[Sir_Cmpwn]

>what are the odds of Steve Jobs starting multiple multi-billion dollar companies over multiple decades

High. The first success is luck and the rest are a consequence of this initial lucky break (namely via generous access to capital).

[komali2]

>generous access to capital

Increases total number of opportunity chances.

I don't like the lottery metaphor, because the math doesn't work out (you can't buy out the total # of lottery numbers to guarantee a win and still profit), but basically, the more money you got, the more tickets you can buy, the higher your chance of winning.

Mark Cuban said something along the lines of "You only have to be right once." Get your first couple million, and from there on it's just intelligent investing, which you can literally pay an intelligent investor to do for you.

[ThomPete]

I wasn't making a lottery metaphor. I was making a if you start a company you have better chances than playing the lottery but you are still playing that game.

There are literally thousands of talented people executing like there is no tomorrow and failing.

Access to capital, access to distribution, luck, timing. Thats what you primarily have the other factors are less relevant because most people playing the entrepreneur game have those.