On: Coders Programming Themselves Out of a Job (2018)

[username90]

The combined wealth of workers is usually more than enough to start a company. The only reason it doesn't happen is that the workers don't want to risk their hard earned cash.

[newsgremlin → username90]

The risk most fear is losing the ability to provide for yourself and family, for most people that is only one or two significant financial mistakes away.

[ForHackernews → username90]

...which is another way of saying they lack the surplus capital to speculate on starting a company.

[pytester → username90]

There are plenty of businesses where entire countries don't have enough capital to start a competitor (e.g. oil companies, aircraft factories).

It's called capitalism, not "I have an idea-ism" for a reason.

There are some businesses that operate in markets with low barriers to entry but they tend to be A) new and extremely risky or B) hypercompetitive.