By Mia Bonifazi

Nothing is more American than a rags-to-riches story: nobody becoming somebody through hard work, tying their bootstraps tight and moving on even when the going gets rough. And, as a result, just as American is the all-too-infamous Ponzi scheme or Get-Rich-Quick scheme, where oftentimes a mysterious, charming figure swindles those simply trying to get ahead in the laissez-faire market. What started in the 1920s by Charles Ponzi as a classic ‘invest in me and I will double it with no risk’ scandal has now evolved over the course of a century, taking the form of Multi-Level Marketing schemes and romanticized ideas about the kind of money an Ostrich Farm can fetch. Years of publicity and warnings of these kinds of frauds have made the American public wary, though, so what may classify as the 21st century’s new and improved version is harder to pin down.

But, the possible culprit is likely the one getting all the buzz: the busy, competitive, kombucha chugging world of AI tech start-ups. Publicity about start-ups has grown steadily since the myth of Steve Job and his legendary garage, but with the growth of AI tools, a dizzying amount of small start-ups praise and brag about their AI capabilities. Now, most Americans, instead of sending in their application to Who wants to be a Millionaire?, sit down in a cozy café with a partially fleshed-out idea and grand start-up dreams. Yet, the liberal, Silicon Valley image of a start-up—a stocked mini fridge of energy drinks and kombucha, flexible funky seating instead of cubicles and a casual, playful work environment more focused on team building than tasks—is far from most start-ups’ realities.

Brett Berry is a freshman computer engineering student at the University of Arkansas, who has gained experience in the field, despite his freshman status. Since early February of 2026, he has been a software engineer at a company called Tariff Ninja, which uses AI to track and provide advice about international product shipping to its clients. The way he found the job, though, wasn’t from a career fair, but a friend of a friend.

“One of my coworkers was dating the CEO… and I would always talk to her…every day about programming,” explained Berry. “And I think [there] is like a huge misconception [that] start-ups [are this] super easy thing you go and…get your kombucha out of the fridge.”

Instead of the relaxed, calm life one may expect from a part-time tech job, Berry explained that he spent hours fixing minute details to make the website not only presentable but work as it was intended to. Far from lollygagging, it took strenuous hours at his computer every week at home, due to his company lacking real office space, to build it into its current state.

“I’d say I roughly log about 20 hours per week in it,” he stated. “But I don’t log hours… just kind of thinking about it because…I think about it all the time throughout the day.”

Still, Berry has a very positive mindset surrounding start-ups and the field. While perhaps deceptive in the way it’s talked about, he agrees, money can be made if the right start-up is formed, as had been seen time and time again. He talked about Y Combinator funding, where a company is given millions of dollars to push them to success, moving to San Fransico and living out what he considered the dream of every start-up.

“You always fail if you never start. So, if you’re ever interested in a startup, you should always try. It’s the easiest time to try,” was Berry’s final note, hitting both the struggle with the field and the reconciliation that the worst thing any business can do is never give itself a chance.

Mark Zweig, professor at the U of A and acclaimed entrepreneur, had similar notes about the myths and legends surrounding start-up companies. Rather than the high-tech AI companies so often touted in news articles and social media groups, Zweig said he believes that the most profitable and successful start-ups are instead ‘Meat and Potatoes’ businesses.

“They’re not inventing anything new at all,” Zweig explained. “People are just doing a better job than the providers that exist currently in the market. That’s where I think the greatest opportunity is.”

In comparison to the modern glamour of AI focused companies, these businesses are more “blue-collar” in style; there are less yoga balls and free-flowing office space usually, but the exchange is a greater likelihood of success. Simply put, while they might not be “Billion-Dollar Ideas” as the phrase goes, they are likely to be stable, profitable income for years ahead. As Zweig put it:

“Is it something that’s really sexy that somebody’s gonna pay him a lot of money for his idea? No, it’s not. Is it a way that the guy could build, make himself into a multimillionaire, in a period of time, if he works hard, and buys another truck, and then buys another truck? Absolutely.”

When asked about the impacts of AI and the influence of short-form content on the field, Zweig said that he felt it gave a false impression of the field as a place built by dreamers, by creatives, rather than the more boring, practical truth.

“They spend too much time in coffee shops, fantasizing about how successful they’re gonna be…And it’s really not the idea that makes people successful…It’s the self-discipline and the work and … being willing to just grind it out,” he discussed. “If you want to really be successful in your own business, you need to be ready to work 78 hours a week, never turn off your phone…And it’s gonna take longer than a year or 2 of slogging like that if you really want to be successful.”

Overall, this shows a clear deviation from the myth of start-ups to reality. People who go into start-ups thinking they can spend a little bit of time on it then profit big are destained to fail, or, worse, will spend hours and thousands on an idea that never grows into a viable business venture. This is the biggest factor that connects Start-up culture to Get-Rich-Quick culture; the idea that it’s an easy, quick thing you do then profit immensely. In both cases, this never comes to fruition, like a false oasis in the middle of the barren desert.

Despite this, most still envision start-ups as youth living out the best part of their life, carefree, brazen and destined to succeed, because that is what college students were originally told about America: that American business is built on eccentric college dropouts who break the mold and take a chance. The body of the economy is much less exciting; it’s built on companies selling things like toilet paper, plates and home maintenance.

Start-ups represent a good that cannot be bought: stable, profitable, decent income. At a time of both high commercialization and low affordability, it is the most valuable commodity for incoming adults.