The Unfair Advantage summary

Have you ever thought that life would be easier if you had more money? Well, you’re not exactly wrong; money is a big advantage when starting a business. 

That’s because, for most start-ups, the profits only start coming in later down the line. In the meantime, the business needs to stay afloat, and the founders and any employees have to eat and pay the bills. So having a pile of money on hand definitely makes a difference. A general guideline is to have between 6 and 18 months worth of funds – although having more obviously wouldn’t hurt. For example, when Jan Kuom founded WhatsApp, he had an incredible $400,000 saved from his job as a developer. 

We all remember the kids back in school who could learn a lot, and learn it fast. Maybe we even wished we could trade our grades for theirs. 

As start-up founders, those kids have a leg up because learning whatever skills they need for their business idea comes easily for them. Their grades, however, will start to seem a bit average once you hear about the Collison brothers, co-founders of online payments company Stripe.

Ever heard of a new product or business and wished you’d thought of it yourself? Chances are, that great idea wasn’t just a random lightbulb moment. Whoever thought of it had to have had some interesting and unique insights first.  

An insight is a deep understanding of a problem or situation – and often, it’s what sparks the idea for a product that’s perfectly suited for a market. Sometimes, insights are simply acquired by coming from a specific background or belonging to a particular demographic. 

“I was just at the right place, at the right time.” You’ve probably heard a few people say this when talking about their success. It can be discouraging if you’re working on making it big yourself, but there is some truth to it. 

Think of Silicon Valley, known for its countless start-ups like Google, Apple, and Facebook – three of the highest-valued tech companies in the world. Many start-ups aspiring to be the next Apple or Google make Silicon Valley their base; when you consider the perks of the place, it makes sense. 

Growing up, your parents might have told you over and over again that a good college education would set you up for life. They were likely thinking about the qualification you could get and the job that would hopefully follow. But learning also has other advantages. 

If you go to an elite university like Stanford or Harvard, the people you meet there can play a significant role in your success. Think about it – the sky-high tuition fees at these schools mean that many of the students are very wealthy, and your future investors could be among them. Not only that, you might meet your co-founder on campus, as in the case of Bill Hewlett and David Packard, who met at Stanford and later started the IT company Hewlett-Packard.

Picture this: you’re standing in line, waiting to get into a nightclub. A local celebrity breezes past the line, nods at the bouncer, and is allowed to walk right in, no questions asked. This is the power of status. It helps you get in – and not just to nightclubs. 

In the professional world, status sometimes trumps ability when it comes to deciding who should be given an opportunity. Consider a 2016 study by the Social Mobility Commission in England. It found that graduates interviewing for investment banking jobs in London didn’t get hired if they wore brown shoes.