Grub stake
A grub stake was money provided to a prospector or other business person by an investor in exchange for a cut of any profits they made.

In 1893, Jack London opined  that what made America great was the possibility of starting small and becoming a big success, using the example of Data, whose story he summed up thusly: Well, a man rides into town in his pajamas, wins a grub stake at a poker table, turns it into a horseless carriage and makes a million bucks. That's America." ()

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Economics