(I am arguing from the perspective of a student at a university)
> So what costs a lot of money to run? The university, or the hotspot?
The startup scene around a university is directly influenced by it. It created the environment the founders were meeting in. They were not moving there for the coffee place but for the university, which put a lot of resources into the founders.
> Even if they are students, they pay for the privilege.
I don't believe that anywhere in the western world the university education is fully covered by the fees.
> initial assistance in the form of a loan?
yes, in form of a loan or other financial assistance, legal advice, mentorship etc. Every startup I know uses some small form of initial, external funding (including bootstrapping ones). It may be only enough to pay for the cost of living of the founder and cofounder for a year, but the small initial assistance is important. It is often a public program coordinated by the startup-program at the university. I include the financial support you get if you're a student focusing on your startup.
> The local water company also enabled those founders to meet
A lot of infrastructure you use if massively subsidised and is not covered by the cost (it might not be affordable by many).
> Unless you inspect the reason why that inequality exists, it says nothing beyond raw speculation.
I don't think so, because you can criticise inequality itself without inspecting the reason. Can society be fair with such a massive inequality? This is a valid argument.
I think a problem is that a lot of successful people when evaluating their life attribute all their success to their personal abilities. I think this is a massive problem and not recognised enough. I see every people as an interaction between their character and their environment. The environment forms the character and the character influences the environment. You are not an isolated agent just interacting with the world, born some way and destined to success. For example, many poor people are working hard with multiple jobs to finance their living, hard work itself is not an excuse to explain away success.
Also I was arguing that if the enabling factor is the important part then moving away does not prove anything, which is still my point.