The insidious part is that these grifters make it seem as if everyone had a fair shot at the startup game, when in reality they just pretend it to make their audience of potential customers larger.

My experience going to business events is that all of the startup founders who made it had parents well into the top 1% or 0.1% of the income range. That's why it's so common to raise a $100k friends and family seed round and not even feel worried about losing it all.

If OP wasn't privileged enough, he/she might be doing everything correctly, but the results without a $100k megaphone will be very different.