11–20 of 89 posts
And yet, very few people similar to Elon Musk ever find themselves in the position of being rich enough to field an army.
In a future where resources aren't so constrained we'll start to see "geniuses" everywhere.
A corollary to this: if you want to be a badass entrepreneur, focus on getting lucky. The people who really strike it rich - the Elon Musks, Larry Pages, Evan Williamses, Marc Andreessens, Steve Jobses, Mark Zuckerburgs, et al - all seem to devote significant thought and attention to figuring out where the opportunities are that are almost ripe for a company to come in and pick them. To an outsider, it looks like the…
I don't think "focus on getting lucky" is quite right either. I didn't sift through all the available opportunities and choose changing education. I was personally interested in this problem - it mattered to me on an emotional level. I've interviewed Evan Williams and Mark Zuckerberg personally and I see the same pattern there. It kind of sucks to say "You just need to be interested personally in solving a problem" b…
Sam Altman indicates this is true in his first lecture at Stanford's startup course.
Yes, there's a lot of luck involved, but it takes hard, risky work that most people aren't willing to put in just to have a chance at capturing that luck.
You can't win if you don't play. It's not like successful entrepreneurs were just sitting on their asses and success smote them like a lightning bolt. Yes, there's a lot of luck involved, but it takes hard, risky work that most people aren't willing to put in just to have a chance at capturing that luck.
I've started large companies and tiny / failed ones; although I look back at my own execution problems for the ones that didn't make it, I recognize that the ones that succeeded were lucky, and we were just lucky enough to be able to take advantage of that luck.
For example: - tons of cold calls and regular sales calls until we accidentally signed up the right kinds of customers - having some customers who told us how we should be running our business, and being smart enough to listen to them - recognizing at one point, "hey, we're making all our money from customers who ask for Y, why do we think our business is X?" (i.e. what hipsters these days call a "pivot")
etc
I love the ones who think they're badass -- they're too busy being badass to slog through the mire and get to the mountain.
That said, you can get lucky and happen to work on one of the trends or you can try to spot one and ride it consciously. There's a factor that doesn't change though, you need to be able to execute and I think Ryan is giving himself way too little credit for being good at execution.
In particular he had already garnered a significant following with carsonified conferences and his blog before thinkvitamin (now treehouse) took off at the time.
There's always the cautionary tale of friendster, who could have been Facebook if they had been better at product management.
Years ago someone said to me, "Luck happens to those who let it." It's stuck with me, because I think it's so true. In fact it's what makes Napoleon's famous (and probably apocryphal) statement actionable: "When I choose Generals I prefer the lucky ones." I've started large companies and tiny / failed ones; although I look back at my own execution problems for the ones that didn't make it, I recognize that the ones t…
I'm not saying ego is good, because it can take you down if not managed. But to say that there are no positives is a little bit extreme.
I always wonder what people mean by "risk" in this context. If risk is a probability of failure, then if someone has minimized that probability through other means (seeing an opportunity where others haven't, working real hard, etc.) then it isn't risk. If others aren't trying to do the same thing and failing at it, then it might not be risky.
The "risk" thing may just be part of the badass image, but I've read in other places that entrepreneurs actually tend to be risk averse. Rather than simply taking risks, what they (we?) do is to use their skills and knowledge to arrange matters so that their own risk is reduced, even if the same activity might be more risky for someone else who doesn't have the same insight.
4. Happy to take risks I always wonder what people mean by "risk" in this context. If risk is a probability of failure, then if someone has minimized that probability through other means (seeing an opportunity where others haven't, working real hard, etc.) then it isn't risk. If others aren't trying to do the same thing and failing at it, then it might not be risky. The "risk" thing may just be part of the badass ima…
EDIT: Also the risk to reputation and social stigma that goes along with being poor...and enduring this for years...until you're not :).