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Please don't take my short response to think that I did not value your comment. It was obviously well thought out. > I was lucky enough to find computers in my

by cheez 7y ago

Please don't take my short response to think that I did not value your comment. It was obviously well thought out. > I was lucky enough to find computers in my late teens 25 years ago? You still don't get it... 25 years ago, how many people could afford to "find computers" in their late teens? "Coming from money" doesn't mean you are institutionally wealthy. It means that you have access to opportunities others don't and failure isn't even visible to you. When you have no idea of the consequences of failure, you are able to take risks. For me, I have personally (unfortunately) been involved with some bad people but were it not for my inability to understand what failure is, I would never have recovered and there would be a pretty unfortunate cycle starting with me. You have not dissuaded me from that perspective at all. Indeed, all you have said is "I was successful and didn't want to be a slave like the others in my family". But you never saw failure. You never wanted a safety net. Perhaps you used one and you didn't even know it. So what in your life would have made you afraid to take risks?

nickjj 7y ago
> You still don't get it... 25 years ago, how many people could afford to "find computers" in their late teens? In the public high school I went to they had a computer program, so I had access to that which helped. There's also the public library too. Although in my case I was able to eventually get a computer at home but it took a lot of saving. Also in the mid / late 1990s computers started to come down a lot in price compared to the early 90s. But really, nowadays it's a totally different world so my specific situation doesn't matter. You can grab a decent laptop for $350ish. You could work a summer job to afford that while still going to high school, or a part time job for a few months. There's also an endless amount of free (or paid) tutorials on a ton of technical topics. > So what in your life would have made you afraid to take risks? I'm not smart enough to answer that question because I can't figure out what you're asking. But I will leave you with, of course having a base line of family security is helpful. For example if your parent(s) are employed and you are able to have food, clothes and electricity then you have an advantage over someone who lives on the street but the article made it seem like you need "family money, an inheritance, or a pedigree and connections that allow for access to financial stability" to run your own business. To me that's much more than the basics. When I read that, I read that as coming from a family where your parents probably make 350k+ year and there's 5+ million in a low risk trading account or something that can be liquified on demand. That's a totally different world from a family living paycheck to paycheck but can still save a little bit here and there. That type of family is more in tuned with how I was brought up. It was always a struggle with a lot of sacrifices, but it was never "bad bad".
- cheez 7y ago
  Sure, the key point in the article is very early on: > And this is a key advantage: When basic needs are met, it’s easier to be creative; when you know you have a safety net, you are more willing to take risks. Your (and my) basic needs were met. In the USA, 40% of families could not meet a $500 surprise expense. That's not paycheck to paycheck, that's pretty close to the edge and such a family would generally be averse to rocking the boat. The ability to take risks is very important for success, but what that really translates to for entrepreneurs is an inability to believe failure is a thing. So again, you did not have an upbringing that would make you afraid to take risks, therefore you took them. I had an upbringing that made me afraid to take risks because even though my father was well off, his upbringing was during wartime. I took risks anyway, and my kids are basically rich kids in that they are unafraid to go after everything they want. It's very strange to see.

by cheez 7y ago

nickjj 7y ago

> You still don't get it... 25 years ago, how many people could afford to "find computers" in their late teens? In the public high school I went to they had a computer program, so I had access to that which helped. There's also the public library too. Although in my case I was able to eventually get a computer at home but it took a lot of saving. Also in the mid / late 1990s computers started to come down a lot in price compared to the early 90s. But really, nowadays it's a totally different world so my specific situation doesn't matter. You can grab a decent laptop for $350ish. You could work a summer job to afford that while still going to high school, or a part time job for a few months. There's also an endless amount of free (or paid) tutorials on a ton of technical topics. > So what in your life would have made you afraid to take risks? I'm not smart enough to answer that question because I can't figure out what you're asking. But I will leave you with, of course having a base line of family security is helpful. For example if your parent(s) are employed and you are able to have food, clothes and electricity then you have an advantage over someone who lives on the street but the article made it seem like you need "family money, an inheritance, or a pedigree and connections that allow for access to financial stability" to run your own business. To me that's much more than the basics. When I read that, I read that as coming from a family where your parents probably make 350k+ year and there's 5+ million in a low risk trading account or something that can be liquified on demand. That's a totally different world from a family living paycheck to paycheck but can still save a little bit here and there. That type of family is more in tuned with how I was brought up. It was always a struggle with a lot of sacrifices, but it was never "bad bad".

cheez 7y ago
Sure, the key point in the article is very early on: > And this is a key advantage: When basic needs are met, it’s easier to be creative; when you know you have a safety net, you are more willing to take risks. Your (and my) basic needs were met. In the USA, 40% of families could not meet a $500 surprise expense. That's not paycheck to paycheck, that's pretty close to the edge and such a family would generally be averse to rocking the boat. The ability to take risks is very important for success, but what that really translates to for entrepreneurs is an inability to believe failure is a thing. So again, you did not have an upbringing that would make you afraid to take risks, therefore you took them. I had an upbringing that made me afraid to take risks because even though my father was well off, his upbringing was during wartime. I took risks anyway, and my kids are basically rich kids in that they are unafraid to go after everything they want. It's very strange to see.