I agree with this and in general think the degree of randomness in outcomes and survivorship biases aren't fully appreciated by a lot of folks examining the sta

I agree with this and in general think the degree of randomness in outcomes and survivorship biases aren't fully appreciated by a lot of folks examining the startup world. With that said, I do think there is one trait that is common to successful products/projects ...they were successfully sold. Now this might seem obvious after the fact but I think the amount of effort expended in 'selling' should be somewhat proportional to the novelty (and or perceived ineffectiveness )of the product. If you don't have an evangelist (on your team or external) that can sell the idea to customers, employees, business partners, investors ... your chances of success are greatly reduced. And even then pure randomness and timing (you could be too early/too late ) will drive the final outcome.