What’s weird to me is that I don’t see more successful founders mentioning that having economically well-off parents being a factor in their success. I’ve long since accepted that any success I’ve had or will have will be, at least partially, a result of my privileged upbringing. I used to be a bit bothered by that, but now I’m happy to give tons of credit for any of my own successes to my parents. And anytime I hear about startup founders achieving success despite coming from poorer families or even hostile environments, I’m super impressed.

Could also be genetic. You'd have to design an experiment (or, more likely, find a natural experiment) that controls for genetics to know.

So which is it: income, or wealth?

And that's also the reason why most successful entrepreneurs rise to new wealth in rich countries. It's just easier to get money where money is.

Outlying cases are irrelevant. Of course people overcome the odds in both directions. But given equal driving ability, the Ferrari will always win the race, take the prize money, and buy their children a Ferrari.

>>People who start out with wealth seldom create wealth.<<

What is the basis of that statement? Bill Gates was born to a very wealthy family. Warren Buffet was born to a stockbroker-turned-Congressman, so definitely at least upper middle class. Carlos Slim Helu has been quoted saying "I came from a wealthy family. I have always had money."

Seems the top three wealth-generators in the world were born wealthy. They attended Harvard, Columbia, and the university consistently ranked the best in Latin America, respectively.

The only thing I'm astonished at is that there are people who have so little understanding of how the world works that they think poverty and wealth are not both self-perpetuating.

- Finance: As per article family financial support can get people over one of the biggest hurdles of getting a business off the ground. Also coming from an upper income family odds are you have a higher income and more savings to invest/risk.

- People they grew up around: If you grow up around people owning/running companies you are more likely to see this as a reality for yourself. You also have personalities to emulate in chasing this goal.

- History of tech: Wealthier families has more access to tech in the past, although changing today. In my school age most kids didn't have access to their own computer, even at uni. This would be a barrier to leaning about IT that could build future behavior.

- Connections: Growing up in a privileged environment you develop connections that can be useful. Also learn how to behave among people who are in a position of power to help you and develop the 'we are similar people' bond.

- Sense of Entitlement: A great line from Rory Sutherlands TED talk was Oxford/Cambridge doesn't buy you a great education, it buys you a great sense of entitlement. This give you confidence to go achieve great things. In my small world I have clearly seen this difference from people who grew up on different side of the tracks though it seems to be changing a bit now.

- Expectations: People growing up in a more privileged world have higher expectations placed on them. To a degree this can push people to try harder to build something significant rather than just reach a reasonable level of comfort a more general job will offer.

- Fallback Option: I imagine this is one of the more important, people from a comfortable family know if their venture goes south they wont be homeless. Their family/friends will make sure they have board, food and an ability to restart. This puts them in a position to risk all with out the same downside.

But given that the secret to successfully launching a business is to have enough resources to fail many times, it stands to reason that successful startups are highly dependent on founder funding (and thus, parental wealth).

I'd say most are rich - false. Tend to come from wealthier than average backgrounds - true.

In my perception many of the rich kids lack the drive to work as hard as you need to, to become a successful entrepreneur, instead opting for a safer route. Granted, if you are from a really poor background and live in the US without much of a social safety net, I could see how that could hamper your prospects, but that's hardly a problem where I'm from.

Not only are wealthier people, or people from wealthier families, more likely to be able to take the time to start a business, but they are also able to try and fail many times until they succeed.

But I would guess there is a fall off when you get to a certain level of wealth. A very wealthy heir would be less likely to be driven to start a business.

So you need just enough poverty to create desire and urgency, but not so much that you have to stay stuck at a dead end job to make ends meet.

I came from a middle class home and while my parents didn't ever give me much money, they were always there as a safety net. If things didn't work out, I would always have a hot meal and a bed to sleep ok if I needed it.

Not to mention, they were able to co-sign on my first home loan and paid for half of my first car. Generational wealth - whether it is in cash, land, homes, education, or even just good credit, is a powerful thing.

If you count top 10% as wealthy, sure then you need to be wealthy to make it big. A kid with top 10% parents has everything they need to succeed and create a top company. A poor kid doesn't, true, but a poor kid in USA still has everything they need to get to top 10%, and then their kids has everything they need to become top 0.1%. So you are right, this process isn't perfect, but it works in 2 generations, which is still really good compared to historically.

Another reason is luck. My father worked from nothing to owning a house in a nice place because he had a skill that was in demand. He nearly lost it all and is now scraping a living in his 70's, because technology made his skill less valuable. 10 more years of luck he would have retired at 50 and I would have had the advantages...

Someone, mentioned that rich people were better looking. Perhaps they are just healthier, better dressed, and better groomed?

2.) Rich people marry more often. There is strong cultural expectation that you marry oafter you are self sufficient and stable. However, being married does not make you rich.

3.) If you are establishing emergency fund, then you are less poor. Also, poor don't do career choices, they have jobs or don't have jobs.

Poor people don't uniformly treat their children poorly. But startup founders profit from three advantages only rich people can provide: (1) the money for an Ivy League education, (2) the knowledge that there's some security to fall back on in case of failure, and (3) the knowledge how to make small talk, what to wear etc. when meeting investors and other stakeholders.

All these can be solved by policy: university scholarships for (1) and, through that, a bit of (3), plus (3) some form of social safety net that allows everyone to fail without fearing to starve.