Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money • Hacker News Board

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#261

Post by mikeash » Tue, Sep 01, 2015, 7:34 PM UTC

webjprgm wrote: post #248

pound wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, it is common sense and everyone indeed knows it. But many want to believe in SV as some not rest of the world place with equal opportunities for everyone, just be smart. We all want it to be ruled by meritocracy. That's why we keep drinking this koolaid.

To be honest, I only want to be ruled my a meritocracy if I can define myself as the most intelligent person in the world. (Or, in the upper 10% or something). A true meritocracy scares me. And this from a guy who was in the upper 10% of my high school (upper 4%). But I've seen much more brilliant people out there. So who honestly wants a meritocracy either? Another option would be that whoever works hard is taken ca…

I'd be frightened to see the world run by people like me, but I'd love to see the world run by the best of the best, as long as we can somehow select for morality as well as intelligence.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#262

Post by TheOtherHobbes » Tue, Sep 01, 2015, 7:38 PM UTC

twcooper wrote: post #189

efaref wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree. The risk of having to run back to mummy and daddy with their tail between their legs is no risk at all. I could be quite entrepreneurial if I didn't also have to pay for my apartment and food every month without fail.

But from a broader social standpoint, isn't it a good thing that people who can afford to take risks are the ones taking the risks? It sucks on an individual basis if you're living paycheck-to-paycheck and can't risk failure, but it's not such a bad thing that the affluent are taking larger economic risks than the poor.

No, that's the opposite of how it should be.

In an ideal world would be everyone would be free to take business risks, and customers would reward the ideas that offer a real benefit.

What we have now is a world where hardly anyone is free to take business risks, and the people who are tend to share the same political and social values.

Politically, that makes for caste perpetuation and monoculture - which is the exact opposite of the entrepreneurial mythology.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#263

Post by millermp12 » Tue, Sep 01, 2015, 7:42 PM UTC

I guarantee you that far, far more trustafarians are using their "privilege" to indulge a negro fetish or whatever "social justice" meme happens to be trending rather than risking anyone's equity in something entrepreneurial.

You think that a typical person would use the millions they made and plow it back into not one but three hair-brained ventures (Musk with Tesla, SpaceEx, Solar City)?

Consider one of the comments below, something like "I would be entrepreneurial too if I didn't have to pay for rent and food."

Bullshit. If that poser inherited millions he would scarcely summon the energy to snap selfies at some BLM "protest".

Seriously: eugenics can't come fast enough.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#264

Post by aeturnum » Tue, Sep 01, 2015, 7:49 PM UTC

millermp12 wrote: post #263

I guarantee you that far, far more trustafarians are using their "privilege" to indulge a negro fetish or whatever "social justice" meme happens to be trending rather than risking anyone's equity in something entrepreneurial. You think that a typical person would use the millions they made and plow it back into not one but three hair-brained ventures (Musk with Tesla, SpaceEx, Solar City)? Consider one of the comment…

Nice.

So you disagree with the article because there are some number of trust fund kids who aren't entrepreneurs? The article does not make the claim that having money is required for entrepreneurship, simply that it is extremely influential (more influential than any genetic component).

That said, maybe this comment is a parody of a viewpoint. If I've missed something, excuse me.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#265

Post by noobplusplus » Tue, Sep 01, 2015, 8:04 PM UTC

this is so true.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#266

Post by CapitalistCartr » Tue, Sep 01, 2015, 8:06 PM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #261

webjprgm wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, I only want to be ruled my a meritocracy if I can define myself as the most intelligent person in the world. (Or, in the upper 10% or something). A true meritocracy scares me. And this from a guy who was in the upper 10% of my high school (upper 4%). But I've seen much more brilliant people out there. So who honestly wants a meritocracy either? Another option would be that whoever works hard is taken ca…

I'd be frightened to see the world run by people like me, but I'd love to see the world run by the best of the best, as long as we can somehow select for morality as well as intelligence.

Wisdom, integrity, and respect are far more important than intelligence in making a good leader.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#267

Post by jasonkester » Tue, Sep 01, 2015, 8:16 PM UTC

mtberatwork wrote: post #199

jasonkester wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a shame we see so much denial about this. The rational response when shown that you are dramatically underpaid should be to take steps to get one's self back up to the level of the market. Sadly, the more common response is to call whoever filled you in a liar. I've noticed this happening a lot in the last few years, as developer salaries have skyrocketed but guys who had secured jobs before that still quote 200…

You initially mentioned starting salary, now you are just mentioning 6 figure developer salaries in general. Again, $120k starting salary for your average junior developer fresh out of college isn't a reality outside of places like SV.

Apologies if I wasn't clear. By six figure developer salary, I meant more like $250k. That is in fact achievable as a mid to senior level developer working remotely.

A kid from a good school capable of working for a Facebook or Google would be we'll served by holding out for that unrealistic Bay Area starting salary. It's not as unrealistic as you believe.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#268

Post by larrys » Tue, Sep 01, 2015, 8:24 PM UTC

cryoshon wrote: post #88

lint_roller wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a very similar story, except I'm on part one. Recent graduate, very modest family, and drank all the Paul G koolaid which got me to jump into the whole scene just to realize I'm mostly surrounded by upper middle class types where there's still risk being taken just not nearly as much. This has taught me to always consider the source of advice more rigorously. I still think he's a great thinker, but some of the…

The lesson from this is don't drink anyone's kool aid consciously. PG has a huge incentive to wax heroic about the "risk takers" "makers" and "founders"; it's the Silicon Valley cargo cult, and should be compensated against in the mind of the reader. Always be brutally critical of applying the question of qui bono-- always, no exceptions, ever. PG has little incentive to explicitly qualify ideas that are his foundati…

"PG has a huge incentive to wax heroic about the "risk takers" "makers" and "founders""

To be sure (in the spirt of NY Times "to be sure" statements) [1] PG (who went to Harvard of course as everyone knows) and others always point out the obligatory risks but tend to do so in a way that I think most people perhaps ignore. More or less a "sure it's risky but" as opposed to "you'd be foolish however there's always a small small chance that..."

[1] That is where they (and others in the media) counter something they are saying with the other point of view typically buried 3 quarters down the page as a qualifier.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#269

Post by larrys » Tue, Sep 01, 2015, 8:30 PM UTC

efaref wrote: post #63

lint_roller wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a very similar story, except I'm on part one. Recent graduate, very modest family, and drank all the Paul G koolaid which got me to jump into the whole scene just to realize I'm mostly surrounded by upper middle class types where there's still risk being taken just not nearly as much. This has taught me to always consider the source of advice more rigorously. I still think he's a great thinker, but some of the…

Agree. The risk of having to run back to mummy and daddy with their tail between their legs is no risk at all. I could be quite entrepreneurial if I didn't also have to pay for my apartment and food every month without fail.

You of course are right. Tail between legs is embarrassing but in the end you won't go hungry or homeless.

Problem is in popular culture there are also stories about the 1 out of 1000 guys (just like you) that essentially gambled and came out ahead. Let me say that again. Gambled and won. You hear those all of the time. What you don't hear is about the ones who lost or hit the skids as a result of those chances that they took. Or maybe you do (there are always counter stories floating about) but the shine of the winners typically totally blocks those out.

For example I am sure in response to this thread someone has already mentioned the type of family that Steve Jobs came from.

Re: Entrepreneurs don’t have a gene for risk – they come from families with money

#270

Post by rebootthesystem » Tue, Sep 01, 2015, 8:35 PM UTC

notahacker wrote: post #187

rebootthesystem wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think our scale and perspective, by being in tech, can be skewed. Over 540,000 new businesses are started EACH MONTH in the US. The sheer number of them should be evidence enough that the vast majority are not started in the context of privilege, wealth or perhaps even a safety net that protects the would-be-entrepreneur from failure. I just don't think this world view is correct. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonn…

Sure, but this being HN, we're interested in the "disrupt an entire industry" type business, which are overwhelmingly started by people with good connections and a top university degree that hasn't burdened them with unsustainable debt. Not to mention overwhelmingly involving people who have chosen to relocate to the highest cost of living parts of the US to try to get on the radar of VCs, and are foregoing the >$100…

Someone putting it all on the line is putting it all on the line, it doesn't matter if they are selling flowers at the corner or doing something larger than that. A plumber (or a small or trades entrepreneur) doesn't take failure lightly as you've suggested. Regardless of scale, a failure is a traumatic event and fighting against it can take months or years.

If you've never lived through the anguish of having a business go bad you might not be equipped to understand this. I have. It's not fun. And, no, you don't think "fuck it, I'll just get a job" three weeks into it. Again, you have to have walked in those shoes in order to truly understand it.

I am not trying to insult you, just stating a fact. It is really easy to have all kinds of nice sounding opinions from the outside yet there's only one way to truly understand what it is like to make the decisions to take out a second mortgage on your home to keep people employed, make payroll and try to rescue a business (as I have done).

It is impossible to understand something like that without having had skin in the game at some non-trivial business. Talking to a "well weathered" business person is very different from talking to someone who worked for the government or as an employee in the private sector all of their lives. Their understanding of reality is very, very different. That's how you get people saying things like "you didn't build that", because they simply don't have a clue.