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While I agree to some extent with the point your trying to make, the way you phrase and portray this sounds like more of an excuse than a strong argument. >Bec

While I agree to some extent with the point your trying to make, the way you phrase and portray this sounds like more of an excuse than a strong argument. >Because they have family obligations that take priority This is on you. If your serious about it you should see this coming. Elons familial situation isn't exactly all flowers and roses. A lot of my friends who managed to start successful business started yong precisely because they saw this coming and new it would be difficult to do with a family. I would argue the exception is if you have parents who are sick or need heavy financial support or whatever. If this is the case, would be a fair argument in favor of being rich (or at least middle class) helps you get rich. >Because they live outside high-income countries I would argue this goes both ways. If anything a lot of countries are trying to pile into developing countries now cause that's where the growth is. Similarly I used to work in hk where living costs are absurd. Then I was relocated to China and after a while I quite my job to try my own thing because it was affordable to take the risk. You could live decently by being frugal with some savings and the benefit is still vastly in favor of being an owner than an employee. Access to education might be a differentiator but so many things are available for free online now. >Because they have no access to support network, so when they fail, they fall all the way to bottom I think this is related to two somewhat. It's also totally feasible to position yourself so that even if you fail you can still land on your feet, you just have to be conscious of it. >Because they may have made a crippling mistake in their pasts that now prevents them from reaching their full potential Again this is the same for everyone and is on you personally. Don't do anything stupid. But like I said, I generally agree that being rich or middle class definitely helps you become rich, but if you can go on and on about all these reasons your probably want to adjust your mindset as well

d_silin 6y ago
Well, I don't want to present my view in an absolutist manner, but there is a lot of survivorship bias in success stories. People tend not to note positive environment factors if they lived all their lives with them. And if you got burned through externalities beyond your control, you tend to be a bit sceptical on fairness of the game. Last, but not the least - "don't do anything stupid" is easy post-hoc, but think of your teenage mistakes and consequences of "doing stupid" during those years.
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jiofih 6y ago
Your mention of Musk should raise an alarm to your sense of reality. He comes from a well off family, moved to Canada at 17 to attend university. This alone already puts him at the top 1% of humanity in terms of privilege. Then he went on to attend Stanford... Not that it takes away from any of his achievements, but you are failing hard at realizing what things actually look like. > It's also totally feasible to position yourself so that even if you fail you can still land on your feet, you just have to be conscious of it This is the famous “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” said by someone who’s obviously never had to.
- ackbar03 6y ago
  My point about musk was more about his own children and relationships and how "family obligations" should be an obvious consideration if you want to start your own company. You shouldn't really complain about it after the fact. But fair enough, I'm not going to argue too much. Reading through the comments it seems that access to decent education and a stable family seems to be a generous assumption for many people around the world. I would say where I grow up in Asia, cases of abusive/dysfunctional families tends to be less than the west, and people in general have decent access to and awareness of the importance of education. There are a fair number of successful entrepreneurs who used to be villagers, mostly because a fairly large portion of people were farmers back then
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d_silin 6y ago

Well, I don't want to present my view in an absolutist manner, but there is a lot of survivorship bias in success stories. People tend not to note positive environment factors if they lived all their lives with them. And if you got burned through externalities beyond your control, you tend to be a bit sceptical on fairness of the game. Last, but not the least - "don't do anything stupid" is easy post-hoc, but think of your teenage mistakes and consequences of "doing stupid" during those years.

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jiofih 6y ago

Your mention of Musk should raise an alarm to your sense of reality. He comes from a well off family, moved to Canada at 17 to attend university. This alone already puts him at the top 1% of humanity in terms of privilege. Then he went on to attend Stanford... Not that it takes away from any of his achievements, but you are failing hard at realizing what things actually look like. > It's also totally feasible to position yourself so that even if you fail you can still land on your feet, you just have to be conscious of it This is the famous “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” said by someone who’s obviously never had to.

ackbar03 6y ago
My point about musk was more about his own children and relationships and how "family obligations" should be an obvious consideration if you want to start your own company. You shouldn't really complain about it after the fact. But fair enough, I'm not going to argue too much. Reading through the comments it seems that access to decent education and a stable family seems to be a generous assumption for many people around the world. I would say where I grow up in Asia, cases of abusive/dysfunctional families tends to be less than the west, and people in general have decent access to and awareness of the importance of education. There are a fair number of successful entrepreneurs who used to be villagers, mostly because a fairly large portion of people were farmers back then

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