[throwaway-blaze]

Is the contrapositive also true? If Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos had been dirt poor in childhood rather than solidly middle class, would they not have had success? I.e. how much weight should we put on the things out of their control vs within their control?

[bluefirebrand]

It is impossible to know of course, but it is probably fair to say that if they had been born dirt poor they would have been much less likely to have the kind if incredible success that they did have

People like to say that success is right time, right place, but that's not all there is to it. You also need sufficient resources to take advantage of opportunity

Sitting on a gold mine does not matter if you don't have a shovel

Having a shovel doesn't matter if you don't know where to dig

And you need to have enough time ('runway' in startup speak) to actually try digging for gold in the first place

[ryandrake]

The cartoon "On A Plate"[1] comes to mind in this discussion.

1: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/the-wireless/373065/the-pencilswo...

[bluefirebrand]

Thanks for sharing, this is spot on

[Nevermark]

You need enough of both.

Few would suggest anyone having time, a place, necessities covered well enough, and few distractions is going to be ensured success.

But with those things, someone who also has ideas, insights, a strong work ethic (or often much better, a strong natural enthusiasm for something useful) has much better chances.