Whatever $100K is to someone, I know that what I said about salary is true. I’ve worked for small VC back companies with less than $10 million in revenue. $100K wouldn’t have made a difference either way.

Here’s small scale examples of $100k making a massive difference:

https://www.businessinsider.com/where-are-they-now-peter-thi...

That said, $100k is not a salary and if someone needs $100k+ salary to do a startup for a year, startups are the wrong choice.

Yes. That’s fine if you’re not adulting - with kids, bills, the need to pay health insurance etc.

If I were under 26, no responsibilities and could get on my parents insurance sure.

This has nothing to do with age, being an adult, being in US, etc.; sure, you have a set of assumptions, but they apply at best to you, not the world.

“Peter Thiel launched a program that awards $100,000 to promising young entrepreneurs who are willing to drop out of college”

Your example explicitly mentions age as one of the requirements.