> How can people ... adult, not in their early 20s etc ... afford to quit their job, and still feed themselves and family and pay mortgage ... to go off for months to a year to build a product to bootstrap something like that?
They can’t. That’s why bootstrap capitalism is largely a myth. When you scratch the surface what you often find is inherited wealth. If a person starts with a free house or a million dollars they have a massive advantage.
There's a massive number of small businesses in the US owned by immigrants that came to the US with fairly little. It's fair to say you prefer a regular job or VC money to the hell those immigrants went through but that is different than it being even close to impossible.
Yes, but also consider that most of those were smaller businesses with different revenue prospects. It’s still an accomplishment but the feel good stories which feature in the news are things like “Mark started a billion dollar company in his dorm room”, not “Lan worked 80 hour weeks to start a solid restaurant which provides a decent middle class income but no likelihood of becoming actually rich”.
I mean we're talking about an article on lifestyle businesses so going from "I can't bootstrap a lifestyle business on my own" to "I can't bootstrap a billion dollar business on my own" seems to be moving the goal post.
We’re talking about an article which also talked about the allure of growing billion dollar companies which YC uses to recruit. My point was simply that there’s a LOT of marketing for “be your own boss” concepts which sound like you’re a lot better off than, say, the typical immigrant who works hard and ends up with a small business paying a decent but not noteworthy income. Those narratives rarely end with “you too could own a laundromat and convenience store in Flushing!”
It’s not just about setting realistic expectations but also recognizing how often there are opportunities which only people with assets can take. For example, being married to someone high income with health insurance means that you are able to take a chance even if it won’t pay the bills immediately whereas someone else is limited to what they can do on the weekends.
There are also immigrants who came to America who started businesses using their wealth from their home countries, like my in-laws who are literally revanchist counter-revolutionaries in exile. Immigrants as a class are the most highly-resources people among the population of their home country, even if they are relatively lower status in the place they arrive.
They can’t. That’s why bootstrap capitalism is largely a myth. When you scratch the surface what you often find is inherited wealth. If a person starts with a free house or a million dollars they have a massive advantage.