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Step one: Be born into a upper middle class to uber wealthy family with connections to even more money & power (was in an incubator out of 10 of us 1 succeeded;

Step one: Be born into a upper middle class to uber wealthy family with connections to even more money & power (was in an incubator out of 10 of us 1 succeeded; sold his company for $350 million & his father was a VC) Step two: Try your hand many times with your ideas, each time hitting up your built in wealthy network (VCs) you were indirectly or directly born into Step three: Maybe you the rich get richer and you get to invest in startups or you give up and become a VC cause they are your people. If you become a VC or an angel you invest in rich kids because you want to make money; safer bets then investing in the poor kid. Those who don't follow the above mold.. go ahead ...startup while working a full time job.. oops first, 2nd or 3rd didnt work.. damn now i have mouths to feed there go my startup dreams while richie richie is on his tenth living off other people's money. Now if your poor go ahead startup but you need to feed yourself.

ryanmercer 7y ago
And, at least anecdotally, I've found similar to be true for just people in general. Being from a family with means acts as a de facto dues card being invested in (education, upbringing, connections) and a college degree acts as a de facto dues card for general employment. You can't tell me Sam being a student at Stanford, and the benefits of a middle class upbringing, weren't big pros when he was being chosen for that first batch of YC investment. Would a high school drop-out with a GED, with the exact same idea and a co-founder with a similar background to them have been given the same opportunity? Would they have had other investors even remotely interested? Would they have had their company purchased for 43 million dollars? I do not have a degree, I did not want to take tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt on. I am 34, companies want a 4-year degree for most entry-level stuff now (and I'm not even CS). I still do not want to take on tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt. So change wealthy to "formally educated". - Step 1: be born into a wealthy middle class family and/or qualify for lots of scholarships and/or qualify for lots of grands and/or be willing to take debt that might take you a decade or more to pay off for the hope of higher earnings - Step 2: graduate and get a starter job that allows you to minimally service your student loan debt, obtain graduate degree while working - Step 3: work those connections made with graduate degree, become boss of someone with 10x as much experience on the job with minimal real-world experience yourself. Those that don't follow the above mold... go ahead... apply for promotions/better positions based on experience alone... oops 4-year degree required to get past pre-application screening, rejection "we're looking for someone with experience AND a 4-year degree", unfortunately the promotion is only open to employees with a 4-year degree so consider getting one... damn now I've been doing the job for the employer for 13 years and my boss has been in the industry for 5, and my boss also qualifies for the extra training the company provides as a manager and manager-level only awards making their CV even more impressive both internally and in the industry... damn, I'm taking home less this year because of the insurance increases... if I go get a degree, in 4-6 years I'll have 40-60k$ of student loan debt at 4.53% interest while only making 34k annually but I'd be eligible to apply for a position making 7% more!

ryanmercer 7y ago

And, at least anecdotally, I've found similar to be true for just people in general. Being from a family with means acts as a de facto dues card being invested in (education, upbringing, connections) and a college degree acts as a de facto dues card for general employment. You can't tell me Sam being a student at Stanford, and the benefits of a middle class upbringing, weren't big pros when he was being chosen for that first batch of YC investment. Would a high school drop-out with a GED, with the exact same idea and a co-founder with a similar background to them have been given the same opportunity? Would they have had other investors even remotely interested? Would they have had their company purchased for 43 million dollars? I do not have a degree, I did not want to take tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt on. I am 34, companies want a 4-year degree for most entry-level stuff now (and I'm not even CS). I still do not want to take on tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt. So change wealthy to "formally educated". - Step 1: be born into a wealthy middle class family and/or qualify for lots of scholarships and/or qualify for lots of grands and/or be willing to take debt that might take you a decade or more to pay off for the hope of higher earnings - Step 2: graduate and get a starter job that allows you to minimally service your student loan debt, obtain graduate degree while working - Step 3: work those connections made with graduate degree, become boss of someone with 10x as much experience on the job with minimal real-world experience yourself. Those that don't follow the above mold... go ahead... apply for promotions/better positions based on experience alone... oops 4-year degree required to get past pre-application screening, rejection "we're looking for someone with experience AND a 4-year degree", unfortunately the promotion is only open to employees with a 4-year degree so consider getting one... damn now I've been doing the job for the employer for 13 years and my boss has been in the industry for 5, and my boss also qualifies for the extra training the company provides as a manager and manager-level only awards making their CV even more impressive both internally and in the industry... damn, I'm taking home less this year because of the insurance increases... if I go get a degree, in 4-6 years I'll have 40-60k$ of student loan debt at 4.53% interest while only making 34k annually but I'd be eligible to apply for a position making 7% more!