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Is success tied to having rich parents?

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Re: Is success tied to having rich parents?

#61

Post by s5300 »

BobbyJo wrote: post #47
p1esk wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They literally don't have a choice except to succeed Most founders I know can easily find a normal 9-5 job if they wanted to.

As a poor kid who recently failed to get a startup off the ground, I'll second this. It may have been hard to pay rent, but I knew I could have a 200k base salary whenever I needed to give up. "Getting by" is just not something a reasonably talented engineer in the U.S. ever has to worry about, no matter their background. Other motivators are required.

> "Getting by" is just not something a reasonably talented engineer in the U.S. ever has to worry about, no matter their background.

Yes it is. Injuries & medical care/accessibility/costs can fuck you harder than you could ever imagine. Even when you may have been previously making mid-deep into 6 figures.

Re: Is success tied to having rich parents?

#62

Post by santa_boy »

On this topic, NNT's ideas deserve a mention.

Success is mostly about antifragility and exposing yourself to asymmetric opportunities (at any scale and in the individual's frame of reference).

Without a doubt, having rich parents magnifies ability to take such exposure and pretty early in life.

So in essence, success IS tied to having rich parents when applied to a typical large population.

Re: Is success tied to having rich parents?

#63

Post by klik99 »

I think the focus on the ultra-rich misses the point a bit. My family had enough money that I have a safety net - I know if I royally messed up I'd still have a roof over my head. I think once I borrowed $6k from my dad and paid it back in a year. You don't need to be jealous of the super rich, "small $1m loan from my dad" folks, just knowing someones got your back vastly improves your ability to take on risk.

To be more explicit - a lot of these comments are complaining that they aren't born super rich, but it's not about capital, it's about ability to take on risk.

Re: Is success tied to having rich parents?

#65

Post by klik99 »

jccalhoun wrote: post #32

This is the thing that drives me crazy. The true rags to riches stories are incredibly rare. In the USA we love the stories about the person that came from nothing and the self-made millionaire but in the vast majority of cases if you look at the person's history you will see they grew up in at least an upper middle class family. This applies to a lot of actors and musicians as well. After all, most of us couldn't af…

What's frustrating is that it used to be more common in the US in mid-20th century, after the break up of large companies 100 years ago, but is now regressing back to what's been the norm for almost all human civilization.

Re: Is success tied to having rich parents?

#66

Post by DoreenMichele »

skywritergr wrote: post #9

Once you don't have to worry about not having to pay rent, not having to pay electricity etc then your appetite for risks grows. To get to that point you either need to start from a rich household (parents) or get to a certain age, have some money to support you (from previous work) and then go into entrepreneurial experiments. This is a big reason why you see older entrepreneurs embarking into that journey.

then your appetite for risks grows

Sigh.

No, it's not an appetite for risk. It's that those risks get less risky.

People become more "risk tolerant" when those risks are less of a threat to them, their survival, their future, etc.

That's a little like saying "Rich people eat at more expensive restaurants than poor people because they have the appetite for it." No, they don't. They have the same appetite as a poor person. They just have more ability to pay for the better restaurant.

Duh.

Re: Is success tied to having rich parents?

#67

Post by fellowniusmonk »

RamblingCTO wrote: post #44
fellowniusmonk wrote: post #38

Absolutely, as an orphan with many different ideas and no safety net I was frequently put in places where I should have been a co-founder since I was technical and the idea was mine, but basically until I was 29 I had no leverage because I had to have income (and health insurance, I was born with a couple heart defects.) I eventually co-founded a company with two others and it went well, but after exiting I am still…

> I still find it impossible to find and get in front of investors Any ideas why?

My startup that was successful was bootstrapped by us founders, so it just seems like a lack of network, I apply through different programs but I think a more personal touch seems neccessary if "friends and family" rounds are not possible.

Re: Is success tied to having rich parents?

#68

Post by 71a54xd »

jasonkester wrote: post #60
71a54xd wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the bigger numbers game is guessing when you'll be both experienced enough and risk tolerant enough to make the leap. At 23 I sure as hell didn't know enough to start a company, led alone code a product end to end. At 27 sure I know a lot more, but the idea of steady income is pretty freaking great - reaching a point where "more money" ever month is sort of a diminishing return. Tbh, I think the people with t…

For me, it was having that first $10k in the bank. That, combined with knowing I could pick up another dev gig quickly if needed, was my safety net, used in lieu of inherited wealth or whatever else. But you’re right, it takes a few years to get to that point. I was happy ditching work for a year at a time to travel by my late 20s, but I didn’t commit to relying on the product stuff to live on until most of the way t…

Agreed, I'm a solidly above average engineer. However, even as interview loops have been easier I still worry that for my age / YOE I'd be leaving valuable money on the table to go and try to start a business that at best would break even.

Thinking about a 2-3 month interview loop is pretty dreadful. At some level I'd need quite a bit of confidence in my idea and more than decent seed funding to leave my job. Basically, being very honest about how good I think I am vs what I could actually deliver.

As I get older, playing the "beg rich people for money game" is getting less and less appealing. Of course, many would describe this as just working or "wage c*cking" but IMO the latter is far more degenerate since by feeling you can only drive value by starting something you inevitably become more of a slave and create worse odds to a) enjoying life or b) being reasonably financially stable

Re: Is success tied to having rich parents?

#69

Post by exabyte »

It depends on what your metric of success is. More money, individual happines, altruism?

Sure, rich parents will give someone a safety net, but I bet in most cases it yields the kids pissing in the wind.

Are they creating something they actually enjoy doing while earning a comfortable living? That's an intersection that takes a lot of work beyond just having money to find.

I would argue that the real success of a startup is in its potential to grow 'organically' rather than just throwing money inefficiently at it to try and force its success. There's a lot of competition, ideas and people carelessly throwing around money out there regardless, so I think it's a niche that requires much more than money alone to discover. More money is obviously preferred if you do find it though!

Re: Is success tied to having rich parents?

#70

Post by joeman1000 »

Why is this a surprise? It’s easier to be successful when you’re taught by successful people (your parents). Not to mention other aspects, but I think this one is important. It is common knowledge that people that just come into money are likely to blow it. If they are taught well by the parents, and then have money, they’re more likely to be successful.
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