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You seem to think that by 'wealth' they mean access to millions of dollars. Even 'sustain comfort' and have a little something leftover levels of wealth is not

You seem to think that by 'wealth' they mean access to millions of dollars. Even 'sustain comfort' and have a little something leftover levels of wealth is not available to a sizable percentage of people in the US.

rebootthesystem 11y ago
No I don't. As many have pointed out in this thread, the world is full of entrepreneurs who come from very little and make it happen. To me saying "I have nothing" is just an excuse. Particularly in the US. If you want to make something happen, you can, it will not be handed to you, but you can. What these studies never look at (because it is virtually impossible) are the massive numbers of businesses that start from "wealth" and fail miserably. I know people who were handed money and had no worries about failing. And, guess what, most of them fail. Why? Frankly, I don't know the exact mechanism. It has to be similar to folks who win the lottery and proceed to implode within a year or two. Or how about actors who make millions to shoot a movie in a few weeks and the best they can do with their lives in between movies is stuff drugs and alcohol into their bodies? Nah, money may be a factor for some, but if someone doesn't truly want to be an entrepreneur you can throw millions at them and they'll just blow it. Some of my favorite TV shows are "Kitchen Nightmares" with Gordon Ramsay, "The Profit" with Marcus Lemonis, "Make me a Millionaire Inventor" with George Zaidan and Deanne Bell and, of course, "Shark Tank". I actually use them as teaching opportunities for my kids. We record episodes, watch them together and have discussions over dinner. The kids are good enough now that they can identify problems and patterns right away. Now we pause episodes and have discussions prior to the conclusions being revealed. The kids are getting a "virtual MBA" before they finish high school, which is great. A common thread in a number of these shows are people who either inherit their businesses (lots of that in the restaurant show or The Profit) and proceed to run it into the ground. Almost nothing could be a stronger demonstration that money isn't a success factor in entrepreneurship than to see someone quite literally being HANDED a FULL WORKING BUSINESS only to proceed to destroy it. Why? Lack of focus, grit, drive, etc. All the qualities I mentioned in my prior post. I've seen shows where people end-up hundreds of dollars in debt because they simply had no engagement until someone from the outside slapped the shit out of them in a figurative way and got them to actually work on the business. Money is just another tool, like 3D printer or a laptop. Millions of people have very expensive laptops. Most, from an entrepreneurial perspective, utterly waste them on Facebook and playing games. At the other end of the scale, a true entrepreneur with grit and determination can grab a second hand piece of shit PC, load Linux into it, use a bunch of free tools, learn to code and make something happen. Entrepreneurship isn't about money.
- clavalle 11y ago
  Money is a tool, sure, but it is the Universal Tool. It can be applied toward nearly every problem in business. Can people still mess up and misuse the tool? Sure. It success a better bet if you have access the Universal Tool? Most definitely. We can come up with counterexamples all day long, but the question is not whether an individual can succeed without much money or can fail with a ton of money -- I know people that fall into both camps as well -- the question is in aggregate does more money shift the overall curve toward success in entrepreneurship over time? I'd bet big that it does.
  - rebootthesystem 11y ago
    I disagree. Business is hard. People are what matter. I started a business in my garage with $5,000. I had the right ideas, market and product. I grew it to a pretty good size, employed lots of people and sold it. Years later, I started another business with $325,000 of my own cash. I still had the right ideas, market and product. It failed miserably. Why? I didn't know enough about the industry and lost focus. I eventually restarted it (with more money) and got it going nicely. Money couple with the right people, product and market AT THE RIGHT TIME can light things up in a major way. Money by itself is useless. And not, money does not shift the curve towards success. That's just not a sensible conclusion. Money does nothing other than allow you to push on the accelerator once you have a formula that is ready for success. This is how money should be used. That's why the mantra in tech circles is to test an MVP with a few thousand dollars (or less if possible). Why? Because if you throw money at something that has no engagement you'll just burn it. It doesn't shift the curve toward success. The curve already has to be shifted in that direction AND THEN you throw money at it. That's is precisely why so many people with easy access in capital fail. They think exactly as you are proposing: If we just throw money at XYZ we improve our probability to succeed. And then they fail.
    - clavalle 11y ago
      Everything you said is true but missing the point. $5000 is a wad of cash that many, many people don't have access to. Living on savings while building and selling a product is not an option for many more. Money just doesn't allow for acceleration but also pays for you to get in the car to begin with. And that's not a precise statement either: having the ability to live while earning nothing build your business -- something that often takes some amount of cash, is what can mean the difference between success and failure.

rebootthesystem 11y ago

No I don't. As many have pointed out in this thread, the world is full of entrepreneurs who come from very little and make it happen. To me saying "I have nothing" is just an excuse. Particularly in the US. If you want to make something happen, you can, it will not be handed to you, but you can. What these studies never look at (because it is virtually impossible) are the massive numbers of businesses that start from "wealth" and fail miserably. I know people who were handed money and had no worries about failing. And, guess what, most of them fail. Why? Frankly, I don't know the exact mechanism. It has to be similar to folks who win the lottery and proceed to implode within a year or two. Or how about actors who make millions to shoot a movie in a few weeks and the best they can do with their lives in between movies is stuff drugs and alcohol into their bodies? Nah, money may be a factor for some, but if someone doesn't truly want to be an entrepreneur you can throw millions at them and they'll just blow it. Some of my favorite TV shows are "Kitchen Nightmares" with Gordon Ramsay, "The Profit" with Marcus Lemonis, "Make me a Millionaire Inventor" with George Zaidan and Deanne Bell and, of course, "Shark Tank". I actually use them as teaching opportunities for my kids. We record episodes, watch them together and have discussions over dinner. The kids are good enough now that they can identify problems and patterns right away. Now we pause episodes and have discussions prior to the conclusions being revealed. The kids are getting a "virtual MBA" before they finish high school, which is great. A common thread in a number of these shows are people who either inherit their businesses (lots of that in the restaurant show or The Profit) and proceed to run it into the ground. Almost nothing could be a stronger demonstration that money isn't a success factor in entrepreneurship than to see someone quite literally being HANDED a FULL WORKING BUSINESS only to proceed to destroy it. Why? Lack of focus, grit, drive, etc. All the qualities I mentioned in my prior post. I've seen shows where people end-up hundreds of dollars in debt because they simply had no engagement until someone from the outside slapped the shit out of them in a figurative way and got them to actually work on the business. Money is just another tool, like 3D printer or a laptop. Millions of people have very expensive laptops. Most, from an entrepreneurial perspective, utterly waste them on Facebook and playing games. At the other end of the scale, a true entrepreneur with grit and determination can grab a second hand piece of shit PC, load Linux into it, use a bunch of free tools, learn to code and make something happen. Entrepreneurship isn't about money.

clavalle 11y ago
Money is a tool, sure, but it is the Universal Tool. It can be applied toward nearly every problem in business. Can people still mess up and misuse the tool? Sure. It success a better bet if you have access the Universal Tool? Most definitely. We can come up with counterexamples all day long, but the question is not whether an individual can succeed without much money or can fail with a ton of money -- I know people that fall into both camps as well -- the question is in aggregate does more money shift the overall curve toward success in entrepreneurship over time? I'd bet big that it does.
- rebootthesystem 11y ago
  I disagree. Business is hard. People are what matter. I started a business in my garage with $5,000. I had the right ideas, market and product. I grew it to a pretty good size, employed lots of people and sold it. Years later, I started another business with $325,000 of my own cash. I still had the right ideas, market and product. It failed miserably. Why? I didn't know enough about the industry and lost focus. I eventually restarted it (with more money) and got it going nicely. Money couple with the right people, product and market AT THE RIGHT TIME can light things up in a major way. Money by itself is useless. And not, money does not shift the curve towards success. That's just not a sensible conclusion. Money does nothing other than allow you to push on the accelerator once you have a formula that is ready for success. This is how money should be used. That's why the mantra in tech circles is to test an MVP with a few thousand dollars (or less if possible). Why? Because if you throw money at something that has no engagement you'll just burn it. It doesn't shift the curve toward success. The curve already has to be shifted in that direction AND THEN you throw money at it. That's is precisely why so many people with easy access in capital fail. They think exactly as you are proposing: If we just throw money at XYZ we improve our probability to succeed. And then they fail.
  - clavalle 11y ago
    Everything you said is true but missing the point. $5000 is a wad of cash that many, many people don't have access to. Living on savings while building and selling a product is not an option for many more. Money just doesn't allow for acceleration but also pays for you to get in the car to begin with. And that's not a precise statement either: having the ability to live while earning nothing build your business -- something that often takes some amount of cash, is what can mean the difference between success and failure.