from Hacker News

The wealthy parents of "self made" billionaires

by amin on 10/30/23, 10:30 PM with 36 comments

• by progne on 10/30/23, 11:39 PM

  To inherit a small fortune and just not lose it is admirable. Yet this person is mocking Bezos for turning a quite small fortune into one of the largest on the planet. As if it doesn't count if he didn't start from scratch. Privilege does not erase accomplishment.

• by amin on 10/30/23, 10:53 PM

  Of course parents who are wealthy, well connected and highly educated are able to give huge advantages to their children, and that’s okay. It also makes things like Y-Combinator even more important, as it gives people with drive access to funding, connections, the right advise etc. I submitted this post because the word “self made” is stretched and overused to the point where people forget important context.

• by vivekd on 10/30/23, 11:59 PM

  Maybe there are other factors besides just money. Like the fact that wealthy parents can afford invest more time into their kids, they have less financial stress so can focus more on parenting.

  Also having a successful person literally raise you from birth would probably contain a lot of lessons about sucess

  I think assertions like this miss alot because they automatically assume the wealthy parents helped them financially. It seems to feel of sort of idolizing of money, thinking money can solve most problems and achieve a great many things. I think that's a popular but flawed belief.

  As someone who started a moderately successful business in the past, I don't think just having money to pour into a startup is as important or as deciding a factor as people think

• by meowtimemania on 10/31/23, 12:09 AM

  I feel like the tweet author is of the belief that there is no such thing as extraordinary ability, only extraordinary privilege, and that nothing can be done to change one's lot in life.

  Miguel Bezos (Jeff Bezos's father) was a refugee from Cuba. Miguel came to the USA empty handed, got a scholarship to university, worked at Exxon for 32 years, invested in his son's (jeff bezos's) startup and became a billionaire because of that investment.

• by RcouF1uZ4gsC on 10/30/23, 11:11 PM

  > In reality Bezos's mommy and daddy gave him $245,573 to stop Amazon from failing in 1995.

  Actually, it is not that out of reach that a person who is a professional such as an engineer or a doctor or lawyer to have $250,000 to be able to give to an adult child.

  And it is possible for a poor person to encourage their children to study and become a doctor or engineer (see for example the Asian immigrant communities).

  Thus a person who comes to the US poor, could have a billionaire grandchild.

  And no other country offers this kind of opportunity at scale the way America does which is why so many people from all over the world endeavor to come here.

• by hilux on 10/30/23, 10:43 PM

  [Changing my original comment, since I've been informed that snark is not cool on HN. My mistake.]

  It's observably true that many high-profile founders and execs, especially in the US, come from well-off families.

  What's the lesson to draw from this? IMHO even if "my parents never gave ME a cent" is true (as it is for me, btw), how do I help myself by dwelling on that?

  We could increase taxes to provide better education and social services and increase opportunity for all (a la Finland), but is that a popular sentiment in the tech community?