Let me make two things clear. First, you only want adversity up to a point. There is almost certainly a threshold beyond which there are too many disadvantages to overcome. Elon Musk had a difficult childhood and became estranged from his father; Thiel was gay and closeted; Jeff Bezos was adopted—but they were also privileged in other respects. They had chips on their shoulders, but they had enough social capital to be taken seriously by VCs, employees, and customers.
