I guess many will agree that if you want to do well in any sphere, it’s very useful to belong to the elite, have your family’s connections, money and power behind you. It looks like it is the same in the religion business. Let us look at the founders of 3 largest world religions – Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, who they were and how they were faring.
Jesus. His earthly father was a carpenter. Result: he preached for only 3 years, got about only a dozen followers and got killed.
Muhammad. He was from nobility of his tribe, his uncle was the clan chief, but Muhammad himself, being an orphan, didn’t have a leading position. Result: he preached for 23 years, initially he was persecuted, but then he managed to persecute all his persecutors, and had around 100,000 followers when he died (allegedly from poisoning).
Siddhartha Gautama. He was a king’s son. Being a young prince, one can afford spiritual searches and other eccentric behaviors, however your kingdom’s army and treasury are still behind you, giving additional authority to what you say. Result: he preached for 45 years, gave (according to tradition) about 84,000 teachings (which probably just means “a lot”), died his own death. Not sure about any opposition and the amount of followers, maybe more knowledgeable people can provide the information?
Conclusion: if you want to succeed in the religion business, you need to have the right parents. What do you think of it? Is this tendency maintained with other religions’ founders?