[8ren]

Yes, the harder I work, the luckier I get. I think of a startup as a game with a 1-in-10 chance - but you can play as often as you like. The odds of failing n times in a row is .9^n - so the odds improve fast. And of course hopefully you'll learn something general along the way to improve your odds, and leverage specific money/tech/contacts/market presence too. If you're persistent, failing begins to look extremely unlikely.

What can stop you (apart from giving up) is if you can't (or won't) learn some key thing, or can't (or won't) do some key thing. Which is why having mentors/colleagues is very helpful (for learning); and having co-founders and being able to employ/outsource/team-work is very helpful (for doing).