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Just because a business isn't suited for investment by VCs doesn't mean it's not a great investment for its owners nor that they necessarily possess lesser busi

• netcan 18y ago
  Nor does it mean that they can't scale.
  • ambition 18y ago
    Actually, it does. If they had businesses that scaled, they'd be well above the million-dollar mark and in the even-tinier minority. But I'll go one further and suggest there's a causal link in play here: The half that are business owners are people who make their money precisely in businesses that don't scale. They own and operate local businesses which are natural geographic monopolies and they don't get crushed by large multinational competitors because of that fact. For example, these are businesses like landscaping companies, local shops, construction contractors, and services businesses. Also note that a chunk of the 50% that don't own businesses are well-paid, sometimes independent professionals such as doctors, lawyers, architects and engineers. Again, their source of income does not scale, so they get rich by cutting costs.
• ambition 18y ago
  I didn't intend to imply anything about inferiority. The people described here have a different mentality. They get rich by avoiding risks and cutting costs. It is a slow and systematic process with guaranteed results. Startup people get rich by taking big risks and working hard to increase their top-line productivity and wealth-creation. It is relatively fast and chaotic process with unpredictable results.
  • huherto 18y ago
    At the same time startup people have to cut their costs to the minimum.