In fact, it’s one of the primary sources of funding for startups, well ahead of other options like bank loans and venture capital. But without their parents’ help, be it financial or otherwise, who knows where they – or the world – would be today?įamily money and background plays a critical role when it comes to starting up a business. Nike founder Phil Knight credits his parents for helping him start the company too.Īll of these men came from upper-middle-class families and of course none of them owe their success entirely to mom and dad. Michael Dell’s parents offered some seed money for his fledging computer business. Among other well-known entrepreneurs, Mark Zuckerberg reportedly took a $100,000 loan from his father to start Facebook. Musk comes from a wealthy, South African background. Bezos’s parents were early investors in Amazon. But there’s another thing: they all had families who helped them at the very beginning.īill Gates’s mom introduced him to executives at IBM, which helped him forge a deal for his first operating system MS-DOS.
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