 5:11 PM UTC

One thing that confuses me, though - if having a strong safety net to fall back on is important to enable entrepreneurship, why does it seem like Europe is so bad at it?

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

#50

Post by nemo136 » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 5:12 PM UTC

war1025 wrote: post #32

abhiyerra wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Healthcare and Basic Income would do a lot to encourage entrepreneurship. I have a dream that Healthcare will someday be decoupled from employment. So much waste is tolerated simply due to the fact that the majority of the expense is borne by your employer before the number they put on your paycheck. I can live on a part time salary without issue, but health insurance, which is already $200/wk for my family with my…

That is more or less what we have in France, it comes with other issues... like really high taxes.

But we have many start-ups, which usually migrate to the US as soon as they grow big.