[hnhg]

I remember another study that looked at people who had made it very rich, and they saw that luck was something like 'being educated in a field just when that field is about to make a huge impact in the world' - in other words, great timing in addition to raw talent. I don't have the link to hand now though.

[marcus_holmes]

I loved the Whats App founder talk at the YC online class (I don't have the link either). I paraphrase: "we decided to make a messaging app just when that was the best, most profitable thing we could possibly have done." There was a ton of experience and talent behind it, but they acknowledge that they got lucky and timed it perfectly.

[drchewbacca]

There's this ted talk to a similar effect, timing is the most important factor in a startups success.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNpx7gpSqbY&t=1s