[bobkazamakis]

ah yes, he famously had no connections before his career, and his parents were poor immigrants with only a few emerald mines.

[joenot443]

Are you suggesting most wealthy immigrants end up founding a litany of companies?

This is a bit like attributing Wayne Gretzky's success to the fact Walter was a seasoned coach and a huge hockey fan. Obviously it helps having parents to enable your talents, but it's ignorant to pretend that rich parents alone will allow you to rise to the top.

[IgorPartola]

Necessary but not sufficient is a phrase that comes to mind.

[jackmott42]

Even if we believe his dads stories, he owned less than 1 emerald mine.

[filoleg]

And iirc, the overall dollar value of that "less than 1 emerald mine" was barely in mid-high 5 figures. Of course, not adjusted for dollar value at the time, but that adjustment wouldn't balloon it up to 10 times that in 2022 dollars.