"calling something "luck" takes away the responsibility of the actors. This is a dangerous mentality for a founder, because their own actions and decisions are

"calling something "luck" takes away the responsibility of the actors. This is a dangerous mentality for a founder, because their own actions and decisions are all they have in the pursuit of success." On the other hand, I've met plenty of depressed, completely delusional startup founders who were convinced that their business failure meant that they did something wrong, because hey...it's never luck, right? You're setting up a false dichotomy: it's possible -- essential, really -- too acknowledge that luck plays the most important part in any startup. You still have to maximize your chances of getting lucky, and that's the part you can control.