A very small percentage of people can afford to take those risks. Whether their venture has merit or not is orthogonal to that. Paraphrasing Alan Kay (I think)

A very small percentage of people can afford to take those risks. Whether their venture has merit or not is orthogonal to that. Paraphrasing Alan Kay (I think): What if the next Einstein is born in precarious socioeconomic circumstances with little access to education and sufficient time and resources? And there are not only the young Einsteins but also plenty of smart, hard working people that are exhausted of wage labor and live paycheck to paycheck. They would gladly take things in their own hands, but they cannot risk their lives. Capitalism and the free market would be so great, if people could actually participate.