[xhgdvjky]

No doubt inequality is an issue, but this seems pretty harsh on Zach Dell. His ventures failed... most do. So he tried something else and got what sounds like a pretty reasonable job... 22 year old analyst at a big Corp... not that crazy. I know a few ex-founders who have gone to companies after their ventures failed (and they aren't heirs to bns). the tone of the article sounds like they want to see him go to debtors prison!

also... yes... top schools are pandering to the rich. but how else do they offer scholarships? American gov't stays out of this (mostly), so it's up to the schools to make ends meet. the schools want to pay for many families, but to do so they need donors. I actually think that's better than only letting rich people attend (and not having scholarships). it's not a final solution, but in the big picture, it's a step forward.

[CydeWeys]

Similarly, I was briefly involved in a failed startup in college. We lost, at maximum, something like $20k.

I gained a lot of experience doing it and came out of it much better off skills-wise, increasing my value to future employers. It would be absurd to count that experience against me; being involved in a startup in university really should count in your favor. They almost all fail anyway.

But I don't come from obscene wealth so no one's gonna bother coming after me.

[semiotagonal]

It was a bit harsh on the Dell kids; they actually seemed to have learned from their mistake and never sought to be on "rich kids of Instagram" in the first place. Except for the fact that he's on a private plane, the thought process isn't that different than any "bro" ordering 100 Chicken McNuggets and getting a picture taken.

Nevertheless, rich kids are clogging up the system, both in competition for capital investment (rich kids know how to ask for money), and in saturating the market with money-losing businesses that crowd out those that actually need to make money.

[d883kd8]

Also, the first app started in 2014, making him 17 at the time. Unreal that the author tries to use this to paint him as incompetent rather than precocious.

[xhgdvjky]

not sure if that's better or worse but I didn't notice that myself. ty

[iamasoftwaredev]

I think the point is more that he's a useless failson who can just go from thing to thing wasting massive amounts of money and it doesn't matter.

[davidw]

> how else do they offer scholarships

With their massive endowments.

[aantix]

How do they build a massive endowment?

[throwaway_law]

In theory by accepting and graduating students on merit, who then become successful and donate back to their institutions. Not by using their tax exempt status to solicit beneficial tax deductions from the rich in exchange for accepting their children who otherwise wouldn't be accepted.

It should be illegal for any school that is either: a) tax exempt; or b) a state institution to admit a student in exchange for money.

[jimbokun]

Now that I think of it, it should be illegal for any school to enroll a student whose parents donated to the school.

Eliminate "dean's list" admissions in one fell swoop.

[davidw]

Mostly donations from graduates who have done well. I suppose if you want to look at the data you could figure out how much of that is some kind of quid-pro-quo to get those people's otherwise not terribly worthy kids in vs how many are simply moved to contribute.