Sister Said ‘Stop Playing Pretend Entrepreneur’ – I’m Her Silent Partner Worth 150M
Growing up in Austin, Texas, Sarah was always the golden child. While I spent hours on the garage floor surrounded by open computer towers and tangled cables, she was out winning debate tournaments and student council elections. Mom would stand at the kitchen island in her University of Texas sweatshirt, beaming as Sarah talked about her leadership potential and her plans to revolutionize the tech industry.
‘Your sister has vision,’ Dad would say, watching Sarah rehearse her high school business plan presentation at the dining table.
‘She understands what it takes to build something real.’
Meanwhile, I was the computer kid who ‘played with gadgets’ all day.
When I started freelancing web development at sixteen, earning more than most adults in our neighborhood outside Austin, the family called it pocket money and told me to focus on real subjects like Sarah’s pre-law and business track.
The dynamic only intensified in college.
Sarah went east to Harvard for her economics and MBA pipeline, eventually heading into Harvard Business School.
I chose a solid state school in Texas for computer science, staying in a cramped apartment with a view of a parking lot and a Sonic drive-in.
Every Thanksgiving and Fourth of July when we gathered back home, the living room became a stage for Sarah’s networking achievements. Her internship at Goldman Sachs.
Her acceptance into exclusive entrepreneurship programs in Boston and New York.
The professors who ‘saw her potential.’
‘Sarah’s making connections that matter,’ Mom would explain to relatives over turkey or barbecue.
‘She’s building relationships with future CEOs and venture capitalists. That’s how real business gets done in America.’
When I mentioned my software projects or the tiny apps I was quietly publishing to the cloud, the conversation would quickly shift back to Sarah’s latest academic honor or business competition win.
I learned to stay quiet during these discussions, focusing on my code instead of ever expecting family recognition.
After graduation, Sarah launched her tech startup in San Francisco with great fanfare.
The family pooled their savings to invest, convinced they were backing the next big Silicon Valley success story.
The story doesn’t end here –
it continues on the next page.
TAP → NEXT PAGE → 👇
