Joel did get ahead by being smarter and working harder. He was doing the blogging/article thing back before everyone was doing it, and it takes some smarts to b

Joel did get ahead by being smarter and working harder. He was doing the blogging/article thing back before everyone was doing it, and it takes some smarts to be the first. He also kept it up on a regular schedule, and that needs some discipline. So people like 37signals had a good pinch of luck thrown in their pot, but Joel, I believe, actually got to the top rung of the internet food chain by persistence and hard work.