[dschobel]

It strikes me as smacking of old-school fatalistic "some are born winners" type thinking which is fundamentally contrary to everything we are led to believe about startups (namely; success is a function of smarts, hustle and luck).

I have not met either of them. And while I have met a few individuals who have achieved success I can honestly say I have never met anyone who I thought radiated success or was otherwise predisposed to success.

[alex_c]

You are, perhaps, reading too much into the word "winner" to mean "automatically succeeds" rather than "is unstoppable and bowls over obstacles that would stop most people".

Have you never met anyone with an unusually high mix of intelligence, determination, focus, and charisma (to randomly pick a few traits)? If you have, are you more likely to bet for or against them in their chosen field?

If you haven't, that is entirely possible. Such people are, by definition, rare.

[a45l98]

This is exactly how many VC work. They will only fund projects that involve people they know. Those people are almost always ones who have a history of past success. It's simply a way to manage risk with minimised effort.

Deal with people you already know.

If the project turns out to be a dud, the past history of success of the people involved negates any arguments that it was not the right decision to fund it. No one is going to question that the people involved were not "winners". They had proven that already; that's why the project received funding: because those particular people were involved with it.

To use an oft regurgitated title: "No one ever got fired for funding a project that involved [insert so-called born winner name here]"

Just for fun: How about Andrew Mason, the guy behind Groupon. How far do you think he would have gotten by taking the YC route? Is he a "born winner"? Groupon made some investors very happy.

One might wonder why no one can tell us who the "born winners" are until after they've had some "victories".

[w1ntermute]

No matter how much you might wish it, a purely meritocratic system is not possible, not when there are people involved. There will always be subjectivity and biases. SV is more meritocratic than most other industries, and I do believe that most people in SV honestly try to be impartial, but that doesn't actually pan out a lot of the time.

[ajju]

When did he claim they were born that way?

[aptwebapps]

What do you think he actually means by 'radiate "winner"'? What if he'd said they radiate 'smarts and hustle'? That's two out the three qualities you name. (If he said they radiate luck, I would understand being put off).

"I have not met either of them. And while I have met a few individuals who have achieved success I can honestly say I have never met anyone who I thought radiated success or was otherwise predisposed to success."

Where in the above two statements do you contradict the idea that Benioff and Zuckerberg do give this impression in person? Notice that pg doesn't say that about everyone who is successful.