Inc Magazine: "Lucky things happen to entrepreneurs who start fundamentally innovative, morally compelling, and philosophically positive companies."

It's a good article, and he sounds like a smart/decent chap. Funny thing is, from the earliest days, I've learned Pavlovian-like to respond to the word "Tripod" on any webpages by clicking the red "X" as fast as possible. Oh, well.

I just realized he also has a 58 page book called Lucky or Smart http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/140006290X/104-7347251-5666331?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Contents: Chapter 1: Start a company that is innovative, morally compelling and philosophically positive; this will attract smart, motivated people that will do great things because they are smart and motivated (Enron aside)

Chapter 2: you are born an entrepreneur or a manager - accept who you are because you cannot change

Chapter 3: entrepreneurs are B students, managers are A students - unfortunately I was a B student in high school and an A student in college, something the author does not address

Chapter 4: strive to be good enough to survive; if you do you will be bought by a company that can make you great; but don't be great on your own or you will not survive

Chapter 5: have faith

Chapter 6: don't take no for an answer

Chapter 7: entrepreneurs don't have power - "get used to it"

Chapter 8: stay calm and be gracious in difficult situations

Chapter 9: read the WSJ daily, the NY times on Sunday and pick one other reputable weekly or monthly business magazine - and don't read any other form of press

Chapter 10: always sell

Chapter 11: know what you don't know

Here are excerpts from Amazon reviews:

Review 1:

"This small book from the founder of Tripod is worth the hour it will take you to read it. Peabody was a `B' student and suggests that successful entrepreneurs are almost always `B' students: good at lots of things, experts at none. To compensate, `B' student entrepreneurs need to hire `A' student managers (and coders and VPs), who are excellent a one or two things, to successfully take a startup to maturity. This revelation is not rocket science, and not an entirely new concept either, but it is very interesting to hear how this strategy played out for Peabody and Tripod.

Even though he made millions, Peabody does not boast or make the silly claim--like many Internet millionaires--to have known all along that he was destined for greatness. In fact he is quite humble: he readily admits he was making a lot of his business strategy up as he went along, and that with Tripod, it could have just as easily gone the other way and ended in failure.

The three salient lessons from this very short memoir of an entrepreneur: work very hard, hire the right people, and be smart enough to know when you are getting lucky."

Review 2:

"The advice he gives is mainly for Type-A personality entrepreneurs; Risk-taking, project-starting individuals whose main focus is getting product out the door so their effort can be called a success.

For anyone who does not fit that mold, this book is not necessarily speaking to you. However, even if its not directed at you, you'll still gain some insight into why people like Peabody behave and think the way they do.

What I liked most:

-- Always sell. As the person at the top of the organization, always sell.

-- Recognize which role is naturally in you: Entrepreneur, or Manager, and then excel in that role.

-- Know what you don't know. Don't try to buffalo your way through things. To me this is part of being intellectually honest."

One thing I dislike about the phrase "lucky or smart" is that it excludes a third quality more important than either of those two: energy.

All the successful startup founders I know are lucky, smart, and driven-- but above all, driven.

I'm blown away this article, it is contrarian yet so logical. He comes across as extremly humble yet super smart, driven, and clearly a big winner despite his "good luck." I also love the concept of "knowing what you don't know", as entrepreneurs we must always be aware that we don't have to have the right answers just know how to get to that answer through others. I'm jazzed!