I should add that great startup success stories almost always involve founders who were awesome as well. (Netscape and Viaweb both qualify on this count.) It's

I should add that great startup success stories almost always involve founders who were awesome as well. (Netscape and Viaweb both qualify on this count.) It's just that being awesome isn't enough. Traf-O-Data had awesome founders, but it failed; those same founders, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, had better luck in their second venture.