Edit for further explanation: Zuckerberg's initial capital for Facebook came from his father and his father's friends. He had been tutored privately from a young age, much like Bill Gates was, and he'd already had extensive experience working in founder-like roles by the time he made Facebook. His life is best used an example to demonstrate the immense advantage being born into a life of wealth and privilege confers, not as an example for what (or what not) to do when starting up a company for the typical person. His life is so removed from that that using it as an example is tantamount to uttering gibberish.
Sure, but only about 5%. The median salary for a dentist and a psychiatrist adds up to $333,000 which is the 95% percentile for household income today. A verrry long way from average.
So, really we are talking about the top 1%.
Your overall point stands - Google or E-bay would be much better examples, as they really were started by first-time founders.
Mark Zuckerberg did not succeed at Facebook because he was an expert in startups, he succeeded despite being a complete noob at startups; I mean Facebook was first incorporated as a Florida LLC. Even you guys know better than that. He succeeded despite being a complete noob at startups because he understood his users very well. Most of you don't know the mechanics of raising an angel round, right? If you feel bad about that, don't, because I can tell you Mark Zuckerberg probably doesn't know the mechanics of raising an angel round either; if he was even paying attention when Ron Conway wrote him the big check, he probably has forgotten about it by now.
I agree that this talk is useless, even dangerous, unless you are post A series.