I originally thought startup founders have strong opinions on things and build companies that align with those opinions.
For instance, Satoshi, the original creator of bitcoin had a strong belief that government controlled money could be abused and hurts the common person.
They even left a tiny note in the genesis block related to yet another bank bailout
“The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”
But a majority of the time, it’s actually the exact opposite. Founder opinions seem to shift over time towards what is making their company profitable.
There are far more people who have become libertarian gold standard loving decentralites because their entire net worth was created on that belief.
Michael Burry, David Einhorn, and the other guys who won big betting against the banks in 2008 have continued to predict recessions at every turn.
It makes sense on one level. What better proof is there for your opinions than money?
Similarly, I find groups of friends tend to have opinions that gravitate towards the richest friend. I have even seen this with people in my friend group who weren’t rich before and became rich later.
Maybe because intelligence is so hard to measure, looking at someone’s wallet is much easier.