[schnitzelstoat]

This is just the myth they build for themselves though.

In reality, you have far more to lose when you start out with nothing because if you fail Daddy's not going to pay for you to go back to school and do your plan B. You have no safety net.

Empirically, this bears out as well. Successful entrepreneurs are overwhelmingly from the upper-middle/upper classes.

[brushfoot]

I like it because it was useful to me in quitting a well-paying job and venturing out on my own. Which was terrifying! Especially when, two weeks after I quit, a competitor announced they were giving away the feature I built my business around for free. It's been a wild ride.

[beezlebroxxxxxx]

Yeah, the vast majority of wealthy individuals will insist they "pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps" without realizing the original saying was meant to be satire, while willfully ignoring the hilarious amount of help from family, friends, and, yes, the government as well, they received along the way. They also ignore the biggest factor in success: luck.

This is also why 99% of CEO written self-help books are worker drone manuals --- insisting "you could be like me if you worked real hard too!" helps their bottom-line much more than it helps the person who reads those books.