This is the similar mindset in sport athletes. On a good day, a strong driver could beat Verstappen, or a chess player could beat Carlsen. Over the course of a tournament, or a season, then Verstappen and Carlsen are unbeatable. They get to the top, and go on great length to stay there.
That is true for the older generation (immigrating to US pre 1990-ish). The newer generation immigrating to US has a very different mindset now, and they embrace American values as much as the native born here.
I'd say it usually comes from the difficulty in hiring. Extremely difficult to convince someone to leave FAANG / quant firms to work in a no name startup with very high chance of failures, and therefore usually you need a good GTM strategy first (which often requires you have acquired customers / revenue). Often in startups, the priority is figuring GTM strategy > acquiring customers > ... > hiring.
Yes, it was lucky that he was tutored my a Fields medalist. But he did the hard work to get himself tutored: sitting in an algebraic geometry class (that saw attendances dropping from 200 to 5 within a few weeks), reaching out to the professor, traveling with him for 2 years, etc. And then he still needed to do all the work himself for his PhD, and so forth.
How can he make friends with other kids? Partying, dancing, playing baseball, going to date night, etc.?
It's clear that he's not interested in those, and forcing him to do so only causes him to withdraw further to his bubble. At least a job gets him to hang out with people closer to his ability.
