[shareometry]

I strongly disagree with your second point. There are quite a few very successful entrepreneurs who have started companies while being mired in terrible financial circumstances. In fact, it's very common for these circumstances to be the stimulus that gets people moving in the direction of their own company. There are many, many stories of this, to the point that it's a cliché.

I myself started my first business at a time when I had virtually no money in the bank, and my car was literally repossessed one month before my business became profitable. If I had stopped and said "I can't afford this" and just given up and gone to get a job, I would have never seen the success that came later.

Also, you point out particular entrepreneurs who came from rich families. You completely leave out the wide array of entrepreneurs who did not. John Paul DeJoria, for example, was living on a friend's property because he was homeless and had almost no money. He started his business in those circumstances. He's estimated at somewhere in the ballpark of 3 billion net worth presently. There are quite a few stories of people with virtually no money building empires out of the rubble.

While I agree that there are a number of factors that feed into whether a startup is successful or not, I would kindly submit to you that one's attitude towards whether or not it can be accomplished is a very massive part of the picture. It takes focus and determination to get most businesses off the ground. Once you begin listing the reasons you can't accomplish it, you've begun setting up the circumstances such that you won't.

[simonebrunozzi]

Truth is, the list is very personal.

For me (formerly well-paid executive at IT companies in the US, originally from Italy), #2 (plus, some reserve money) was absolutely necessary to convince myself to leave my last job and start a company, last year.

[laythea]

It seems that you were fortunate that the burden of your decision was light, but this would not be the case, generally I would have thought.

[enraged_camel]

>>I strongly disagree with your second point. There are quite a few very successful entrepreneurs who have started companies while being mired in terrible financial circumstances

Textbook example of self-selection bias and survivorship bias.

Even if you compiled a list, it would tell you nothing about the number of people who would have started companies had they not been mired in terrible financial circumstances.

[vokep]

If you compiled a list of all successful entrepreneurs and it was overwhelmingly full of ones who were poor when they started, it would suggest that such circumstances raise the chance of being able to succeed as an entrepreneur. More analysis of different stats would have to be done to elevate that beyond just a suggestion. Personally I feel that at least to some degree it could be the case. (Necessity is the mother of invention, and limitation actually helps creativity far more than abundance) I didn't grow up poor necessarily, though there were times growing up that things were limited quite a bit. I do believe these times are disproportionately responsible for my abilities today, as well as happiness.

[scarface74]

It doesn't hurt to be wealthy and/or well connected.

https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/do-you-need-a-wealthy-backg...