Hacker News Reader

Comment by mobiuscog | Hacker News Reader

She has a wealthy (famous) family, very used to publicity and marketing, and one of their businesses is involved with China.

View on HN

People always state things like this to imply "it's not what you know, it's who you know." I think it's quite the opposite - she grew up in a family environment where the fundamentals of business were part of the culture, as much as literacy and education.

If a kid grows up understanding finance, business development, how to pitch an idea to investors etc. they're going to be lightyears ahead of some kid who grew up being taught to 'do well in school so you can earn a good hourly wage'.

I think this kind of proves the point, though. These kids know their entrepreneurial and business-minded parents from birth (i.e. "what they know" comes from "who they know"), as opposed to those of us who grew up as children of "salary-parents"

Great counter point - people tend to discount parental influence as being "who you know" if it isn't direct nepotism. It's essentially like being born with a fantastic mentor from Day 1, and those of us fortunate to have that spirit of embracing entrepreneurial pursuits from a young age are, well, fortunate.

I've always heard the "who you know" used as a way to state that contacts are more important than skills, but as you point out, a good mentor blurs the lines between them.

You mean like the rest of us "wage slaves"?

But that supports the "it's not what you know, it's who you know." idea. Most people I think see that saying as meaning that if you take somebody, like this girl for instance, and swap her out for somebody else who didn't accomplish anything like this, that the new person could more easily be similarly successfully to this girl.

That most definitely helped her get early clients and commercial success, but I think it's still very cool that a young girl was able to plan, build and execute a business idea.

Most 16 year olds are just using their phones to send silly snaps to their friends and watch porn.

>Most 16 year olds are just using their phones to send silly snaps to their friends and watch porn.

Because most 16 year olds dont come from a family with such a wealthy (both in money and opportunities) background.

Still, she's leveraging those opportunities when the alternative is a life of leisure.

>Most 16 year olds are just using their phones to send silly snaps to their friends and watch porn.

And most people waste their lives away in 9-5 jobs. It's not an age thing.

It's more productive to think that she used her advantages in a positive way instead of wasting them.

Absolutely - but it should be portrayed in that context.

That alone does not get you 200k clients.

No, of course not, because not everyone in her situation has a business with 200k clients, obviously. But it helps.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com