7 ms·

I've seen lots of examples of luck. This is not to suggest that tenacious people wouldn't succeed in some way or another but only that their current positions w

I've seen lots of examples of luck. This is not to suggest that tenacious people wouldn't succeed in some way or another but only that their current positions would be different. Some good examples: Ed Catmull in his own book mentioned all the luck he had becoming Pixar. Pixar was a computer hardware division at ILM. ILM wanted to get rid if them. They almost got sold to a computer company (lucky they didnt). They got bought by Steve Jobs who bought them to make computers. He spent $70 million dollars on them for them to make computers which they failed at. They then pivoted to animation. It's pretty lucky to find some person willing to blow $70 million on you and you don't have to earn a dime. Bill Gates is a smart guy but being president of Microsoft that makes the OS for the majority of PCs seems like lots of luck. Luck that he was in the right place at the right time to sell MS-DOS. Lucky that none of his competitors shipped something more popular. From that piece of luck the rest follows. Without that luck he could just have easily been like the president of Lotus or the president of Borland. IIRC Howard Lincoln, the first President of Nintendo of America got the job because he met the president of Nintendo at a layover in Chicago O'Hare Airport. The president of Nintendo said effectively, "Hey, I need someone to head up my USA division, how about you?" Without that luck Howard Lincoln would probably have just been a successful lawyer we'd never heard of. In my own life I know a guy that was just a game designer. The founders of the company he was working for sold out and he was made president. He's done very well but jees that's some serious luck. There was no struggle it was just handed to him. The head of the Chamber of Commerce in HK had the 3 guys above him leave. He was like 28 and inherited the job. Google, tried to sell to Yahoo. Where would they be if that had happened? Where would Facebook be if Friendster hadn't failed? I'm not in any way suggesting you shouldn't work hard to increase your chances of success. But there is also tons of luck in most big success.

brutos 10y ago
Bill Gates is a good example for OP's lot and luck point: "In 1980, [Mary Maxwell Gates] discussed her son's company with John Opel, a fellow committee member and the chairman of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). Opel, by some accounts, mentioned Mrs. Gates to other IBM executives. A few weeks later, IBM took a chance by hiring Microsoft, then a small software firm, to develop an operating system for its first personal computer." [1] Just an anecdote, but I like OP's point with lot and luck. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Maxwell_Gates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Maxwell_Gates
- zouhair 10y ago
  I would have liked to see what would Gate would have managed to do if he was born in the slums of India not in Seattle, a lawyer as a father and a person in the board of directors of a bank holding as a mother.
  - saiya-jin 10y ago
    easy, nothing to write about
  - luckystartup 10y ago
    The chance that he would accomplish anything is vanishingly small. But I found this story on Google: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/18-year-old-Kolkata-slum-boy-scripts-IIT-success-story/articleshow/47858412.cms http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/18-year-old-...
csomar 10y ago
Interestingly, most of your examples are about exposure rather than luck. These guys weren't picked at random. If he wasn't flying (not everyone gets to fly and layover at O'Hare, and probably the executive lounge), he would not get the chance to make the connection. I always assumed that Startups at Silicon Valley are neither lucky nor skilled people (or the most skilled/fit people for the job to be correct). They just happen to be in a place with strong exposure to Capital. If you are smart, have lots of experience, and hard-working; but lack the ability to fly to SV then your odds of getting funded by a VC are slim to none.
charlesdm 10y ago
It's more probability than luck. Anyone with moderate intelligence and who is willing to make a commitment to building wealth can say, make 5 or 10 million in life. It might not be easy nor quick, but from what I've seen, it's definitely achievable (i'm not there yet). You do however need to build up a specific skillset. At least 90% of the population is either 1) not interested in acquiring wealth, or 2) not willing to put in the effort. Becoming a billionaire, on the other hand, is obviously something completely different. Half the trick is making sure your money works for you. Once you have, say, $5m, it's not all that hard to turn it into $10m. All you need is time. I've seen guys make hundreds of millions (and lose it all) through great and bad investing. But a commitment to making money is probably the most important thing you need.
- sanderjd 10y ago
  > Anyone with moderate intelligence and who is willing to make a commitment to building wealth can say, make 5 or 10 million in life. This definitely isn't true for "anyone born in the world", and doesn't ring true to me for "anyone born in the US" either. Maybe it's true for "anyone born into the middle class in the US". (But that middle class is rapidly shrinking.) Unfortunately, starting conditions still matter a lot.
  - majani 10y ago
    Man, some people here just cannot picture life outside their bubble. It's amazing to me that someone flippantly dismisses making 5 million dollars as an average thing. I'm from a country where only 68,000 people out of 45 million make at least $1,000 per month[1]. That's 0.15% of the population. Where you were born is probably the biggest single factor in success [1] http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Number-of-Kenyans-earning-more-than-Sh100-000/539546-2901806-g1d0cy/index.html http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Number-of-Kenyans-earning...
    - charlesdm 10y ago
      Did I say it's an average thing? I said, if you want to dedicate 20 years of your life to it, not focusing on other things, living in a Western country, you can do it. Nowhere did I say it's a common thing. Second, there are plenty of people who manage to make $10,000+ a month online, regardless of where they live. Probably millions. Also, even in impoverished countries there must be opportunities to make money and do deals. If you keep looking at what others are making, then you will never make any money. Different setting, different opportunities. The average person, regardless of the country he or she lives in, will never be wealthy. €100 in Europe might get you less than $10 in South Africa. Location matters as well in terms of purchasing power.

brutos 10y ago

Bill Gates is a good example for OP's lot and luck point: "In 1980, [Mary Maxwell Gates] discussed her son's company with John Opel, a fellow committee member and the chairman of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). Opel, by some accounts, mentioned Mrs. Gates to other IBM executives. A few weeks later, IBM took a chance by hiring Microsoft, then a small software firm, to develop an operating system for its first personal computer." [1] Just an anecdote, but I like OP's point with lot and luck. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Maxwell_Gates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Maxwell_Gates

zouhair 10y ago
I would have liked to see what would Gate would have managed to do if he was born in the slums of India not in Seattle, a lawyer as a father and a person in the board of directors of a bank holding as a mother.
- saiya-jin 10y ago
  easy, nothing to write about
- luckystartup 10y ago
  The chance that he would accomplish anything is vanishingly small. But I found this story on Google: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/18-year-old-Kolkata-slum-boy-scripts-IIT-success-story/articleshow/47858412.cms http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/18-year-old-...

csomar 10y ago

Interestingly, most of your examples are about exposure rather than luck. These guys weren't picked at random. If he wasn't flying (not everyone gets to fly and layover at O'Hare, and probably the executive lounge), he would not get the chance to make the connection. I always assumed that Startups at Silicon Valley are neither lucky nor skilled people (or the most skilled/fit people for the job to be correct). They just happen to be in a place with strong exposure to Capital. If you are smart, have lots of experience, and hard-working; but lack the ability to fly to SV then your odds of getting funded by a VC are slim to none.

charlesdm 10y ago

It's more probability than luck. Anyone with moderate intelligence and who is willing to make a commitment to building wealth can say, make 5 or 10 million in life. It might not be easy nor quick, but from what I've seen, it's definitely achievable (i'm not there yet). You do however need to build up a specific skillset. At least 90% of the population is either 1) not interested in acquiring wealth, or 2) not willing to put in the effort. Becoming a billionaire, on the other hand, is obviously something completely different. Half the trick is making sure your money works for you. Once you have, say, $5m, it's not all that hard to turn it into $10m. All you need is time. I've seen guys make hundreds of millions (and lose it all) through great and bad investing. But a commitment to making money is probably the most important thing you need.

sanderjd 10y ago
> Anyone with moderate intelligence and who is willing to make a commitment to building wealth can say, make 5 or 10 million in life. This definitely isn't true for "anyone born in the world", and doesn't ring true to me for "anyone born in the US" either. Maybe it's true for "anyone born into the middle class in the US". (But that middle class is rapidly shrinking.) Unfortunately, starting conditions still matter a lot.
- majani 10y ago
  Man, some people here just cannot picture life outside their bubble. It's amazing to me that someone flippantly dismisses making 5 million dollars as an average thing. I'm from a country where only 68,000 people out of 45 million make at least $1,000 per month[1]. That's 0.15% of the population. Where you were born is probably the biggest single factor in success [1] http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Number-of-Kenyans-earning-more-than-Sh100-000/539546-2901806-g1d0cy/index.html http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Number-of-Kenyans-earning...
  - charlesdm 10y ago
    Did I say it's an average thing? I said, if you want to dedicate 20 years of your life to it, not focusing on other things, living in a Western country, you can do it. Nowhere did I say it's a common thing. Second, there are plenty of people who manage to make $10,000+ a month online, regardless of where they live. Probably millions. Also, even in impoverished countries there must be opportunities to make money and do deals. If you keep looking at what others are making, then you will never make any money. Different setting, different opportunities. The average person, regardless of the country he or she lives in, will never be wealthy. €100 in Europe might get you less than $10 in South Africa. Location matters as well in terms of purchasing power.