Paul Graham has brought this up before, in How to be an Angel Investor[1]: "There is an ongoing debate between investors which is more important, the people, o

Paul Graham has brought this up before, in How to be an Angel Investor[1]: "There is an ongoing debate between investors which is more important, the people, or the idea—or more precisely, the market. [...] The three most prominent people I know who favor markets are Marc [Andreessen], Jawed Karim, and Joe Kraus. And all three of them, in their own startups, basically flew into a thermal: they hit a market growing so fast that it was all they could do to keep up with it." Paul Graham goes on to say: "Thermals happen, yes, but no one can predict them." [1] - http://www.paulgraham.com/angelinvesting.html http://www.paulgraham.com/angelinvesting.html