> The next time someone claims that starting startups is for rich kids, remind them that Airbnb happened because its founders literally could not pay their rent

> The next time someone claims that starting startups is for rich kids, remind them that Airbnb happened because its founders literally could not pay their rent. Starting startups is not just for rich kids. But it is dominated by rich kids to an extreme that Paul Graham is completely blind to, living in the bubble he has his whole life. Depending on your definition of rich, of course. Most of the benefit is being in the upper class, that's what "rich" means to people living in the lower classes. To upper class people, being "rich" means having a private jet. Almost every major tech founder fits the profile of having had the benefit of SAT prep and tutors to game entry into an "elite" school and parents able to provide free food/shelter/funding. Many parents have connections to draw upon. Steve Jobs is one of the very few exceptions. And, to my mind, it's not a surprise that he's the best tech founder that ever will be. Airbnb founder Nathan Blecharczyk was definitely a rich kid. "He grew up in an upper-middle-class family in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Boston Latin Academy." "He was also on the business staff of The Harvard Crimson during his time at Harvard." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Blecharczyk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Blecharczyk The others maybe not. It's hard to know how much money a family has. But they moved to SF and rented an expensive apartment with no jobs. This isn't something most poor kids do. Who co-signed their lease, given that they had no income? Likely it was a parent ready to bail them out if they ran out of credit cards.