Introduction: Deconstructing the American Dream There is a myth deeply embedded in American tech culture—the story of the scrappy entrepreneur who starts with nothing but an idea, works out of a garage, and builds a billion-dollar empire through sheer talent and determination. We’ve heard it countless times: Bill Gates dropping out of Harvard, Steve Jobs tinkering in his parents’ garage, Jeff Bezos leaving a stable career to sell books online. These narratives have become modern parables of the American Dream,