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There is a pretty low bar for inherited wealth. Simply having a family who is able to support you if everything goes pair shaped (maybe as little as letting you

There is a pretty low bar for inherited wealth. Simply having a family who is able to support you if everything goes pair shaped (maybe as little as letting you live in your childhood bedroom for little or no rent) gives you a huge advantage over someone who isn't in that position. Having parents who are able to lend / invest / gift modest sums of money is yet another step up the ladder. All the way up to having parents with business / political contacts in the industry you are trying to move into.

technofiend 5y ago
>Having parents who are able to lend / invest / gift modest sums of money is yet another step up the ladder. >All the way up to having parents with business / political contacts in the industry you are trying to move into. Well that and understanding how to leverage those contacts. I have people in my social circle that could serve as contacts, but the idea of asking for that makes me extremely uncomfortable. And if I somehow forced myself to do it, it would still end up in a "what now" situation because it's not really clear what next steps are. I think the kind of people who know how to operate in those circles have a skillset that's not taught in a CS/EE curriculum.
- 908B64B197 5y ago
  > I think the kind of people who know how to operate in those circles have a skillset that's not taught in a CS/EE curriculum. You nailed it. I don't think there's any formal way of learning it either.
lostcolony 5y ago
Yeah; the ways that small differences lead to big changes in outcomes is super interesting. I was lucky to live in a state where my college tuition was mostly paid for, and with a parent who, despite making very little (worked in the school system), was still able to help support me with a stable home and to help cover some of the gaps (like living on campus). I was very lucky. I realized later on the advantages other people had though when talking with people; a work colleague whose parents, though not rich, were far better off than mine, and had equipped her with life skills I and my family simply did not have. It was from her I learned about the company 401k, and investing in general, and caused me to realize that I should be investing money, not saving it.
fellowniusmonk 5y ago
I started working full time at 15 to keep the roof over our families head after my mothers cancer diagnosis. Until the early death of both my parents I had an anti-safety net, I can vouch that people underestimate the soul crushing nature of real poverty. My own congenital heart defects cost me many surgeries, procedures and money. Thank goodness for medicaid for children, I would probably be dead without it. I have fought without connections or degree to hit 1% in earnings for my age bracket in my late 20s, but the lack of wealth, the lack of security means developing ideas requiring runway and capital is nearly impossible. Struggling and succeeding through the financial equivalent of having you head held underwater by life is very very different than even a lower middle class upbringing. Thank goodness software development exists, it has the closest thing to effectively 0 signaling/gatekeeping to a very good income. I'd still kill for a couple years of runway and the money to hire two or three devs.
- gen220 5y ago
  Speaking as someone with a not dissimilar background to yourself, and happening to have friends in similar circumstances. You might want to consider what it is, exactly, that you want out of your career. You already are in a position to give your children a 10x better life, if that’s something that drives you (this is a common denominator for a lot of people). The stress of chasing the 100x and the fear of the 0x, without connections and an infinite runway, might make you a 10x worse partner, parent, friend, etc. and you end up losing the things you were trying to secure. Again I don’t know you or what drives you, but just wanted to share this idea in case you hadn’t considered it before. Escaping poverty into 1% of income is a huge accomplishment that can never be diminished, from my humble armchair you don’t need to prove anything more to people. You’ve made it.
  - fellowniusmonk 5y ago
    The heart defect thing definitely puts me in a weird psychological bucket when it comes to underlying drive/motivation. I've only met one adult that had similar feelings/views and they had childhood multiple recurrence leukemia. I have some concepts that I want to try to bring into the world. One is a first principles notes/app platform I've been using for personal use that upends how apps and data relate. The goal is to reduce context switching costs to nearly 0 and reduce cognitive overhead for 80% of "life things". One is a social software approach to ending involuntary homelessness that is invasive enough that it needs tons of homelessness education for the general public and buy in from existing homelessness resources. I want to upend charitable giving by combatting the learned helplessness society inculcates from childhood.. because we perceive it as an intractable problem. Another is a platform for developers to "never" interview again and for high signal employed developers to capture 50/60% of profits going towards recruiters (piggy backing off my work with speaking talent and how speaker bureaus work.) I'd like to take an honest, well funded stab at those three things before I die, the notes app is the first on the docket because it's the easiest and I'm working my way there via bootstrapping atm because I'm weak at fundraising. Succeed or fail I want to birth these things into the world you know? Do my damndest before I die, that's really it.
jandrese 5y ago
I'd imagine a good number of those new to the top 100 were born into families in the top 1000. Sure they technically built their own tech company instead of inheriting their position, but they did so starting with a small 10M "loan" from their parents and already connected with the movers and shakers of Silicon Valley.
mmsimanga 5y ago
Anecdotal. In Africa my observation is that people who grew up poor are more driven than the ones who grew up middle class. Kids of middle class parents often can not tough it out and many tend to be spoilt. Many of my middle class contemporaries live below the standard of living they grew up in. They are less successful than their parents.
effingwewt 5y ago
Also, from personal experience people with those support networks almost always say 'And I did it all on my own!', though that's almost never the case. They don't see borrowing money or using connections as a favor. I've also heard them say 'If I was born today to a broke family I'd still be rich by 30! I'm a hustler!' These were my own family members and work colleagues, as well as an ex-girlfriend or two.

technofiend 5y ago

>Having parents who are able to lend / invest / gift modest sums of money is yet another step up the ladder. >All the way up to having parents with business / political contacts in the industry you are trying to move into. Well that and understanding how to leverage those contacts. I have people in my social circle that could serve as contacts, but the idea of asking for that makes me extremely uncomfortable. And if I somehow forced myself to do it, it would still end up in a "what now" situation because it's not really clear what next steps are. I think the kind of people who know how to operate in those circles have a skillset that's not taught in a CS/EE curriculum.

908B64B197 5y ago
> I think the kind of people who know how to operate in those circles have a skillset that's not taught in a CS/EE curriculum. You nailed it. I don't think there's any formal way of learning it either.

lostcolony 5y ago

Yeah; the ways that small differences lead to big changes in outcomes is super interesting. I was lucky to live in a state where my college tuition was mostly paid for, and with a parent who, despite making very little (worked in the school system), was still able to help support me with a stable home and to help cover some of the gaps (like living on campus). I was very lucky. I realized later on the advantages other people had though when talking with people; a work colleague whose parents, though not rich, were far better off than mine, and had equipped her with life skills I and my family simply did not have. It was from her I learned about the company 401k, and investing in general, and caused me to realize that I should be investing money, not saving it.

fellowniusmonk 5y ago

I started working full time at 15 to keep the roof over our families head after my mothers cancer diagnosis. Until the early death of both my parents I had an anti-safety net, I can vouch that people underestimate the soul crushing nature of real poverty. My own congenital heart defects cost me many surgeries, procedures and money. Thank goodness for medicaid for children, I would probably be dead without it. I have fought without connections or degree to hit 1% in earnings for my age bracket in my late 20s, but the lack of wealth, the lack of security means developing ideas requiring runway and capital is nearly impossible. Struggling and succeeding through the financial equivalent of having you head held underwater by life is very very different than even a lower middle class upbringing. Thank goodness software development exists, it has the closest thing to effectively 0 signaling/gatekeeping to a very good income. I'd still kill for a couple years of runway and the money to hire two or three devs.

gen220 5y ago
Speaking as someone with a not dissimilar background to yourself, and happening to have friends in similar circumstances. You might want to consider what it is, exactly, that you want out of your career. You already are in a position to give your children a 10x better life, if that’s something that drives you (this is a common denominator for a lot of people). The stress of chasing the 100x and the fear of the 0x, without connections and an infinite runway, might make you a 10x worse partner, parent, friend, etc. and you end up losing the things you were trying to secure. Again I don’t know you or what drives you, but just wanted to share this idea in case you hadn’t considered it before. Escaping poverty into 1% of income is a huge accomplishment that can never be diminished, from my humble armchair you don’t need to prove anything more to people. You’ve made it.
- fellowniusmonk 5y ago
  The heart defect thing definitely puts me in a weird psychological bucket when it comes to underlying drive/motivation. I've only met one adult that had similar feelings/views and they had childhood multiple recurrence leukemia. I have some concepts that I want to try to bring into the world. One is a first principles notes/app platform I've been using for personal use that upends how apps and data relate. The goal is to reduce context switching costs to nearly 0 and reduce cognitive overhead for 80% of "life things". One is a social software approach to ending involuntary homelessness that is invasive enough that it needs tons of homelessness education for the general public and buy in from existing homelessness resources. I want to upend charitable giving by combatting the learned helplessness society inculcates from childhood.. because we perceive it as an intractable problem. Another is a platform for developers to "never" interview again and for high signal employed developers to capture 50/60% of profits going towards recruiters (piggy backing off my work with speaking talent and how speaker bureaus work.) I'd like to take an honest, well funded stab at those three things before I die, the notes app is the first on the docket because it's the easiest and I'm working my way there via bootstrapping atm because I'm weak at fundraising. Succeed or fail I want to birth these things into the world you know? Do my damndest before I die, that's really it.

jandrese 5y ago

I'd imagine a good number of those new to the top 100 were born into families in the top 1000. Sure they technically built their own tech company instead of inheriting their position, but they did so starting with a small 10M "loan" from their parents and already connected with the movers and shakers of Silicon Valley.

mmsimanga 5y ago

Anecdotal. In Africa my observation is that people who grew up poor are more driven than the ones who grew up middle class. Kids of middle class parents often can not tough it out and many tend to be spoilt. Many of my middle class contemporaries live below the standard of living they grew up in. They are less successful than their parents.

effingwewt 5y ago

Also, from personal experience people with those support networks almost always say 'And I did it all on my own!', though that's almost never the case. They don't see borrowing money or using connections as a favor. I've also heard them say 'If I was born today to a broke family I'd still be rich by 30! I'm a hustler!' These were my own family members and work colleagues, as well as an ex-girlfriend or two.