7 ms·
Number one reason you didn't mention - they are lucky.
by vzhang 13y ago
Number one reason you didn't mention - they are lucky.
- sama 13y agoLuck is necessary but not sufficient. But I left it off the list because telling people to "be lucky" is difficult to act on.
- ronilan 13y agoThere are things other than luck that are out of the control of the startup. Here is a quote: "In a great market -- a market with lots of real potential customers -- the market pulls product out of the startup."
- seregine 13y agoI've recently seen interesting arguments that optimism creates luck by enabling you to recognize more opportunities. E.g. http://www.damninteresting.com/you-make-your-own-luck/ http://www.damninteresting.com/you-make-your-own-luck/
- argumentum 13y agoEveryone is both lucky and unlucky .. the universe is pretty random. IMO, those achieve great things notice quicker and react better to turns of fortune (good or bad).
- tsunamifury 13y agoRandom =/= an even distribution of lucky and unlucky. Randomness clumps together and can be decidedly un-random looking at times. Some people do not get a fair shake, and despite their notable efforts, still find themselves on the short end of the stick.
- myzerox 13y agoLuck (up to a certain extent) is a function of hard work. You will not find opportunity if you're not searching. You will not profit from opportunity if you're not seizing it.
- brandnewlow 13y agoLuck is a function of hard work and preparedness.
- dylandrop 13y agoIn some cases, but even in those cases, only to a limited extent. Is winning the lottery is a function of hard work and preparedness?
- brandnewlow 13y agoThat's the point of saying "is a function of". No one knows exactly what the function IS, but the function for luck comes from those two qualities. Others, too.
- mrkurt 13y agoIn nerd speak, the luck function is not pure. It's subject to global state and has side effects. :)
- pinaceae 13y agoFailure as well. You can't fail if you don't try. Sounds stupid, but not every opportunity is worth it. Risk can and will bite. You don't get an INC cover story by ruining your personal life though. More drastically, use the Omaha Beach landing, as depicted in Saving Private Ryan, as an example: All soldiers were equally equipped, motivated, trained. But then a grenade falls from the sky and hits your landing vessel. Completely outside of your control, but still you're fucked and die. Happens to the best, to this day, SEAL, DEVGRU or not. Bad luck is bad luck. Same in business. Do everything right and still fail. Luck is underrated. There is Risk Management, I wonder if Luck Management is something that will arise in the future. Chance works both ways.
- myzerox 13y agoHowever, while you can fail multiple times, you only have to strike "super success" once. (As Nassim Taleb is also trending on HN right now) It's an antifragile situation: Facing extreme events, the upside is large whereas the downside is limited. So, yes - (bad) luck as a function of hard work is highly volatile. But as it is antifragile, volatility is a good thing.
- toast76 13y agoThe pessimist attributes success to external factors and failure to self. The optimist attributes success to self and failure to external factors. The reality is probably a little of both.