Entrepreneurs don?t have a special gene for risk?they come from families with money
 

We?re in an era of the cult of the entrepreneur. We analyze the Tory Burches and Evan Spiegels of the world looking for a magic formula or set of personality traits that lead to success. Entrepreneurship is on the rise, and more students coming out of business schools are choosing startup life over Wall Street.

But what often gets lost in these conversations is that the most common shared trait among entrepreneurs is access to financial capital?family money, an inheritance, or a pedigree and connections that allow for access to financial stability. While it seems that entrepreneurs tend to have an admirable penchant for risk, it?s usually that access to money which allows them to take risks.

And this is a key advantage: When basic needs are met, it?s easier to be creative; when you know you have a safety net, you are more willing to take risks. ?Many other researchers have replicated the finding that entrepreneurship is more about cash than dash,? University of Warwick professor Andrew Oswald tells Quartz. ?Genes probably matter, as in most things in life, but not much.?

University of California, Berkeley economists Ross Levine and Rona Rubenstein analyzed the shared traits of entrepreneurs in a 2013 paper, and found that most were white, male, and highly educated. ?If one does not have money in the form of a family with money, the chances of becoming an entrepreneur drop quite a bit,? Levine tells Quartz.

Continued http://qz.com/455109/entrepreneurs-d...es-with-money/

it's not the money, it's being a living example that you can achieve goals. when you are a fucking lazy bum that lives from government benefits, how can your children learn from that?

but there are enough people that are proof that when you work hard you can be successful even when you don't come from a family with money

Yeah... some of that may be true, but its also the money.

according to the research, it's the money.

This is something I noticed a long time ago, a lot of the people I looked up to that started a successful business had parents that were doctors or lawyers.

It just makes you realize it's true when they say "it takes money to make money"

I had grandparents that loaned me $75,000 with a $50,000 letter of credit when I was 23. I paid them back when I was 25. Hard work made the business succeed but capital got it started.

It's more about being openminded enough to push the boundaries and go beyond your comfort zone.

it takes a lot of FAITH in your vision to be an entrepreneur.

You often have to burn your boats behind you so you can get the RESOLVE you need to keep pushing forward.

Nothing genetic about that.

That's purely LEARNED behavior.

My parents lived under the poverty line for most of my childhood, but they were in business for themselves and I'm proud of them. That being said, they didn't ever get the proper startup capital and struggled to compete. It's no surprise 3/4 of their children work for the government now :P

no reward without risk

Good excuse ...
Their family got the money how?
The money didn't fall from the sky.

That said, education allows for opportunity. Parents of means can afford to educate their children -- get it?

ahahaha. the BS never stops.

believing that is what keeps you on the bottom.:2 cents:

exactly. go back to the generation that became wealthy and you'll see they started with nothing, worked hard, were shrewd, and never lost sight of the prize.
Darwin demands that the cream rise and the bottom dies off.
We've simply been fucking too much with darwin through our generosity towards the bottom.

Sounds like someone likes to paint with broad strokes.

Not really. It is a trait that you can see from the young age - when a kid is hustling (in a good way) like selling something, buying low selling higher etc etc. Like selling chocolates at school, whatever. This trait has nothing to do with money.

BUT. Money helps of course.

Lets say you take 100 entrepreneurs with family money and 100 entrepreneurs without family money. Lets say all of them are equally intelligent and equally "entrepreneurish".

Of course those from money will get higher results because money definitely helps to kickstart everything faster.

But entrepreneurship "gene" can be born in poor families as well.
Of course with wealthy families kid has more examples of making money, that helps motivation. Or even helps because he naturally starts thinking "I should do something as well". Examples encourage.

Lots of web developers started with no money; they illegally downloaded photoshop, illustrator and Flash to save thousands of dollars.

:1orglaugh

Elon Musk's mom on raising the Businessperson of the Year - Fortune

Elon Musk's parents were not rich just educated solid middle class ...

Money just makes it easier becaus you don't have to focus on how to get the money to do what you are trying to do. You just do it. You can still start with nothing, but it's much, much harder..

The thing that gets me with the whole "start up" thing which plagues us, is none of these guys are worried about their start up "making money". They are worried about finding investors and getting it popular then selling it off for a profit.

It's amazing that that trend has been going on this long, like its a legitimate business model. To me it's just like the housing market, where they keep putting people into $300k homes whom can only afford a $100k home at best..

It's just a matter of time before it all crashes again.. It's like everything is just a big Ponzi scam, just sucking money out of fools hands..

You base this assertion on...?

The number of Mofo's who posted saying they had to buy them now.

:1orglaugh

Good that you kept a tally that way.

Are you talking abut statistics or comforting anecdotes? Yes there are people who started poor with poor parents who became successful. They are just a lot rarer than people who became successful entrepreneurs who had wealthy or upper middle families. In fact, most research shows that poverty negates the value of a high IQ. Some people also win the lottery - does that mean they should open a business school and advocate everyone sitting on their asses and buying lottery tickets?

Being poor is a better motivator than being already rich. I call bullshit.

so you advocate sitting on your ass and NOT trying?
EVERY successful family at one time wasn't. You can settle for being a lemming or you can try to succeed.
There's no harm in settling as long as you don't bitch and whine about those who didn't.

Pure horse shit IMO

Have a look at this article. I find such way of looking at it pretty unique. You can agree or not but some statements make totally sense.

» Face It: You’re NOT An Entrepreneur

A lady on this recording was talking about her business and Tony asked her,

“Would you ever sell it? I mean, if someone offered you money right now?”

Her answer was a fast and resounding,

“No!”

“Then you’re not an entrepreneur,” Tony said. “You’re an artist.”

……



The question is—who are you REALLY? Because when you understand and embrace that, you’ll find yourself in state of flow a lot more often. Resistance of who you are is the quickest way to misery.

The article is a good read with examples.

Most people with money have a drive to make more. This is their culture and that's what gets passed on.

Having money and no drive = ruin.
Having drive and no money = opportunity.

There are enough lottery winners now bankrupt, and enough people who started with nothing now millionaires, to confirm my theory.

It's more about what your parents install in you, rather than what they give you.

I started hustling when I was very young. Selling candy, then other things. Started businesses left and right, never taking in capital from anyone. Had no family money to tap..

:thumbsup

how does stating a well attested truth become an recommendation for laziness? In the mind of 12clicks! Thats how!

IMHO you should try as hard as you possibly can - rage, rage against the hand you were dealt. But acknowledge the truth. See how you can do both?

Nahh not really. Its the drive to make the money.

It's the money.

If you give someone a large sum of money and tell them to open up a profit generating business with no or little risk for them, chances are they could do it and would do it.

Perhaps it was the lottery reference, silly punk.

Incorrect.
The ones with no head for business would fail.
The adult internet is a perfect example. It WAS like hitting the lottery if you got here early. Sadly, 99.999% of those people didn't have a head for business and are no longer here.

It's ALL about ability

the last thing losers want to admit is that hard work and determination can take you where you want to go in life.

OR, they were brought up to be responsible, business minded ?:2 cents:

my family had no money, my starting capital for this company was 6 months 60% of my previous income from a special program from the german unemployement office for people that want to become self employed and my mother gave me 1000 ? so i could attend Internext Miami 2004

12 years later i am not filthy rich but i think our company still does very well as content producers in this times of this business

and i don't need to work for others for additional income

:2 cents:

And lose the money very fast.

I was in a business with little risk, needed limited skills, and a constant demand, and did very well. Can't start to list the number of people who tried it and went broke trying to do the same.

Respect for you my brother but you are one person and one story. The simple fact is most successful entrepreneurs come from some money.

Whoa! Now we know what happened to the 13th click!

there are two kinds of people in the world. The successful and the people who tell long stories about why they aren't.

It's not the money.

I went from Foster Care as a child to working 3 fast food jobs to support myself, to teaching myself HTML when it wasn't taught in the college courses I was taking.

It's about believing enough in yourself, and what you want to create, that you wont fail, and if you do, it's ok. :2 cents:

I think brassmonkey is perfect example of successful businessman

something tells me a quick dig through any 'how i got started' would have a venture capitalist somewhere.. and some help from mom lol

That is typical middle class -- he was not a "trust fund" baby.

I don't agree with Herman Cain's political positions but he is a bootstrap success story :2 cents:
But that is the exception to the rule and a tough row to hoe.

no, but lucky he found one who was?

Telling personal anecdote after personal anecdote doesn't make the stats any less true. Did you know, an individual can be an exception to a general rule, or can fall outside of a norm? I couldn't find the Wikipedia for "Basic First Year Elementary 100a Introduction to Statistics for College Athletes" so you'll have to do your own search.

And 12 - I have never been out of the top 1% in 15 years bro. Fervently believing something that isn't true is what *really* keeps you down. What amazes me is the fact that many of you folks seem to have bucked the trend (as I did) but instead of recognizing it as an even more impressive accomplishment, you cling for some reason to the false narrative that success is readily available to anyone who will work. That is outright proven bullshit. In fact, the US right now is actually fairly class static. The Horatio Alger nonsense you are pushing here is just outdated and untrue. You individually may be very special - you may have accomplished a lot; no one is denying or contesting that. It doesn't change the facts.

Several people have fallen from planes without parachutes and survived. If they came in here and told you "I fell from a plane and survived so ANYONE can" would you go jump out of a plane?

Success Starts with Wealthy Parents, Study Finds

America?s elite:
An hereditary meritocracy

"Therefore, having lower levels of overall family wealth can serve as a crucial obstacle to the formation of many new businesses".

Over 90% are more or less average

http://percentgay.com/wp-content/upl...ellcurve_2.gif

You cannot buy intelligence. My grandfather was a Russian immigrant, arrived at Paris Island 11 years old with a suitcase, traveled in the steerage section of the ship (cheapest tickets), slept on the floor in his cousin's tenement apartment in a bad part of NYC, he was unschooled, could write poorly but could read.

He became a retired a millionaire at 48. He started out selling mens socks and underwear from a pushcart in New York City in the 1910's. But Louis was near genius level. He invented a new way to cut patterns in the garment manufacturing trade and ended up owning a managing share in a high-end ladies sports wear factory.

He was smart, self-educated and in a very different era he worked his way to the upper middle class. Three of his grandchildren are doctors: Two MD specialists and one PhD. My sister is a collage graduate ( just a BS Degree ) and then there is me -- I am like my grandfather but in a sleazy business -- oh well. I have traveled world wide more than my grandfather now and one day with some hard earned luck I may have more money than he ever had ... that won't be easy but I will keep trying. That is $10,000,000 = (1,000,000 in 1948) that is a lot of assets ... I'll never be a billionaire probably and it never really bothers me.

When Grandpa died in 1977 he left me $5,000.00 hardly a head start in life ...

I think that the highly successful entrepreneur is a very elite group. Probably less than 1% of people have this ability. Finding out that most successful entrepreneurs come from successful families should not be surprising. Only the best of the best are successful entrepreneurs. The DNA and attitude inherited from an elite family would give them an edge in addition to the money.