I live in North Carolina not SV. My father emigrated from Brazil when he was 17 and worked his way through college and business school. I grew up on food stamps

I live in North Carolina not SV. My father emigrated from Brazil when he was 17 and worked his way through college and business school. I grew up on food stamps. I started a company. Many of my dad's friends from Brazil and Mexico started businesses because they weren't able to get jobs. My point is simply that if society doesn't give you access to opportunity then some times you have no option but to do it your self. It's not easy. It's not fair. But there are a lot of other ways to start a business other than raising venture capital. Stay lean. Focus on profitability. On a side note. My brother was the first employee at a first round backed company (as a developer). He lived in the converted living room of our apartment for $400 mo. And lived in New York for a year for only $8000. He saved the rest of his $110,000 salary to provide the seed capital for any future ideas. Was it nice? No. It sucked. But he was focused on a goal. You can do it. Don't give up. It is actually really fun (even when money is tight).