From my view it seems factors 'families with money' bring are;
- 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.
The last one likely matters the most, at least in my case. Ambitious ideas take more time than just product development/implementation. Marketing and business development run on much lengthier schedules. At half a year in on savings, I'm being pulled away from full-time on my startup back into contract work, where I'm constantly encouraged to just go full-time instead with these companies (mostly founding-stage startups with funding). Meanwhile, my entrepreneur friends who come from exceptionally wealthy backgrounds have no such constraints or risk of going homeless if their startup doesn't get funding or start making revenue. I'm not sure if I'll be able to make rent next month, short of a loan, unless I get a contract invoice paid in full within two weeks. I'll be just fine, but that fear of not making it on the basics is not weightless. I suspect I'll be looked at differently when it shows that it took me N months to get to X revenue, instead of 0.25N, as a result of just needing to survive.
The "fallback option" matters in so much and is something that's, IMHO, extremely underdiscussed in society. I see politicians rail about how poor people don't risk anything without themselves realizing that they come from middle-class/rich backgrounds and could risk more in their lives.
In my case, I've moved from Germany to Australia without many prospects and still managed to land on my feet. Friends with less money always asked me "aren't you scared?", after a while the realization hit me - I wasn't particularly scared because if things wouldn't have worked out, I could've just used my parents' credit card for a $2000 flight back, no need to worry. My "poorer" friends don't have that option so they're naturally scared of something I didn't even consider, an "unknown unknown" for me.
The "fallback option" is the real killer. It's hard for some people to imagine, but there are people out in the world without any family to rely on, or in some cases, any family at all - and not everyone has friends they can rely on, either. This affects not just business creation, but things like schooling (the need to support yourself with no free place to live is more stressful and difficult than it may seem.)
Until one hasn't had it, one may not realize what an absolutely incredible advantage it is.
I agree with all your points. I think the following two are important (they have been for me):
- Sense of Entitlement: I thing your studies can give you that (mine have)... That's something the society has given to some, not to all. There's room for improvement.
- Expectations: as long as our society is a 9to5-job-society, you can't expect much more... Here again, there's room for improvement.
"Just put shame on successful entrepreneurs for having no merit because of their (supposed) wealth."
That's what I felt when reading the article (and I'm by no means rich).
I think pretending you have to be rich to be an entrepreneur is extremely counter-productive, and that's what the article does (a socialist penchant also found at http://qz.com/author/agrothqz/) instead of looking at ways to make the situation better. If I judge my own country (France, which I left), I'd say this is the nation-wide mindset, and its harming entrepreneurship like mad.
- 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.