I'm a failed entrepreneur, but have several super-rich relatives. How would you rate me, as a potential partner?

[Anonymous]

Regarding me personally- I'm 5'9", mixed-race (Indian+Black), intelligent (member of MENSA, IQ of 172), articulate and well-spoken- albeit often a bit too honest, headstrong, blunt and uncompromising. I'd also consider myself relatively handsome and good-looking, extremely fit and athletic (albeit lean rather than muscular), and fairly well-endowed, with a high libido and good sexual endurance. Not that I've ever had much of a chance to put that to good use, as a 33yo virgin who honored my parents' insistence on "no sex before marriage", all the way through school and uni- got tons of chances back then, turned them all down, haven't gotten any decent ones since graduating.

Instead, I invested all my time and efforts into my first entrepreneurial venture, persevering for several years before eventually accepting the industry wasn't profitable enough and ceasing operations. Still paid off all my business and student debts though, and since then, I've now saved up enough start-up funds to give it another go. I'm still waiting for this pandemic to end to launch it though, so I'm pretty poor right now, working a part-time cleaning job.

My dad's family has a long and rich heritage though, and internationally, they're also super-wealthy, worth well over US$1B- two of my 3rd cousins (my grandmother's sister's grandchildren) are successful entrepreneurs, worth over US$200M each (after starting out on a year earlier than I did, with only 50% more start-up funding than I had), at least four of my uncles (children of both my grandmother's and grandfather's siblings) are business and property magnates worth at least US$100M each.

If I wanted to, I could easily leech off of them. But I never have- I despise nepotism, take great pride in being self-sufficient, and still aspire to rise to the top myself- to earn my own way, forge my own legacy, and support my future family through my own merits and efforts. So, how eligible a bachelor would you consider me to be?

[jshm2]

There is no such thing as a "failed entrepreneur" the very mindset of a entrepreneur is of a go-getter phoenix that comes back stronger.

You were either a shitty businessman, a con, or are incompetent. Definitely not partner material and it's why no one is touching you with a 10 foot pole.

[Asker]

No, I picked the wrong industry on a purely emotional basis, because I enjoyed writing and reading fiction and sought to make it more accessible for younger aspiring authors like myself. And I was moderately successful in that regard- our novels won several awards. But they didn't generate anywhere near enough sales, and given how much of a closed shop the industry is (no access to bookstores, Amazon charging more than 80% royalties), it wasn't viable enough to be worthwhile; I felt that I was holding back the careers of the immensely talented authors I'd attracted with our unique admissions policy, and liquidated it for their sake. In hindsight, if I were more focused on my own self-gain at the time, I would've transitioned the company into becoming a literary agency instead, and continued to profit off them- but I didn't. And as such, I invested a great deal of forethought, time and effort into my next venture, which I know WILL work, and will easily be worth more than US$100M in a decade's time.

[Asker]

Too much time- I was ready to emigrate and launch it overseas last Christmas, but was persuaded by my parents to wait another few months, "to be on the safe side", and amass more funds "just in case". And since then, whilst the global economy's tanked thanks to the pandemic, the market which I was planning to tap into (in the textile industry) has exploded- completely by coincidence, the specific textile I was planning to introduce happens to be the only waterproof, completely organic and biodegradable textile which can be woven finer than silk, enough to filter out coronavirus-sized particles effectively, and which also has anti-microbial properties, making it the perfect material to use for face-mask production; if I'd got it off the ground on schedule as planned, then I'd easily have become a millionaire already (with an over-abundance of demand facilitating continuous expansion, and a conservative estimate of US$15M in the first annum even without adding COVID-19 subsidies into the equation). Ah well- guess I'll have to settle for the original plan of tapping into the Indian and Islamic markets (since the textile my business'll be producing's also the closest equivalent to silk, texture- and appearance-wise, that isn't explicitly prohibited on their religious grounds).

So then, tell me- what makes you partner material? And why exactly is no one is touching you with a 10 foot pole? Because I never hinted at that at all- you're clearly projecting there, hard. Why though?

[hellacray]

Well if your relatives are rich and successful I'd say ask them for advice. That's what I would do if I had rich successful relatives.

[Asker]

I played a key role in helping to give them the advice in the first place, when I visited them on holiday back when I was younger. Brainstorming business ideas has been a personal passion of mine since I was in primary school; everyone my age thought I was weird for it (which I kind of was, as an Aspie), or that I didn't know my place (as a kid growing up on a council estate), but I was passionate about it, because I wanted to lift my family out of poverty.

I had a pretty long conversation with the two siblings who're wealthiest today, who're 8 & 6 years older than me respectively (not even having a clue at the time just how wealthy their branch of our family was), where they were willing to listen to me, and we bounced ideas and constructive criticism off one another. I chose to start small, with the venture which offered the least turnover and profits, but which had the lowest start-up funding requirement; they went big instead, and it worked for them. I didn't know at the time I set up my own first company that they'd already started their own business enterprise, a couple of years earlier than mine- if I had, and heard anything about their success, I'd have started out with one of my more ambitious business concepts instead. And in retrospect, I'd have had a better chance of succeeding at the first attempt if I had.

[Quackthulu]

A failed entrepreneur? That’s not a thing. That’s like someone who’s never written anything being a “failed writer” or someone who’s never gotten an audition being a “failed actor.” I bought a lottery ticket once, does that mean I’m a failed millionaire? 172 IQ huh?

[Asker]

No, it'd be like someone who'd written several novels and sold around 15,000-20,000 copies a year (with a average industry-standard debut fiction author royalty rate of 5% RRP, equating to an income of only US$7,500-10,000 per annum), calling himself a "failed author" rather than a "professional author", getting out of his shitty debut publishing contract, and deciding to self-publish his next series instead (with royalty rates of 60-70% via Amazon, knowing that if he manages to sell as many or more copies of his books as before, he'd be on easy street, earning US$90,000-120,000 a year). I know you're clearly not smart, but it's not hard to work out how it works...

[MzAsh]

You’re still a kid. Too young to consider yourself a failed entrepreneur. Gary Vaynerchuk didn’t do a damn thing in his whole 20s except work. An entire decade before he started making money.

[Asker]

I'm really not a kid any more. And I only consider myself a failed entrepreneur, insofar as I count my first entrepreneurial venture as having been a failure. I still take great pride in my vision and ambition, along with the invaluable experience and understanding of the world of business I gained in the process, and I have no doubt that my next business venture will be successful- though not quite as much as it would've been if I'd managed to launch it last December as originally planned, since it coincidentally happens to be in one of the few industrial sectors which has massively profited from the pandemic, and would've allowed me to kick-start production and corner the market in the nation which churns out more of the raw material required in the entire world. I've done the math, and I'm confident that it still has the potential to make me a billionaire eventually. But if I'd gotten it off the ground on schedule, instead of listening to my parents and waiting "to be on the safe side", I'd be a multi-millionaire already, guaranteed, and in with a realistic shot at becoming a billionaire by the end of this decade. Ah, if only...