4 ms·
Succeeding in the startup world is luck like succeeding in poker is luck. Sure, there is an element of luck undeniably involved, but in the long term, raw talen
by hmsimha 12y ago
Succeeding in the startup world is luck like succeeding in poker is luck. Sure, there is an element of luck undeniably involved, but in the long term, raw talent should play a significant role as well.
- HNJohnC 12y agoI suspect you might not be paying enough attention to the issue.
- noonespecial 12y agoA better game analogy would be a game of dice where you win by rolling double 6's. Except that to be able to roll in the first place, you have to be able to solve all of the differential equations in the back of a college engineering textbook. What's the best way to improve your odds at this game? Be sure you get to roll more than once.
- diego 12y agoYou do realize that you can play hundreds of poker hands in a night. For your analogy to hold, you'd need to be able to start companies for a million years.
- rglullis 12y agoCall me cynical, but to me it feels like the people working on the startup are the cards of the game, being played by the VCs and the status quo.
- confluence 12y agoDepends on the point in the funding cycle. I'm not sure this applied during the dotcom bubble. Most of them got wiped out.
- hmsimha 12y agoOf course! There are professional poker players who run bad for months at a time even. Variance is a cruel mistress. That doesn't negate the fact that talent certainly gives you an edge in poker or in the startup world. It's easy to say it's all luck, but that attitude doesn't pay service to the many successful people who had raw talent or an excellent idea in addition to the luck that allowed them to become successful.
- PhantomGremlin 12y agoI, for one, liked your analogy. Poker is an excellent example of how talent combines with luck.