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Comment by kevinskii | Hacker News Reader

A person who spends his childhood as a poor immigrant and then goes on to achieve considerable financial success through hard work and merit is "accomplished," not "privileged."

That he would be willing to risk everything on a startup is indeed courageous.

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It's such a sad spectacle to see petty jealousy (or at least lack of empathy) by commenters here. As someone who grew up in a poor family and is now an immigrant, I can confirm that anything you achieve is earned and accomplished. There is no privilege, just because one manages to make 6 figures a year through hard work. OP has balls, big ones, to give up such a good job to try his hand at a startup.

As other people have mentioned, it's a lot easier to try a startup when you've had a chance to save money from a $250,000 salary. Plus, you have the experience working for a big PE firm so you know you can always find another great job. I love hearing these stories, but his 'risk' wasn't really as great as someone who quits an $80,000 job with $10,000 in savings. I know that story too well :)

Indeed, but still, you gotta give him some credit. Not sure that I would take a shot at entrepreneurship given a comfy six figure salary.

On the flipside, someone who makes very little also knows how to live with very little. I make $30k and have $5k in the bank - I am not terribly worried about quitting my job in the near future. I already make garbage salary, living off my own savings won't be very different.

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