He won the lottery first time around. The second time around he gambled a bit, but he also put in the work to give his app the right amount of polish, struck a

He won the lottery first time around. The second time around he gambled a bit, but he also put in the work to give his app the right amount of polish, struck a partnership with a marketing company, found a way to haggle with Parse, etc. Sure, I won't dismiss luck as a factor, luck is always a factor when it comes to games, about a third of it probably, but the chance of someone just getting lucky from their game is, well, statistically zero (and probably the most offensive thing someone could ever tell you). Statistically speaking, the chance of creating a successful game is slim, the chance of creating a successful startup (or even a small company) is slim, the chance of getting promoted to a really high level within the company is slim, the odds of a lot of nice thoughts happening within our lives are slim. The thing is that these odds are just averages, it's definitely within the realm of possibility to beat the averages. Having a rich uncle helps, but not nearly as much as having a better strategy than average, developing better partnerships than average, putting in more work than average, and being more determined than average. And I will agree that you really shouldn't choose exams over app, but I can kinda relate with the kid, when your family loses their home and is struggling to make ends meet with their downsized apartment, thinking about acing your exams just isn't something you think about. Survival is on your mind and sometimes you come up with some pretty crazy ideas to make that happen.