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The simple answer is...because they're all geeks who just got lucky. They didn't need to work their backsides off to get to where they are. They just made a se
by kbcool 8y ago
The simple answer is...because they're all geeks who just got lucky.
They didn't need to work their backsides off to get to where they are. They just made a semi-decent product at the right time and money was thrown at them.
There are millions who just weren't there at the right time and probably far more flamboyant ones because the longer answer is the author is probably mixing up boring with stable.
- ryanmercer 8y ago>The simple answer is...because they're all geeks who just got lucky. I reached out to someone that is easily a peer of these types once and asked for advice, wanting to know what their secret was. Their reply was indeed that they were afraid it was was mostly luck. That said, that individual is far more interesting than most of their peers (even those that are more successful financially).
- tibbon 8y agoA friend who was the co-founder of a very large company in the early 2000's that went public told me two things shortly after meeting him: 1) Take having fun seriously 2) Getting lucky is fine I know he worked hard on things, but basically his point was that he was very lucky and in the right place at the right time.
- jovial_cavalier 8y agoIf anyone can do it and it's just a matter of capitalizing on opportunity, then why did MySpace die while Facebook exploded?
- pron 8y agoI think that's true for all of them except Bezos. I get the sense that, unlike the others, he's actually got some of the old-school visionary in him. But maybe that's just his mythical image.
- m52go 8y ago> They didn't need to work their backsides off to get to where they are. Isn't is possible that they got incredibly lucky AND worked their backsides off? It should be clear that (1) abundant money and (2) abundant brains and (3) abundant luck are ALL necessary criteria for out-sized successes.
- Alex3917 8y agoThis. To whatever extent Mark Zuckerberg's success is attributable to luck, let's not forget that he's still probably one of the ten smartest people in the tech industry.
- pofilat 8y ago> he's still probably one of the ten smartest people in the tech industry. That's absurd.
- repolfx 8y agoIs it? Depends how you define smart but Zuck has consistently made unconventional moves, very young, that turned out to be wildly correct. He started by limiting Facebook to colleges so it could scale. He was able to attract top class engineering talent to help him. He entered a crowded market and obliterated all his competitors entirely through having a superior social networking product. He retained control over his own company - avoiding the kind of agist outing that Larry Page and Sergey Brin experienced (i.e. investors who demanded "adult supervision" in the form of Eric Schmidt). He convinced Instagram to sell, and made it profitable, apparently. He convinced WhatsApp to sell and probably will make it profitable. How many people in the tech industry can point to such a track record at all, let alone at Zuck's age? The guy doesn't only seriously understand tech. He also understands people.
- Alex3917 8y agoHe also made the right call by going all in on mobile at exactly the right time. And he has one of the best research teams in the industry. For whatever missteps they've made, on the balance it's been absurdly well run. I think he easily makes the list of the top ten smartest people in tech, along with Bezos, Scott Cook, Jonah Peretti, etc.
- paulpauper 8y agoIQ birth lottery + upper-middle class parents + being at the right place at right time