>They basically manufacture their own luck

VC does not only offer money but also connections. Even more so does YC and their startup school. If that's not enough, a unicorn is waiting to combine kickstarter.com and a social network to allow people to monetize their connections.

The limiting factor is the willingness to give up the comfort of a 9-5 job. In a world of working spouses, one partner can always risk their career, especially when the children have grown up a bit.

Paul Orfalea had trouble in school and couldn't hold a job. He started Kinko's because selling things to students that he knew they needed was about all he could do. By carefully building an organization that can use modest employees to serve modest needs he ended up building a business that he sold for around five billion dollars. That isn't a story about secret sauce or generational wealth. It is a story about desperation and making one's own way after being shut out of other opportunities. That seems to emphasize the many ways model over your preferred wealth dominated narrative. Of course wealth may be involved, but that is just one of many potential driving factors.