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“Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

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Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#31
post #2

Cynical take, but probably popular in today's social media. I don't think it's right to say building a company is only based on random chance. It clearly also involves at least some skill.

Yes indeed, there are some more nuanced takes on it in this thread that I thought were good. I feel in corporate land this translates to the Peter principle in some cases where the manager made a random decision that turned out great.

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#32

Pretty clear to me after meeting a number of very successful people in NYC/SF that some people "just have it". Meaning, they can identify opportunities that have a high probability of success and execute on those opportunities. There are absolutely personality types/genetic backgrounds where stumbling into 100M based on thinking of an idea is a real thing. Also, if someone went to a school like Stanford, its common f…

Sorry, but I don’t think you know anything about “genetic background” if you think it correlates with making money.

I'm sorry you believe the propaganda that states otherwise. Its a radical opinion to believe "talent" doesnt exist.

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#33

This is stupid. Any of us who have had at least two “successful” businesses will tell you that this quote is ridiculous. What’s your ideal of being successful? If it’s exiting at a billion, then sorry. But you can use a lot of this entrepreneur advice to find some level of success. The problem is that non-entrepreneur or first timers always try to skip the small stuff. 1. have a good team and hire right. you need jus…

[deleted]

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but I don’t think you know anything about “genetic background” if you think it correlates with making money.

I'm sorry you believe the propaganda that states otherwise. Its a radical opinion to believe "talent" doesnt exist.

Having disposable income and connections means much much more than genetics.

This comment has the relevant quote: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35024721

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#35
I'm surprised I don't see a reference yet to Darius Kazemi's iconic 2014[1] talk, which is basically riffing on this joke for 10 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_F9jxsfGCw

A key takeaway I've kept with me this whole time is the idea of there being two kinds of creative advice: (1) how to buy more lottery tickets, and (2) how to win the lottery. The former is useful, the latter not so much.

[1] Wait, 9 years ago? That can't be right.

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#36

This is stupid. Any of us who have had at least two “successful” businesses will tell you that this quote is ridiculous. What’s your ideal of being successful? If it’s exiting at a billion, then sorry. But you can use a lot of this entrepreneur advice to find some level of success. The problem is that non-entrepreneur or first timers always try to skip the small stuff. 1. have a good team and hire right. you need jus…

While I don’t agree with the premise of the tweet, having created 2 successful businesses doesn’t necessarily mean that it wasn’t all luck, because you’re missing the fact that the number of entrepreneurs, who would be the equivalent of the lottery contestants, is highly limited.

If you had a daily lottery but only 1000 people were able to enter it, by year 5 nearly everyone would have won the lottery at least twice.

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#38
Bad analogy. Founding a startup is not entirely a gamble. There are some things you can do to increase your chances of success.

However, that doesn't mean you should do everything a successful startup founder mentions in their retrospectives. Founding a successful startup does not equate to having a flawless perspective into what caused your success. It's the job of VC firms to study startups and figure out what works and what doesn't, not founders.

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#40
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most predictive reason for failure or success is the commonly referenced https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15659076 >Entrepreneurship is like one of those carnival games where you throw darts or something. >Middle class kids can afford one throw. Most miss. A few hit the target and get a small prize. A very few hit the center bullseye and get a bigger prize. Rags to riches! The American Dream lives on. >Rich k…

Imo, this is completely false in the realm of software where anyone can launch a new app/project basically every other weekend and feel out what sticks & has traction.

Did you know that some people spend their weekend working to make rent rather than launching apps that they hope might work?
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