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An already affluent guy convinced affluent investors to fund a technology company which the social meme was going on and on about being the next big thing. I f

An already affluent guy convinced affluent investors to fund a technology company which the social meme was going on and on about being the next big thing. I find it hard to believe there was any sort of real “risk” to Bezos future ability to earn a more than average wage. It’s an information and networking game. You can say there’s some sort of numerical or quantifiable risk. But I suspect Bezos status pre-Amazon, in an early 90’s economy, with a very different wealth equality and cost of living scenario for the masses, he was well buffered from any long term ruin. Just consider how much it’s changed: 22 people invested $50k according to Google. What’s that get you in 1994? My after tax take home is $110ish/year depending on bonus. My purchase power is a fraction of what it was a generation ago. I should be taking home $500k/yr to enjoy the same purchase power as someone making $110k in the 80s. And this is “normal”, we’re told. Most people don’t even get anywhere near the network access and education he had. The notion that we exist in a meritocracy is mind bogglingly engrained in the masses. Bezos earned every cent, it seems. They pay economists a lot to measure very carefully and confirm as much. Bezos is not that good and that special, and took very little real risk. Society is rewarding him so much because that’s what society is told is correct.

mrep 7y ago
> I find it hard to believe there was any sort of real “risk” to Bezos future ability to earn a more than average wage. You are ignoring opportunity costs [0]. He quit a highly lucrative job in finance to attempt a startup where he probably payed himself like 1/10th the wages of his old job during the initial years while he established his business. With like 90% of startups failing [1], that is a massive risk in the hope of future stock worth for decreased current wages. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost [1]: https://medium.com/swlh/why-90-of-startups-fail-and-what-to-do-about-it-b0af17b65059 https://medium.com/swlh/why-90-of-startups-fail-and-what-to-...
- herennow88 7y ago
  You’re ignoring the boring but more important human aspect for abstraction: he was capable of getting such a job once and was well connected to a couple dozen people that could toss $50k/each at him on a pipe dream. If it failed, he would have had plenty of options relative to the average worker.
  - mrep 7y ago
    And he lost out on hundreds of thousands of dollars of real income while pursuing said startup. In his case, the stock that he created ended up being worth way more but for 90% of companies, that stock will be worth nothing.

mrep 7y ago

> I find it hard to believe there was any sort of real “risk” to Bezos future ability to earn a more than average wage. You are ignoring opportunity costs [0]. He quit a highly lucrative job in finance to attempt a startup where he probably payed himself like 1/10th the wages of his old job during the initial years while he established his business. With like 90% of startups failing [1], that is a massive risk in the hope of future stock worth for decreased current wages. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost [1]: https://medium.com/swlh/why-90-of-startups-fail-and-what-to-do-about-it-b0af17b65059 https://medium.com/swlh/why-90-of-startups-fail-and-what-to-...

herennow88 7y ago
You’re ignoring the boring but more important human aspect for abstraction: he was capable of getting such a job once and was well connected to a couple dozen people that could toss $50k/each at him on a pipe dream. If it failed, he would have had plenty of options relative to the average worker.
- mrep 7y ago
  And he lost out on hundreds of thousands of dollars of real income while pursuing said startup. In his case, the stock that he created ended up being worth way more but for 90% of companies, that stock will be worth nothing.