Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk, they come from rich families • Hacker News Board

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk, they come from rich families

#21

Post by onlyrealcuzzo » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 5:11 PM UTC

Can't read the article since it's behind a paywall. But how do they define rich?

How much of this is simply because most successful entrepreneurs are in the top 10%?

What percentage of the population is entrepreneurs?

Why should anyone be surprised that kids are following in their parents footsteps?

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk, they come from rich families

#22

Post by insert_coin » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 5:12 PM UTC

Blaming others for your position in life will not change your situation. Divisiveness through lies like this, when there are plenty of examples to refute it, is not the solution. You are radicalizing the discussion on a topic only unity can tackle, and that will not end well.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk, they come from rich families

#23

Post by xphilter » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 5:13 PM UTC

ccleve wrote: post #17

Complete, utter garbage. Cites no statistics. The truth is, about 25% of new businesses in the US are started by first-generation immigrants. 30% of new business owners only have a high-school education. Here are a few more stats: https://www.smallbizgenius.net/by-the-numbers/entrepreneur-s...

Just FYI, they cite a paper here: http://www.andrewoswald.com/docs/entrepre.pdf

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk, they come from rich families

#24

Post by bobjordan » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 5:13 PM UTC

This is just more of the pervasive attitude of grievance and blame gaming we have these days. Yes, some entrepreneurs come from rich families. But many more are for example, the immigrants that come here and have no choice but to become an entrepreneur to support their families. Entrepreneurs are everywhere. They are running pop ups at the flea market. They cook your food in the restaurants. There's a +billion entrepreneurial hustlers in the world doing whatever it takes to feed their families, without bitching about their situation. Stop letting idiots build imaginary barriers to your life outcome. Just go find a way and do it.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk, they come from rich families

#25

Post by throwaaskjdfh » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 5:14 PM UTC

Exuma wrote: post #6

bitwize wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slavery. White supremacy. Privilege.

Good lord

I think it was a reasonable point. Inter-generational wealth transfer is very durable over time. Whether or not someone inherits "house money" (and can plan their lifestyle and tolerance for risk according to that expectation) still corresponds to closely to race in the US.

A family history of slavery might not necessarily be the cause, but having ancestors who were allowed into the property club, at a time in the past when there was still headroom to pump appreciation faster than inflation, makes a difference in what people inherit.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk, they come from rich families

#26

Post by the_cat_kittles » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 5:14 PM UTC

financial risk is proportianal to how much money you have, abd it has always bothered me that people think its a huge risk to start a company as a really rich person. its not! doesnt mean its not hard to start one successfully, but you are essentially stealing valor from poorer people if you try to claim your risk was the same.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk, they come from rich families

#27

Post by _Microft » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 5:15 PM UTC

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #7

What a silly statement. Having access to family wealth does make many things in life, including being an entrepreneur, much easier but there are plenty of examples of entrepreneurs who have come from much more humble backgrounds.

Isn‘t it to be expected that there are a lot of entrepreneurs with „humble backgrounds“ because this pool of people is going to be a lot larger than the one with rich families?

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk, they come from rich families

#28

Post by tester756 » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 5:15 PM UTC

ccleve wrote: post #17

Complete, utter garbage. Cites no statistics. The truth is, about 25% of new businesses in the US are started by first-generation immigrants. 30% of new business owners only have a high-school education. Here are a few more stats: https://www.smallbizgenius.net/by-the-numbers/entrepreneur-s...

>The truth is, about 25% of new businesses in the US are started by first-generation immigrants.

So for me it seems like going to US makes you small outlier, the programming people that I know and went to US were really strong devs

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk, they come from rich families

#29

Post by anm89 » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 5:17 PM UTC

Blanket statements don't have a special gene for innacuracy. They come from bad editors.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk, they come from rich families

#30

Post by DevKoala » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 5:17 PM UTC

This is such a horrible take I am not going to give the article a click.

I know two successful entrepreneurs who come from a situation of struggle in third world countries. Also my girlfriend, who grew up in poverty in Pennsylvania, and now is on her third stable business.

We are creating a culture of excuses for anybody who fails at chasing their dreams or doesn’t even have the motivation to do so; the equivalent of getting a “trophy for trying”, but tailored to adults. This culture is harming the perception of individuals who otherwise just need an extra push of positivity in their journey.

I miss the days (not so long ago) when the advice was “work harder and things will happen”. That’s the advice I got and it worked for me. If you don’t have that hope then you’ll defeat yourself.