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Going from foodstamps to a $19B exit is not an example of "the rich getting super rich". There are phenomenal obstacles to overcome when going from foodstamps
by leothekim 13y ago
Going from foodstamps to a $19B exit is not an example of "the rich getting super rich".
There are phenomenal obstacles to overcome when going from foodstamps to something resembling an upper-middle class life. Even more so when you're an immigrant. That's the real truth.
You're close to rock-bottom with foodstamps. Unless you've experienced poverty - not the "why can't I have $400,000 what makes this prick so special" meme that's pervading the comments on this post, but the kind of poverty that is inescapable, makes you feel hopeless about your circumstance, and constantly forces you to make stark choices about which of the basic necessities you'll have to do without for the month - then there really is no basis to calling Koum's story "warped".
An example of poverty here: http://qr.ae/tgPlq http://qr.ae/tgPlq. Tl;dr - this guy went through bucketloads of shit, and still isn't out of the woods yet. Food stamps were of no use. Quote FTA: "... poverty can happen even to people you couldn't imagine it happening to, and when it does, it traps you like an ant lion." It's not the same story as Koum's, but what most people don't realize is how difficult it is to pull yourself out of poverty, especially when faced with mounting debts and health problems.
The fact that he went from virtually nothing to $400,000 in savings to the $19B exit is something that should be applauded, not derided.
- plg 13y agoI agree with what you're saying. I didn't mean to deride him at all. I was deriding the meme that is being promoted in the press that makes it sounds like someone with nothing suddenly created and released an app that suddenly sold for 19B. His story is absolutely to be applauded. If he was on food stamps as a kid then indeed he "had nothing". For me the great success of his story is that initial bit nobody is talking about, going from a kid on food stamps, to an engineer at Yahoo. That is the amazing story I wish we would be talking about more. That's the story that real, everyday kids could actually have a hope of duplicating. Not the 19B sale to Zuck. He didn't go from nothing -> 19B. He went from nothing -> Yahoo -> 19B... The better story to tell is that he went from nothing -> Yahoo
- leothekim 13y agoThanks for clarifying, plg.
- boomzilla 13y agoI definitely agree that the story from nothing to Yahoo has a lot more educational value, and that should be the story to tell your kids as it is something actionable and achievable through hard work. The step from Yahoo to 19B, sadly, is more catchy for the newspapers because it's a "rare event". People don't really want to read about the "boring" stories, they want the dreams. It's human natures though. Which one do you think your kids like better: fairy tales/feel good movies or home works?