Noahpinion

Noahpinion

Getting rich has never been so random

Crypto, easy money, and a burst of pandemic savings have created a vast rolling lottery

Noah Smith's avatar
Noah Smith
May 14, 2021
∙ Paid
"Pachinko X-Mas" by jamesfischer, CC BY 2.0

When I was young, I asked my friend, a failed tech entrepreneur, how people get rich. He said “A few people do it with hard work, but most do it by winning the lottery.” By “win the lottery” he meant “have a successful startup that IPOs”; his had gone bust in the dot-com crash (Don’t worry; he eventually starte…

User's avatar

Continue reading this post for free, courtesy of Noah Smith.

Or purchase a paid subscription.
© 2025 Noah Smith · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture