"Hard work wins in business (a.k.a. it ain't just about luck)" says every 'successful' business person, company owner, shareholder, etc. No doubt hard work is

"Hard work wins in business (a.k.a. it ain't just about luck)" says every 'successful' business person, company owner, shareholder, etc. No doubt hard work is a major, or even necessary, factor; when you work hard, you create a much larger surface area for luck, and also capitalize on whatever luck does hit you. But let's not pretend. Many people work hard, much harder than many entrepreneurs, and still barely scrape by. There was an article here about UBI that mentioned someone working as a cook (notoriously hard work and long hours), but who was living in his car in the parking lot, unable to afford rent. What kind of system is that? Also there's rather more motivation to work hard when you're effectively getting $1000's per hour as a company owner vs $2.75 or whatever minimum wage works out as, factoring in benefit cuts as a result of employment. And BTW I don't think it's only 'pure' luck as most people conceive - it's about stumbling on those gaps and loopholes in the system, or that your father happens to know a guy researching an algorithm that would give your SaaS a winning edge, etc, etc, so a good part of 'luck' boils down to socioeconomic privilege.