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Elon founded two companies Zip2 and X.com which merged with PayPal, was mega rich and didn’t need to work ever again on his own efforts, before even doing SpaceX and his other ventures


Even if entirely accurate, he also had a safety net in his father. Few get into Stanford, even fewer can afford to drop out to bet on some new market.


How is this "safety net" relevant? Literally millions of people in America have same or better "safety net". Are they some kind of lazy losers because they haven't earned billions like Elon had?


Consciously or not, having rich parents makes taking big risks in life easier. Even estranged and rich parents could be a lifeline if a crazy plan goes sideways.

Very few in the USA have parents who own emerald mines or an equivalent amount of wealth. So they're not losers. They're just not as fortunate and--understandably--more risk averse.

I'm saying that Elon deserves a modest amount of credit for busting his ass in the early days. But not so much fawning praise since luck and birth also played a outsized role in his successes.




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