If you had heard about Bitcoin back in 2008-2009, you would have never gotten into it because back then nobody was talking about getting "wealthy" of it, instead it was only an experiment to create a system that helps people reach financial sovereignty. In early years Bitcoin never interested those who were looking to make money.
It should be noted that Satoshi started working on the BTC code back in 2007, and that he published a white paper on October 31, 2008 - but I honestly don't know how many people were aware of what he was doing until it was officially announced, and how many in the months after that before Satoshi officially launched BTC. As far as I know, in those early days there were only about a dozen people who started mining with Satoshi, so (if I'm not mistaken) it makes little sense that the OP knew people who were talking about BTC back then (2008).
I first heard about BTC sometime in 2011, but I have to admit that most of what I read back then was at least negative or pessimistic, so I forgot about it all until 2014. Do I regret that I didn't understand what it was about in 2011? Well, I have to admit that I'm not really happy that I believed in all the nonsense I read then, but I don't think I was too late in terms of anything as I understood some things a few years later.
Of course people regret not being able to buy BTC for $1 or $10, but back in 2015 and 2016 BTC was only worth between $200 and $400 - and all those who only then understood some things had the chance to buy very cheaply.