5 ms·

I guess 5%. That is the success rate for businesses. What I would like to know is how the other half got wealthy.

pavel 16y ago
I would guess hard work and working up the corporate ladder to some executive position at some big company. Or someone working in finance and putting on risky trades which yield in massive bonuses.
- Periodic 16y ago
  If 1 million people take a large risk, which has a 5% chance of making them a millionaire, then we'll end up with 50,000 millionaires. What is really interesting is what they did differently, if anything.
fhars 16y ago
Inheritance. There is a page by Phil Greenspun about how even Bill Gates only became rich by having rich parents (I'd post a link if this stupid cell phone supported copy and paste, so I must rely on your google fu instead).
- Benjo 16y ago
  Here's the link: http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/ http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/
marilyn 16y ago
You must consider too that many entrepreneurs start several businesses through out the course of their lives. For each attempt, an entrepreneur would increase his/her chances at attaining wealth by 5%, no?
- aliston 16y ago
  Well, if you wanted to be a real geek about it, given n attempts, your chances of a single success are 1 - (.95 ^ n)... but I'd also like to think that an entrepreneurial endeavor is not pure chance.
  - electromagnetic 16y ago
    > I'd also like to think that an entrepreneurial endeavor is not pure chance. Agreed, I don't think you'll ever succeed in your business attempts if you're not providing something new, original or just not established in the area. You'll make a killing opening a coffee shop in a moderate sized town - as long as there's not 3 Starbucks already there. There's a lot to business beyond the idea, hence it's important to be a businessman once you've succeeded your entrepreneurial dream of getting a company started. You don't want your company to fail just because you fucked up and didn't file your taxes.
  - VladimirGolovin 16y ago
    So, one needs just about 13.5 attempts to attain 50% chance of single success: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=0.5+%3D+1+-+%28.95+^+n%29 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=0.5+%3D+1+-+%28.95+^+n%...
- keefe 16y ago
  It's also not useful to take some aggregate 5% of businesses succeed so I have a 5% chance. Some business lack the talent, idea or plan to make it and have a virtually zero chance while others are way on the other end.
- dedward 16y ago
  No... not if you are implying this because of a 95% failure rate, your odds improve with each attempt. Statistics have no memory. You are statistically part of the same group every time. You don't increase your chances of flipping a "heads" on a fair die by flipping tails first. The odds stay at 50%. That's not to say that multiple attempts at starting profitable businesses won't teach you things, and increase your chances of success, your chances of picking the right strategy out of the gate, etc - but there is no simple "Hey if you list yourself as "entrepreneur" and keep trying, you'll end up rich.". Many people just end up wildly in debt and failure.
LiveTheDream 16y ago
FTA: - Only 16% of high-net-worth individuals inherited their stash (high-net-worth = USD millionaire) - Another 23% of the world’s millionaires got rich through paid work
philwelch 16y ago
Worldwide? Honestly, cronyism explains a lot. Carlos Slim, and virtually all the Russian oligarchs, are as rich as they are because they knew the right people when vast parts of the economy were "privatized" right into their hands.
vegai 16y ago
> What I would like to know is how the other half got wealthy. I know people who are typical labourers (both white and blue collars) who saved money and invested and got pretty wealthy like that. And of course, there're more blatant ways to gamble.
benohear 16y ago
There's an Italian saying which goes something along the lines of "There's three ways to get money: You can marry it, inherit it or steal it". I suspect that accounts for a lot of the other half, especially if financial services counts as stealing.

pavel 16y ago

I would guess hard work and working up the corporate ladder to some executive position at some big company. Or someone working in finance and putting on risky trades which yield in massive bonuses.

Periodic 16y ago
If 1 million people take a large risk, which has a 5% chance of making them a millionaire, then we'll end up with 50,000 millionaires. What is really interesting is what they did differently, if anything.

fhars 16y ago

Inheritance. There is a page by Phil Greenspun about how even Bill Gates only became rich by having rich parents (I'd post a link if this stupid cell phone supported copy and paste, so I must rely on your google fu instead).

Benjo 16y ago
Here's the link: http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/ http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/

marilyn 16y ago

You must consider too that many entrepreneurs start several businesses through out the course of their lives. For each attempt, an entrepreneur would increase his/her chances at attaining wealth by 5%, no?

aliston 16y ago
Well, if you wanted to be a real geek about it, given n attempts, your chances of a single success are 1 - (.95 ^ n)... but I'd also like to think that an entrepreneurial endeavor is not pure chance.
- electromagnetic 16y ago
  > I'd also like to think that an entrepreneurial endeavor is not pure chance. Agreed, I don't think you'll ever succeed in your business attempts if you're not providing something new, original or just not established in the area. You'll make a killing opening a coffee shop in a moderate sized town - as long as there's not 3 Starbucks already there. There's a lot to business beyond the idea, hence it's important to be a businessman once you've succeeded your entrepreneurial dream of getting a company started. You don't want your company to fail just because you fucked up and didn't file your taxes.
- VladimirGolovin 16y ago
  So, one needs just about 13.5 attempts to attain 50% chance of single success: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=0.5+%3D+1+-+%28.95+^+n%29 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=0.5+%3D+1+-+%28.95+^+n%...
keefe 16y ago
It's also not useful to take some aggregate 5% of businesses succeed so I have a 5% chance. Some business lack the talent, idea or plan to make it and have a virtually zero chance while others are way on the other end.
dedward 16y ago
No... not if you are implying this because of a 95% failure rate, your odds improve with each attempt. Statistics have no memory. You are statistically part of the same group every time. You don't increase your chances of flipping a "heads" on a fair die by flipping tails first. The odds stay at 50%. That's not to say that multiple attempts at starting profitable businesses won't teach you things, and increase your chances of success, your chances of picking the right strategy out of the gate, etc - but there is no simple "Hey if you list yourself as "entrepreneur" and keep trying, you'll end up rich.". Many people just end up wildly in debt and failure.

LiveTheDream 16y ago

FTA: - Only 16% of high-net-worth individuals inherited their stash (high-net-worth = USD millionaire) - Another 23% of the world’s millionaires got rich through paid work

philwelch 16y ago

Worldwide? Honestly, cronyism explains a lot. Carlos Slim, and virtually all the Russian oligarchs, are as rich as they are because they knew the right people when vast parts of the economy were "privatized" right into their hands.

vegai 16y ago

> What I would like to know is how the other half got wealthy. I know people who are typical labourers (both white and blue collars) who saved money and invested and got pretty wealthy like that. And of course, there're more blatant ways to gamble.

benohear 16y ago

There's an Italian saying which goes something along the lines of "There's three ways to get money: You can marry it, inherit it or steal it". I suspect that accounts for a lot of the other half, especially if financial services counts as stealing.