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It's also self-serving. There simply doesn't exist $200M for every software engineer out of college. But if this guy, a venture capitalist, can get a thousand more people to think they'll win the lottery, invests in all of them, and 999 go bust, he'll still make money on the one startup that succeeds by being in the right place at the right time.

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I started learning about startups only after I started reading Hacker News in 2006. I was an engineer for most of my career up until then. Reading Paul Graham's essays changed my life, and it changed the life of thousands of people I've met now known for over 10 years, as an alum, a partner at Y Combinator and now an investor.

Guilty, it is self-serving. It's my business. But I also know from direct experience people who can make software are capable of building billions of dollars worth of value.

I funded more than 200 companies worth over $36B now.

And I started just like you, here, reading Hacker News.

Do you think that every reader of Hacker News can do that? Logistically, how would it work?

I'm not disputing that "people who can make software are capable of building billions of dollars worth of value." Of course that's true. I'm disputing that everyone who makes software can individually capture even hundreds of millions of dollars worth of value.

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