system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Mass Effect]How did The Illusive Man earn all his money, before Cerberus?

I’m not asking about how Cerberus earns its money, that’s well established, but how did TIM get Cerberus going in the first place/how did he make his bank before it?
gpt
What we know is that he was a regular civilian before becoming the Illusive man and his first action to gain notice by general media was an email calling for humans to dominate and rule every other species. Basically he started out as an internet troll who gained some clout for getting on the news. He was able to get lucky when contacting like-minded people and his little group eventually gained support from powerful people. After he had sufficient funds, that's how he was able to get the ball rolling.