We examine how ecological conditions conducive to knowledge spillover and rewiring interact with the rule of law to generate extreme entrepreneurial wealth. Our empirical strategy uncovers robust three-way complementarities: countries that simultaneously support knowledge spillover, facilitate network rewiring, and enforce strong legal institutions exhibit disproportionately higher levels of founder and entrepreneurial wealth. The state shapes the institutional framework that determines whether innovative activity translates into privately captured entrepreneurial wealth. These findings illuminate cases such as China, where disruptive innovation, creative destruction and the rise of billionaire entrepreneurs coexist with a single- party state.