Don’t Start a Business With a Wealthy Person, It Will Fail Before It Even Starts

Many people believe that starting a company with a millionaire guarantees success, but it’s quite the opposite.

Photo by Shane on Unsplash

When I was in college, I had to develop a technology business project that would ensure long-term profitability without harming the environment. I teamed up with a colleague I got along with well (let’s call him Martin), and together we began the initial thesis.

Martin came from a powerful family. His father was the CEO of one of the country’s largest pharmaceutical companies, and his mother had worked from the ground up on a government housing construction project.

Like his family, Martin seemed interested in business and had a hunger to do things well to impress his family, so our project turned out to be excellent. In the end, we created a “fake” company that bought unused mobile devices from individuals and resold them to others who were interested but didn’t have the income to buy a brand-new device.

At that time, Apple didn’t yet have its trade-in program, so what we were doing was innovative and helped the environment by reducing technology waste.