29-Year-Old Rejected by 35 Potential Employers. Now, Co-Founder of $1B Startup | Hacker News Reader

29-Year-Old Rejected by 35 Potential Employers. Now, Co-Founder of $1B Startup

entrepreneur.com

13 pointsALee5 comments

Would've made for a more interesting story if the guy hadn't come from money and actually worked his way up from nothing.

To be fair, it sounds like his family members were decidedly middle class entrepreneurs. It doesn't sound at all like he "came from money."

And as for "interestingness":

“I wouldn’t be here without my brother or the other guys at Twitch. That’s probably the most important thing,” he says. "Not just having an idea or executing on an idea -- it’s all about the connections that you have and the people you know and the people who support you.”

I actually appreciate the fact that the article tells it like it is. We might want to prefer to believe that if we just have the right idea, we can beat out the people who went to the right schools, and/or had amazingly successful family members -- without working 10x as hard. But in reality, it just isn't so.

My point was that this is just another story about a guy from a wealthy family who goes on to become very wealthy himself. Reminds me of the cliche where someone who is definitely not poor goes to a prestigious university, has an idea, creates a startup, drops out, becomes rich.

Reminds me of the cliche where someone who is definitely not poor goes to a prestigious university, has an idea, creates a startup, drops out, becomes rich.

Yup, it definitely is kind of a cliche. And unfortunately it's more often the way things actually work. (Thinking of certain "founders" I've known who definitely would not have been, had it not been for family connections).

This path will always exist due to confirmation bias resulting from rational decision making. Someone grows up wealthy, gets opportunities to go to a prestigious university, and accepts it. Should they have said no to the university? Of course not... so their rational decision making advances them one step further on the self-perpetuating path. Next, they're at university and they meet some people who introduce them to venture capitalists. Should they refuse the introduction, since not everyone gets to talk to venture capitalists? Of course not... so they make a rational decision and take the venture capital.

I agree with your sentiment that this is a common trope. I'm merely suggesting that it is inevitable and self-perpetuating. As long as people make rational decisions to accept the best opportunities offered to them, they will funnel themselves into the "path of privilege," maybe without even realizing it.

Of course, it's questionable whether the best opportunities are the ones that only come to you because of your status.... usually that means there is excess supply of those opportunities and you are on the verge of entering a culling machine. (See: recent increase in CS majors)

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