Not to mention probably that for every obscenely wealthy entrepreneur and business founder, you can find many thousands of people who worked just as hard and had ideas just as good, but who didn't get super rich ... for reasons that basically come down to chance.

This fixation so many of us have — with examining the lives of the rich and famous so we can do what they did and become like them — is based on a logical fallacy. A + B does not equal C in these situations. There is no formula to follow. A + B only equals C in very rare circumstances.

And as you point out, a huge head start sure helps.