What Does The Richest Person You Know Do For A Living?
In what industry does the richest entrepreneur you know work in/ how did they accumulate their wealth?
Trending Content - Off Topic Forum
Career Resources
Serial founder has gotten FANNG to buy 2 start ups
Based on the most helpful WSO content, the wealthiest individuals often accumulate their wealth through entrepreneurship and business ownership. Many of them work in industries like real estate, small business ownership, or finance. For example:
Real Estate: A significant number of wealthy individuals have built their fortunes in real estate. They often started their own firms, leveraged deals, and capitalized on being in the right place at the right time. While luck plays a role, intelligence, capital-raising skills, and leveraging opportunities are key factors.
Small Business Ownership: Many wealthy people own small businesses, ranging from supermarkets to niche product sales. These businesses often provide better tax advantages, lifestyle flexibility, and opportunities for wealth accumulation.
Finance and Investing: Some individuals achieve wealth through finance careers, such as private equity, hedge funds, or investment banking. However, the path is grueling, and only a few reach the upper echelons of these professions.
Entrepreneurship: Starting a business and taking intelligent risks is a common theme. Entrepreneurs who can create scalable cash flows and diversify their assets tend to build significant wealth over time.
Ultimately, the richest individuals often focus on creating value, taking calculated risks, and leveraging opportunities in their respective industries.
Sources: Real Estate Mogul, Millionaire by 30, To All My Future Rainmakers, To All My Future Rainmakers, Private Equity or Pizza Equity?
Be born into a billionaire family and get buyside jobs through your connected relatives. Tried to be subtle about their privileged background but it was very obvious to me within minutes that the person came from serious old money.
Self-made: IT consulting. Know 2 founders who have net worths exceeding $20M (but probably less than $100-150M). But doesn't come without risk, I know both of them nearly had their companies go bankrupt in the Y2K fiasco in the early 2000s. Wouldn't surprise me if both end up selling their companies to some MM PE fund at retirement since none of their kids followed into the business.
The richest person I personally knew was my granduncle. He was the CEO and majority shareholder of OSI, a meat processor and one of the largest private companies in the country. They are the primary hamburger patty provider to McDonalds in the US.
He started as a banker, helped the company finance a plant, came in house, and then basically took over the company and grew it to be a major business.
I was unfortunately born on the wrong side of the family
Hey, look at the bright side, at least you're not selling poison to average Americans!
Nah. I'd sell poison to average Americans if it led to that type of resources
multiple guys over $200m - $300m in consumer. Probably closer to $500m depending on what you peg EV at.
Are these e-commerce guys who got big during the heyday of online ads?
Sort of. Some are newer brands. We are all more focused on consumer broadly now.
Such a great post as its made me realize I don't know any "somewhat big" entrepreneurs (which I'd define as anyone worth at least MSD millions off of what they started).
Everyone I knew who undergrad who tried the entrepreneur thing gave up on it pretty early and now work for others.
I wrote about this somewhere but entrepreneurship is so unbelievably anchored in serendipity that most people who “set out” for it are basically on the wrong track from the get go.
It’s very different to be like “I’m fucking good at something and know I can compete or enter the market uniquely” than “I’m 23 and want to be rich, let me see what I can do to fit that.” Obviously theres exceptions to the rule in the VC funded world, but the more typical older entrepreneurs really know something unique. Even some of the wiz kids that we all know are also fairly competent in a domain before moving towards the home run.
tldr: successful entrepreneurs are more “born” than made. It’s just math.
That's because they aren't out there making TikToks or cringe LinkedIn motivational posts—they're typically running "unsexy" businesses not targeted by VCs but still profitable. You might not know any personally, but if you do a drive around your town and city you'll causally run into more than you realize.
Owns a real estate development firm and owns a portfolio of commercial real estate. Personal net worth is probably in the $150M range.
IDK went to a preparatory school with people whose grandparents founded companies that were acquired by Berkshire Hathaway and took entry stock to it. Heirs to some name-brand food and retail companies. A family member started a cybersecurity company that got integrated with Norton Antivirus virus and now he invests in Commercial real estate and franchises like Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, Coldstone, etc has about 200 places.
The richest people I know well are all business owners. Mostly real estate, given my profession.
Even those who I have met occasionally—including a few "business famous" people I wouldn't claim to be close with—are business owners. None are serial tech entrepreneurs or anything either. They picked a business and built it.
Not sure if that is self-selection or not.
Strictly from personal/non-work related network, wealthiest has a 9-figure net worth (founded and sold a consumer business).
Next two highest each have an 8-figure net worth. One founded and sold a medtech business, the other founded and still owns a scaled regional senior living business.
What kind of consumer business was this?
Waste management dude is making like $5m per year
I'm in the Waste Management business. Everybody immediately assumes you're mobbed up.
30 thousand square foot malibu mansion; truck stops, Mexican restaurants. 3 brothers that started as gas station workers in the 80s. Multi 9 figure enterprise at this point
Big time VC partner with hundreds of millions in many public companies. Several tech founders through my family worth billion+ but they do not live like it at all.
HVAC with a focus on contracts for commercial properties
You’re either born into it, got lucky after putting in the hard work, or you were just extremely good at what you liked to do (what some may call a passion).
Know people in all three buckets with the most common being the last one, so do what you are extremely good at and enjoy doing.
PE Investors, Fortune 500 Founders, Hedge Fund Founders, etc, all fit into these buckets.
Hell if you are the best clown in the world you’ll be wealthy (look at Charlie Chaplin)
They did OF
Founded a fintech company in the 2010s and sold it for a 9-figure exit.
I know a few pretty wealthy older guys, but really only have a good relationship with two.
One owns roughly 100 Dunkin’ Donuts. Built it up when it was easier back in the 90s.
The other is a small Texas oil operator and produces somewhere around 100-150bod and has done this continuously for the last 45ish years.
Couldn’t tell you what either has saved, but they live well. They’ve both said similar things, it’s very difficult to make it, but it gets spent so easily. Oh also, both are self made, no college.
What was the tip off that let you know almost immediately? And what were the more glaring examples of that once you got to know them a little better over time?
Two founders of public tech companies and a founder of a PE fund. Two out of the three are billionaires.
Richest I know is a billionaire oil service entrepreneur. Started the company himself as an MBO back in the 80's and has acquired hundreds of companies since. He's still the majority owner in TopCo. Also been great/lucky at timing the market; Always seems to end up buying companies for cents on the dollar, right before booming markets.
I think I’ve a pretty good one here. Daniel Dantas is my next door neighbour. 5bn+
They call him the Darth Vader of Brazil. Worked for Citi & performed the LBO of Brazilia Telecoms, Brazil’s whole telecoms assets in the 90’s, when their government was struggling and needed cash. The asset was severely in debt, he took it from 600m to 7/8bn in 7 years.
He now owns his own asset management /PE firm called Opportunity AM, circa £9bn AUM.
He’s the Henry Kravis, Steve Schwarzman, Guy Hands, you’ve never heard about. He’s a real Icon of the Leveraged Buyout Era. Doesn’t like to promote himself like the others for various reasons I won’t talk about on here. I’ll let you do the digging online, but he’s a fantastic read up if you love the sexy buyout scene from the 80/90s, and love the pinstripe suits, stupid bonuses, and sex appeal that comes with it.
He’s such a chill and immensely intelligent guy, but never talks about his past.
When u dox urself
Phaha, he’ll have hundreds of houses. You wouldn’t be able to find them if you tried.
If you put the correct address on here I’ll confirm.
Funnily enough I don’t even think the house is under his name.
I’ll even give you another clue if you have two wrong guesses. You’ll still never get it.
hmm... i wonder how Brazil got into this situation in the first place 🤔
I was previously friends with the daughter of the sole founder of one of the largest private equity funds in Chicago. Total AUM appears to vary by source but their latest fund was >$10BN.
Never met the father specifically but I will say that his daughter was super cool and down to earth. We went out one night and I paid her cover at a bar (It was $5 a person and I was had a $20, so I was gonna cover the group, nbd, not like it was $100 a head or anything). She was super grateful and kept trying to buy me drinks for the rest of the night, insisting on making it up to me. I didn't understand at the time why paying her cover was such a big deal, as no one else paid me back or acknowledged it beyond saying thanks (I mean it was only $5, so I didn't expect more than a simple thank you). Later on when I realized just exactly how well off she was it clicked, people probably looked at her to cover most of the expenses all the time.
We partied together for a long time, and aside from hosting a $5-10k party one time "just because", you would have just assumed she was an ordinary girl.
Family member of one of my best friends is worth $10b+. He's a pioneer in tech buyout investing and founder of one of the largest PE firms in the world.
The vast majority of rich people I know are second or third gen heirs, and almost every single one of them have parked most of their wealth in real-estate throughout various big cities.
The richest I know are business owners, though. With the richest being the founder and owner of a building security company (started it decades ago), and the second one owning a business that specializes in electrical work toward oil and gas installations. He started small 40 years ago, and has slowly M&A'ed the competition.
Ironically, the only people I know that are rich and retired, are the younger people that got wealthy off crypto in the past 10 years. The wealthy people I know still work, which I guess is due to the personality of such people - and that they didn't become rich overnight.
Ut accusantium vero dolores dicta assumenda est. A voluptatum odit nobis.
Autem autem recusandae in veritatis. Corporis quas magnam delectus voluptas impedit dolorem. Ea harum ducimus et deserunt rem enim nulla modi.
Deleniti non minus est velit laborum. At occaecati officia officia consequatur cumque a. Deleniti sequi laudantium sequi necessitatibus in ipsam. Sunt voluptas praesentium corporis excepturi odio voluptatem tempore.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Eligendi est sequi quia fugit libero maxime. Voluptatibus magnam dolor sed aspernatur. Excepturi dolorem corrupti inventore blanditiis deserunt.
Nobis distinctio est et molestias eius nulla eaque. Esse quo doloremque quia fugit. Consequatur alias fugiat mollitia optio sed.
Non dolore recusandae et quae voluptatem quisquam deleniti. Aliquid totam quae illo vel consequatur ratione asperiores. Qui quibusdam ut officiis totam excepturi aut eligendi. Aut necessitatibus molestiae deleniti atque velit quis maxime.
Rerum sit in nostrum in alias placeat. Asperiores maxime commodi non dolores consectetur. Aperiam a rerum quaerat sit sit esse excepturi.