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would you mind giving a greater explanation of what they mean by this? I couldn't grok the meaning from context, other than the obvious its not really possible

would you mind giving a greater explanation of what they mean by this? I couldn't grok the meaning from context, other than the obvious its not really possible to simply startup half baked out of your house or something along those lines

masfuerte 1y ago
It's saying that even just having a garage is a privilege.
- mensetmanusman 1y ago
  Even being able to type in a comment box is a privilege, as is life.
  - groby_b 1y ago
    Meanwhile, you're missing the wider point: You don't get to claim "everybody can do this from nothing" if the "nothing" is actually a substantial amount of implicit access to resources. Nobody (well, few) begrudge that privilege, but you cannot have a reasonable discussion about what led to success by leaving out major factors.
- jackphilson 1y ago
  Even the amount of agency you have is a privilege. Hard determinism.
ryandrake 1y ago
It means these guys didn't literally start from nothing. They had a house in the suburbs with a garage, and that implies at least some level of funding and privilege. A leg up that the guy in the trailer park might not have.
- mbrumlow 1y ago
  Sure. But I think the notion is that a huge group of people also had that same level funding and privilege, but did nothing with it. Like why did these guys neighbors not end up billionaire. Or the other people in their class or school. While they may have had some money it’s not like they took fathers 500 billion and turned it in to a nice 200 billion for them self. They clearly did something different out of the very large common group they belonged to.
  - jacobsenscott 1y ago
    Random chance, and maybe a little skill.
    - bluefirebrand 1y ago
      Don't forget connections Having well connected parents and family is huge, and a big part of why a lot of these people are so wildly successful
      - FuriouslyAdrift 1y ago
        That's how Elizabeth Holmes went from a rando Stanford drop out to a "billionaire" Her father was head of a Federal govt agency at one point and a VP at Enron (I know, I know). Also, a direct descendant of the Fleischmann yeast family. Her mother also had worked as a Congressional aide.
  - ryandrake 1y ago
    > They clearly did something different Survivorship bias that results from looking back at the winners. If we asked 1000 people to flip a coin 10 times, probability says one will end up flipping heads 10 times in a row. Looking only backwards after the fact, what did he do different? Is he just a better coin flipper? There is likely a person in their 20s right now who in 40 years we will look back on because they founded the world's first $100T company. Who is it? If we knew it was deterministic and that some "thing they did" caused success, we would all just do that thing.
- Jensson 1y ago
  Everyone starts with something, the guy in the trailer park is thousands times better off than the guy in the savannah. But an average person in USA starts out with a garage, that isn't a high bar.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
monknomo 1y ago
What I took from it is that the story about starting a company in a garage is about the humble origins. But to start a company in a garage you must have access to a garage; lots of people do not have this level of resources. The origins of these companies are not as humble as they sound, they rely access to resources that are not actually common (unless you look from the POV of a well-offish 'middle class' family)
- mixmastamyk 1y ago
  Yes, though in the eighties and somewhat to the nineties you could own a home with modest job.
  - FuriouslyAdrift 1y ago
    That was the era before globalization hollowed out the middle class
    - mixmastamyk 1y ago
      Ok, though believe the major factor was a refusal to build enough new housing.
- jacobsenscott 1y ago
  Having a garage isn't enough. A lot of people with garages need to work everyday to pay for their garage, and food, and everything else. Bezos and Jobs both had free garages and free time paid for by their parents. I would bet the others mentioned in the post had the same sort of freebies.
  - tdrz 1y ago
    I got a lot of freebies from my parents and never been able to build a multi-billion dollar company. I do believe you need someone to have your back for the basics, but there's much more to it.
  - throwaway-blaze 1y ago
PeterFBell 1y ago
If you live with your parent in a double wide in a trailer park and need to work at the local Target every night since high school to make enough money to help pay for groceries for the family, you might have a harder time working 100 hour weeks on the off chance that you'll raise a round and start a company. You probably also don't know many VC's or live too close to where they hang out. Anyone can start a billion dollar business. Anyone who does so is probably extremely smart and extremely hard working. There are some very smart, hard working folks for whom the path to starting a company is harder than for others.
indoordin0saur 1y ago
These successes come from the middle-class, not the working classes. You could take it further and note that even just owning a home as a young person isn't really attainable for the middle-class anymore. Things were simply easier back then.

masfuerte 1y ago

It's saying that even just having a garage is a privilege.

mensetmanusman 1y ago
Even being able to type in a comment box is a privilege, as is life.
- groby_b 1y ago
  Meanwhile, you're missing the wider point: You don't get to claim "everybody can do this from nothing" if the "nothing" is actually a substantial amount of implicit access to resources. Nobody (well, few) begrudge that privilege, but you cannot have a reasonable discussion about what led to success by leaving out major factors.
jackphilson 1y ago
Even the amount of agency you have is a privilege. Hard determinism.

ryandrake 1y ago

It means these guys didn't literally start from nothing. They had a house in the suburbs with a garage, and that implies at least some level of funding and privilege. A leg up that the guy in the trailer park might not have.

mbrumlow 1y ago
Sure. But I think the notion is that a huge group of people also had that same level funding and privilege, but did nothing with it. Like why did these guys neighbors not end up billionaire. Or the other people in their class or school. While they may have had some money it’s not like they took fathers 500 billion and turned it in to a nice 200 billion for them self. They clearly did something different out of the very large common group they belonged to.
- jacobsenscott 1y ago
  Random chance, and maybe a little skill.
  - bluefirebrand 1y ago
    Don't forget connections Having well connected parents and family is huge, and a big part of why a lot of these people are so wildly successful
    - FuriouslyAdrift 1y ago
      That's how Elizabeth Holmes went from a rando Stanford drop out to a "billionaire" Her father was head of a Federal govt agency at one point and a VP at Enron (I know, I know). Also, a direct descendant of the Fleischmann yeast family. Her mother also had worked as a Congressional aide.
- ryandrake 1y ago
  > They clearly did something different Survivorship bias that results from looking back at the winners. If we asked 1000 people to flip a coin 10 times, probability says one will end up flipping heads 10 times in a row. Looking only backwards after the fact, what did he do different? Is he just a better coin flipper? There is likely a person in their 20s right now who in 40 years we will look back on because they founded the world's first $100T company. Who is it? If we knew it was deterministic and that some "thing they did" caused success, we would all just do that thing.
Jensson 1y ago
Everyone starts with something, the guy in the trailer park is thousands times better off than the guy in the savannah. But an average person in USA starts out with a garage, that isn't a high bar.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

monknomo 1y ago

What I took from it is that the story about starting a company in a garage is about the humble origins. But to start a company in a garage you must have access to a garage; lots of people do not have this level of resources. The origins of these companies are not as humble as they sound, they rely access to resources that are not actually common (unless you look from the POV of a well-offish 'middle class' family)

mixmastamyk 1y ago
Yes, though in the eighties and somewhat to the nineties you could own a home with modest job.
- FuriouslyAdrift 1y ago
  That was the era before globalization hollowed out the middle class
  - mixmastamyk 1y ago
    Ok, though believe the major factor was a refusal to build enough new housing.
jacobsenscott 1y ago
Having a garage isn't enough. A lot of people with garages need to work everyday to pay for their garage, and food, and everything else. Bezos and Jobs both had free garages and free time paid for by their parents. I would bet the others mentioned in the post had the same sort of freebies.
- tdrz 1y ago
  I got a lot of freebies from my parents and never been able to build a multi-billion dollar company. I do believe you need someone to have your back for the basics, but there's much more to it.
- throwaway-blaze 1y ago

PeterFBell 1y ago

If you live with your parent in a double wide in a trailer park and need to work at the local Target every night since high school to make enough money to help pay for groceries for the family, you might have a harder time working 100 hour weeks on the off chance that you'll raise a round and start a company. You probably also don't know many VC's or live too close to where they hang out. Anyone can start a billion dollar business. Anyone who does so is probably extremely smart and extremely hard working. There are some very smart, hard working folks for whom the path to starting a company is harder than for others.

indoordin0saur 1y ago

These successes come from the middle-class, not the working classes. You could take it further and note that even just owning a home as a young person isn't really attainable for the middle-class anymore. Things were simply easier back then.