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> K&L Gates is in the same building as the company I work for, despite multiple mergers 2 decades past retirement the Gates name is still on the door and it's not because of Bill.

You are disagreeing with him but just adding to his points. If my father had a company with his name inscribed on a building I would have had some connections for my own business. Instead pop struggled to put food on the table and barely owned a flower pot

Rags to riches are fairy tales. Reality is different. Even Elon musk's father is a millionaire

Isn't it his mother who raised him? Elon Musk also left South Africa to start in the USA, where he succeeded.

I guess: genetics + parenting > rich people background

Also, i think there is one generation in between poor and rich.

This is as fast as it goes:

1st generation: Poor

2nd generation: wealthy (mostly through entrepeneurial or hard work) where they explore investments. Mostly started a SMB or choose a profession with a lucrative income.

3rd generation: extremely rich: good investment decisions or a 0,01% company ( worth 100 million's).

Getting from 1 to 3 in one step is almost impossible. You need the stablility from the 2nd generation to get to the 3rd ( getting investment loans, contacts, ...) and the opportunity to "hit for the stars" multiple times.

I would assume it's more parenting + rich people than genetics. Also note that Bill Gate's mother sat on the board of open source foundation and she was the one that introduced IBM to Bill Gates and how her Son (Bill) had created this software.

I am an ex-IBMer and trust me, IBM never calls anyone. They have a mind of their own. It's a dinosaur dancing in these new arenas

Genetics give you a greater chance of being smart ( if both parents are smart). Your statement seems to reasonate with me: 2nd generation : wealthy.

Eg. You need the stablility from the 2nd generation to get to the 3rd ( getting investment loans, contacts, ...) and the opportunity to "hit for the stars" multiple times.

Introduction to IBM is summarized under: contacts.

The jury is still out on the causal relationship between iq and net worth.

Amazing story. Another case of where personal connections really matter. Not some impersonal business decisions that people trust in. I mean that is some ultimate networking just very few people have.

It wasn't an open source foundation it was United Way https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Way_Worldwide in which Mary Maxwell Gates was the first woman to ever chair (she was the first woman in a few other places as well).

John Opel who became CEO of IBM in 1981 at the time was also on the same board.

The introduction according to the few sources I've read took place in 1982 or 1983 which was well after Microsoft has been founded and actually after Microsoft signed the first contract with IBM.

His mother is a rich successful model. What poor person has the means to move to another country and start a tech company. How are you so massively illogical and incoherent in your ability to think?

Your statement seems to reasonate with me: 2nd generation : wealthy.

Wealthy =/= rich, it doesn't exclude rich people also. He could start a software business without a lot of parents money. Elon earned 22 million with Zip2 and they started it with angel investors. It's claimed that his father also provided $28,000 for starting it. ( that's peanuts)

I said: You need the stablility from the 2nd generation to get to the 3rd ( getting investment loans, contacts, ...) and the opportunity to "hit for the stars" multiple times.

Getting money from angel investors is summarized under: "getting investment loans".

You probably didn't read what i was saying: From poor to wealthy to rich. Elon did this. I never claimed that he went from poor to rich.

I think my ability to think is better than your ability to read.

$28,000 is peanuts now?

In the grand scheme of things, sure, it's not much, but consider the time and place where he was that his father could just give him that much money.

I have a lot more in my bank and just bought a apartment in a pretty expensive area ( 30 years old)

I'm in no way rich, but have no money troubles. I also saved a lot, worked a lot and lived with my parents pretty long

You’re just proving his point. The opportunity cost of sacrificing so much for so long compared to not having to and being able to take big risks with a lot of potential upside.

Aren't i proving my first point? Being wealthy is sufficient. You don't need to be rich.

And if you count all that was directly involved in the creation of this company ? How much does it become then ?

1) $28000 cash

2) Food & lodging for him and his brother in Palo Alto

3) two debt-free Stanford educations (him & his brother), including PhD (which he walked out on)

How much does that come to ?

Where does it say his parents paid for it? Was the PhD a requirement, since he quitted it?

How expensive would renting an appartment be in that time, 750$ / month? Did he rent one? Because he doesn't have a house there and stays with friends a lot of the time https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-Elon-Musk-does-not-hav...

He and a fellow student rented a vacant frat house and transformed it into a nightclub. Quite a daring and bold move for a low-income college student. ( https://sites.psu.edu/danielpassion/2017/03/24/entrepreneur-... )

Don't overreact. I never said he came from poor. Why do people keep misreading that?

First paying for an extra year ... and then walking out on it, like Elon did, requires more than "not coming from poor" in my experience.

Now, granted, I'm not sure about that. I did not come from rich parents, and if I had walked out on any of my university years there was no way in hell I would see another dollar from parents for a long time.

His parents were wealthy, like I said. Not rich ( not a requirement)

Also, Elon was free to do what he wanted. Not everyone has the same parents/conditionals, but that is off topic though

This has very little to do with good parenting and better education and not much to do with wealth.

People coming from a powerful, influential, well connected families have countless opportunities to start business or get into politics or anything else.

In many countries in the world any random 20-years-old trying to talk to IBM would be laughed at.

Research has shown that parents social connections are the most significant factor shared by today's billionaires.

>In many countries in the world any random 20-years-old trying to talk to IBM would be laughed at.

I think that may say more about the US than it goes about proving your point.

People greatly over estimate the level of power and influence the Gates had when MSFT was formed, everything I've read about them shows that both Bills parents were remarkably accomplished people.

When you think about old money and the rich and powerful organizing a divestment campaign against the apartheid in SA like his mother did isn't the first thing that comes to your mind.

Out of all of the examples of "Wealth begets Wealth" the Gates are probably the worst one I can think off.

>Out of all of the examples of "Wealth begets Wealth" the Gates are probably the worst one I can think off.

On his Reddit ama he himself said that his upbringing contributed a lot to his success.

Also this doesn't say more about US but more about confidence and ' smoke and mirrors show' while starting out.

Of course his up bringing contributed to his success but that doesn’t mean it was the money. His parents were exceptionally successful and not just financially this can have a huge impact on the value system of the child especially if the parents are involved in education and parenting which in Bill’s case they were.

It is also true that having money makes it much easier to be more involved in your child’s life.

I mean Bill went to an exclusive private school (last year ranked 6th in the US) where he met Paul Allen and Ric Weiland. And all three had the opportunity to play around with a computer long before someone not of their means would be able to. I think we can pretty confidently say that Bill Gates would not have been 'Bill Gates' had he not been able to afford Lakeside.

No but Lakeside is also affordable to upper middle class today, and likely was even more affordable back then.

Don't get me wrong no one is arguing that money doesn't affect your future of course it does but it's only one factor and a factor with a lot of diminishing returns.

I don't personally see that Bill got where he did due to some exceptional wealth both because I don't consider the Gates pre-Microsoft exceptionally wealthy by US standards and that wealth can only grant you opportunities.

Considering who his parents were in terms of their achievements I'm also not so sure we can claim that Bill Gates without Lakeside would've not have been 'Bill Gates' sure it's nearly impossible to estimate the effect of each individual moment in ones life but if we take it on a macro level I think the character of his parents influenced him considerably more than their wealth.

To make my point even clearer at some point say magically $250,000 a year I don't think wealth is a factor in your success unless you completely inherit it (e.g. inheriting a business). At the point when you can live in a good and stable home, receive good education and discipline both at school and at home money isn't going to be the deciding factor in your success if it's your success.

There is a major difference between a good school and private school with all rich connections. (Especially at this high level.)

"Less fortunate" has always read as a straight euphemism to me for "poor" - you've elicited its true, literal meaning for me for the first time.

It shows how grossly unfair the "fortune" of the wealth of parents' is... and it's becoming less and less fair over time.

More than ever, I think it's essential, that as much as possible we move towards ensuring everyone starts with the basics. Health, education... We can't control parenting, but we can create conditions for it.

It's not just fair for the individual, but fulfilling the potential of all makes for a better nation. This would not affect the people already at the top within a nation... except through the contest between nations. Those that do not nuture their human resources will be replaced by those that do.

This is how the USA rose to dominance... and this is how it falls.

It's not even a question that money helps but the question is how much and how.

It's also a question of what type of success were talking about as there are plenty of people from both less successful and more successful (pre MSFT) family lines that followed in their fathers/mothers footsteps rather than making it on their own.

If you are fortunate enough to live in a good/upper middle class home which values hard work and education and bestows it on you I'm not sure how much additional wealth and or power would be a factor if you are breaking on your own.

Both Bill's parents were very successful and hard working individuals with remarkable achievements I would even go out and say that his mother likely was more accomplished than his father considering the time and circumstances.

So at least in this case I wholly stand behind my assertion that how his parents lived had much more impact on Bill than their bank account.

P.S. I'm pretty sure that both Gates agree with you here is Sr. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_JjmBhsk64 (short)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcE0L4tG3o4 (long).

And this isn't new he's been advocating for higher taxation, more accessible education health care etc. for as long I can find speeches or opinion/editorial pieces by him.

Bill came from old money

That is debatable especially when you think old money e.g. Rockefeller etc. His dad was hard working from the get go, didn't dodge the WW2 draft like plenty of "old money" people did and worked his arse off to achieve what he did.

As for Bill again I don't see anything where his "came from so called old money" badge would've contributed to his success considerably beyond what an upper middle class family could.

His actions outside of Microsoft also speak greatly to his character and go well beyond the typical SV billionaire or even the "typical" philanthropist.

I think the gates case is unique in terms where you have 2 very accomplished parents both Mary Maxwell Gates and William H. Gates Sr. which were accomplished on their own regardless if they were old money or not.

Nowhere in this post do you successfully make the case that he's not old money. You may have demonstrated that he didn't fall victim to many of the tropes that his contemporaries did, but the fact remains he had (a lot) more than most people would at any point in time (including opportunities and contacts).

I still remember the moment when Bill Gates switched from being the "Microsoft guy" (during those times sort of akin to the new Satan) to being the "philanthropist" that he is now. I'd say it's been a very successful bit of public relations for him if this is how you see him now.

I don't understand why do I need to prove he isn't "old money" old money is a pretty defined term unless you want to use it in the most ambiguous way.

Both of his parents worked (and unquestionably very hard) for a living and while lived a comfortable life it wasn't one of some extreme affluence.

His parents is what we would for the most part consider upper middle class or "working rich" it's not like Bills childhood could be a backdrop to a scene in "all the money in the world" or anything similar.

I've also never considered Gates to be a Satan or anything of the sort regardless of Microsoft's practices I've always have had an admiration of him as well as many other successful people.

Class isn't just about money your falling into the fallacy that the USA doesn't have a class system.

So wait now it’s about classes? It seems like every time the goal posts move.

Its a bit more subtle than that you need to look at the signifiers and not just $$

Bill has a generational qualifier for example and look at his family background and where he went to school.

I wouldn't say Bill was old money. Old money is where neither you nor your parents need to work for a living due to the success of some ancestor. Bill Gates was upper middle class, not old money, and even so is that really necessary and sufficient cause for his success? Like other posters here, I know many people more privileged than Bill Gates was and have done little to nothing with their lives, therefore coming from his parent's level of wealth is not even close to sufficient for success. There are also certain people who have made it to his level of wealth from more humble origins, notably John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie but more recently Jeff Bezos, who was middle class, therefore it is not necessary to come from Gate's parents level of wealth either.

If something is neither necessary nor even close to sufficient for success, how can you dismiss someone's success as due to it?

how can you dismiss someone's success as due to it?

I don't think it's being dismissed as due to it, so much as it's acknowledging the near-necessity of it to attain success.

Gates went to a high school where the parents pooled money in order to buy mainframe time for their kids. Gates was seeing a therapist, which helped him focus and mature faster. He had the support to start a fairly wild venture with a friend.

Gates is incredibly intelligent, focused, disciplined, and was in the right place at the right time.

If I were in his shoes, I wouldn't have succeeded. Not because I lacked the resources, but because I'd have found the idea of writing a BASIC interpreter to be boring and wouldn't have seen it through. But I also probably wouldn't have had access to the technology necessary in the first place...

You are implying that poor people are a result of poor parenting, this is beyond stupid.

Poor parenting is a result of poverty. It is massively difficult to parent well when you are in financially dire situations constantly, surrounded by other people who are also in dire financial situations, and sending you kids to massively underfunded public schools.

Emphatically agree. No child picks which family they are born into, let alone the circumstances, or the cycles they will have to break in any socio-economic bracket.

No one implied any such thing and there is a difference between being poor due to lackluster parenting / childhood and not growing up to be Bill Gates.

Families that nurture the value of good education (as in knowledge not a piece of paper) and hard work would quite likely have more successful children this is especially true when you can afford to lead by example rather than just yell do your homework.