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

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

#31

Post by BB212 »

codegeek wrote: post #18

It is simple. 1. Some people take risk because they CAN and probably what they have seen from their family/parents (a.k.a rich/privilege). It is the cool thing to do. 2. Some people take risk because they WANT to regardless of their family situation (I am in this category). I just cannot see myself working in a job. 3. Some people take risk because they HAVE to. They have nothing else going on for them and doing thei…

I agree. I also think discussions like this article assume that running a company is unique from other similar choices.

Is trying to become a singer/actor becoming an entrepreneur? Its fairly similar in terms of entering a winner-take-all field where you'll face a lot of adversity at the beginning.

Is switching careers to something your eduction is not in the same type of decision that an entrepreneur makes? Even if you are just switching to another 9-5?

Is someone who leaves a salary job to one that is paid mostly in sales commission an entrepreneur? Even if you are working for a company?

I don't think any of these situations are identical - but if you are trying to figure out "is this cultural or genetic" it seems worthy to think of your definition. After all, being a tech CEO is not something everyone wants to do.

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

#32

Post by MaxHoppersGhost »

I’ve been saying this for years. The entire system funnels rich kids money. You need a safety net to quit your job and do this stuff. I have student loans and not a lot of savings because my family is not rich, my propensity to quit my job and dedicate years of my life and all my (very) hard earned savings is extremely low. I also don’t have family connections to raise cheap/free seed money.

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

#34

Post by anovikov »

Elon Musk was a son of a single mom and an immigrant (that said, his mom is an amazing person and definitely gave him a great start if life just by putting a right mindset in).

Jeff Bezos was again a son of a dirt poor single mom who later married a dirt poor Mexican immigrant - his life start was as bad as it gets. Yes his adopted father later became a mid-level manager for an oil company and managed to send him to a good college, but there is nothing exceptional there.

There are lots and lots of rich kids who smoke weed all day and contribute an absolute zero to the society, and so few good entrepreneurs.

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

#35

Post by pc86 »

throwaaskjdfh wrote: post #25
Exuma wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 pa…

> Inter-generational wealth transfer is very durable over time.

You're going to need a citation for this because every article I've ever read about it says that within 2-3 generations most family fortunes (excluding those truly massive billion+ fortunes) are gone. Social mobility between upper-middle and upper class across multiple generations is incredibly high/fluid.

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

#36

Post by DevKoala »

Philadelphia wrote: post #9
engineer_22 wrote: post #3

Where do rich families come from?

Luck, or crime, or some combination of the two.

Nobody worked hard for their money in your world?

I was cleaning floors at a fast food place just 15 years ago. If you were to see my parents driving the new car I bought for them this year (I need them to be safe), I bet you’d say the same. Do you understand what is wrong with your perspective?

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

#37

Post by Johanx64 »

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...

I suspect that many of the immigrants that come to the US (and end up being successful/ business owners) are pretty well off themselves (relative to wealth of the country of origin). US isn't a country that is easy to immigrate to either.

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

#38

Post by MaxHoppersGhost »

DevKoala wrote: post #30

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…

I agree we shouldn’t create a culture of excuses but at the same time you have to notice that most successful founders come from wealthy backgrounds and the rest seem to be immigrants (who might be wealthy as well?). The average HN poster lives in a Silicon Valley bubble and doesn’t realize this.

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

#39

Post by [deleted] »

bobjordan wrote: post #24

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 entrep…

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