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I wonder if it really is easier than ever for the bottom 95% of US citizens (or bottom 95% of the developed western countries) to become rich by starting a busi

I wonder if it really is easier than ever for the bottom 95% of US citizens (or bottom 95% of the developed western countries) to become rich by starting a business these days.

jxidjhdhdhdhfhf 6y ago
Seems like it, for the simple reason that the infrastructure and process for an average person becoming rich is in place now in a way it wasn't in the 80s. For example there are startup incubators, VCs and general startup culture.
- SavantIdiot 6y ago
  Hardly. Or rather, only if you fall into a small sliver of society. You are describing startup a "website/app company". There is an entire industry for trying to find the next TikTok. Unfortunately that is the ultimate unicorn. That immediately winnows the crowd down to maybe 10% that have degrees / knowledge of computer science? There isn't really any other "startup" culture right now except hoodie-wearning Rust/JavaScript/Python programmers interested in machine learning. It is a monoculture, and if you don't program, you ain't in it. Becoming "rich" isn't even accessible to 90% of the US population.
  - jxidjhdhdhdhfhf 6y ago
    I mean I'm not sure what it would even mean for becoming rich to be accessible to 90% of the population since the definition of rich is having above average means. It seems like only the lottery would fit there. On the other hand it seems much more accessible to go to school and get a degree in CS than to be born into wealth. For example, plenty of foreign students come here from poor countries and find there way into the startup world.
codegeek 6y ago
The barrier to entry is very low these days so technically Yes. At least in theory, someone can start a "tech" business with a couple hundred bucks and shit tons of sweat equity. Back in the 70s-80s, I am sure you needed a lot more capital to start a traditional business. Granted, the 1 person bootstrapped tech biz won't hit the same 1B revenue scale in 10 years but you can become "rich" if your definition of rich is not necessarily the Top 1%.
- SavantIdiot 6y ago
  You are not talking about the bottom 95%, you are talking about 5% of the bottom 95%: tech-educated programmers & engineers. Now look at how many have the skills to be a CEO and that's about another 5% of that. So in reality you are describing 2.5% of the population.
  - Godel_unicode 6y ago
    The population of people who have the skills to be CEO of a <25 person business is far more than 5% of the population. The blue collar sector is filled with such people running e.g. electrical or plumbing companies. Plenty of those people are doing very well for themselves, and now we're talking about how rich is rich.
    - SavantIdiot 6y ago
      I know a woman who is the CEO of her Etsy knitting company that her daughter helps her with. So I guess you're right, anyone can call themselves a CEO.
      - arcturus17 6y ago
        > So I guess you're right, anyone can call themselves a CEO Semantics... That's not what I got from GP's point. They are talking about a company of up to 25 people (so, an order of magnitude larger than a two-person company). CEO, general manager, principal, top dog... What does it matter. The point is you can make bank with a business of that size - possibly the mom and daughter operation you're describing does.
- csomar 6y ago
  Back in the 70s-80s, housing was very accessible and jobs were simpler and equally available (now you probably need to move to a hot city). So people could build considerable real-estate equity from being a salaried man.
WJW 6y ago
The majority of rich people being tech entrepreneurs does not imply that being a tech entrepreneur will make you rich. It is entirely possible to start a company and not make any money. In fact, greater ease of starting a business would increase the number of companies, thus the amount of competition would also increase and therefore the odds that any individual company makes large profits is smaller.
missedthecue 6y ago
There are a lot of freshly minted billionaires in Asia these days so I'd say yes.
- eptcyka 6y ago
  Asia is an underdeveloped market, excluding Singapore (a tax haven), Japan and South Korea etc on account of being American protectorates.

I wonder if it really is easier than ever for the bottom 95% of US citizens (or bottom 95% of the developed western countries) to become rich by starting a business these days.

jxidjhdhdhdhfhf 6y ago

Seems like it, for the simple reason that the infrastructure and process for an average person becoming rich is in place now in a way it wasn't in the 80s. For example there are startup incubators, VCs and general startup culture.

SavantIdiot 6y ago
Hardly. Or rather, only if you fall into a small sliver of society. You are describing startup a "website/app company". There is an entire industry for trying to find the next TikTok. Unfortunately that is the ultimate unicorn. That immediately winnows the crowd down to maybe 10% that have degrees / knowledge of computer science? There isn't really any other "startup" culture right now except hoodie-wearning Rust/JavaScript/Python programmers interested in machine learning. It is a monoculture, and if you don't program, you ain't in it. Becoming "rich" isn't even accessible to 90% of the US population.
- jxidjhdhdhdhfhf 6y ago
  I mean I'm not sure what it would even mean for becoming rich to be accessible to 90% of the population since the definition of rich is having above average means. It seems like only the lottery would fit there. On the other hand it seems much more accessible to go to school and get a degree in CS than to be born into wealth. For example, plenty of foreign students come here from poor countries and find there way into the startup world.

codegeek 6y ago

The barrier to entry is very low these days so technically Yes. At least in theory, someone can start a "tech" business with a couple hundred bucks and shit tons of sweat equity. Back in the 70s-80s, I am sure you needed a lot more capital to start a traditional business. Granted, the 1 person bootstrapped tech biz won't hit the same 1B revenue scale in 10 years but you can become "rich" if your definition of rich is not necessarily the Top 1%.

SavantIdiot 6y ago
You are not talking about the bottom 95%, you are talking about 5% of the bottom 95%: tech-educated programmers & engineers. Now look at how many have the skills to be a CEO and that's about another 5% of that. So in reality you are describing 2.5% of the population.
- Godel_unicode 6y ago
  The population of people who have the skills to be CEO of a <25 person business is far more than 5% of the population. The blue collar sector is filled with such people running e.g. electrical or plumbing companies. Plenty of those people are doing very well for themselves, and now we're talking about how rich is rich.
  - SavantIdiot 6y ago
    I know a woman who is the CEO of her Etsy knitting company that her daughter helps her with. So I guess you're right, anyone can call themselves a CEO.
    - arcturus17 6y ago
      > So I guess you're right, anyone can call themselves a CEO Semantics... That's not what I got from GP's point. They are talking about a company of up to 25 people (so, an order of magnitude larger than a two-person company). CEO, general manager, principal, top dog... What does it matter. The point is you can make bank with a business of that size - possibly the mom and daughter operation you're describing does.
csomar 6y ago
Back in the 70s-80s, housing was very accessible and jobs were simpler and equally available (now you probably need to move to a hot city). So people could build considerable real-estate equity from being a salaried man.

WJW 6y ago

The majority of rich people being tech entrepreneurs does not imply that being a tech entrepreneur will make you rich. It is entirely possible to start a company and not make any money. In fact, greater ease of starting a business would increase the number of companies, thus the amount of competition would also increase and therefore the odds that any individual company makes large profits is smaller.

missedthecue 6y ago

There are a lot of freshly minted billionaires in Asia these days so I'd say yes.

eptcyka 6y ago
Asia is an underdeveloped market, excluding Singapore (a tax haven), Japan and South Korea etc on account of being American protectorates.