> After [Musk's parents] divorced in 1980, Elon mostly lived with his father, who says he owned thoroughbred horses, a yacht, several houses and a Cessna. One of their homes was in Waterkloof, a leafy suburb of Pretoria that was popular with foreign diplomats.
> Wanderlust ran on both sides of the family. On holidays, Errol [Musk's Dad] and his kids would travel, he said: to Europe, Hong Kong, throughout the United States. Or they’d take the plane to Lake Tanganyika, where Errol had a stake in an emerald mine. Elon would later get his own pilot’s license, but he no longer has time to fly.
> While wealthy South Africans typically hired maids and gardeners, Errol decided that his children would do chores and cook their own food, taking shifts.
Michael Dell: http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ca-Ge/Dell-Michael.ht...
> In 1984, as a first-year college student in Austin, Texas, Michael Dell borrowed $1,000 from his parents to start a computer accessories business.
To put this in perspective, in 2015 less than 30% of Americans have $1000 in their savings: https://www.gobankingrates.com/banking/savings-account/62-pe...
Kalanick's parents: https://www.recode.net/2017/5/27/15705290/bonnie-kalanick-mo...
> From teaming over complex science projects like building a real electrical transformer to giving him his first experience programming computers, [Kalanick's dad] had been the one to bring home early computers for his tech-curious son to fiddle with.
I don't entirely understand why people do this. It just seems pitiable. Rather than learn from others, people seem more interested in trying to look for reasons why they can't achieve.
If you don't have to do anything else with that money.
My parents couldn't have spared 1000 bucks just because when I was younger.
Musk grew up wealthy. He's the child of rich white south africans.
This is why pointing to these people is futile because not only did they have large advantages that many others did not, but they are also largely the exception to the norm. It's the survivorship bias in action.
For example, Bill Gates had a solid financial backing when he left Harvard: http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/
> [Bill Gates' Great-Grandfather] Maxwell founded Seattle's National City Bank in 1906. His son, James Willard Maxwell was also a banker and established a million-dollar trust fund for William (Bill) Henry Gates III.
Bezos' parents kicked money into what would become Amazon:
> The first initial start-up capital for Amazon.com came primarily from my parents, and they invested a large fraction of their life savings in what became Amazon.com