He was speaking specifically about Indian startups, and he did say they should try anyway, Which means he clearly thought there was some non-zero (but not very

He was speaking specifically about Indian startups, and he did say they should try anyway, Which means he clearly thought there was some non-zero (but not very non-zero) chance one could succeed. It sort of is the most banal possible thing, and I'm sure he never even would have guessed that comment would have been repeated or been controversial (it was long ago). It's like if Toyota said you couldn't make a dependable car for $5,000 but hey, go try and prove me wrong. It's nothing