In this particular case, isn't "10x" just a factor of IQ then? Smarter programmers get complicated things done faster. That seems like a no-brainer. Problem is,

In this particular case, isn't "10x" just a factor of IQ then? Smarter programmers get complicated things done faster. That seems like a no-brainer. Problem is, how many of those people actually exist in programming? A much smaller subset than exist in the world, which is already a small subset of the general population. Hinging your company on hiring nothing but 10x programmers is like trying to hire a unicorn.