[webhat]

A cursory glance tells me none. Jimmy Wales already had money from his investment banker career, he build wikipedia to solve a problem with his 'real' startup. LinkedIn was Reid Hoffman 3rd or 4th social startup. Marc Benioff started his first company in high school.

[codezero]

Not surprising. A common theme at Startup School this year (and probably a common theme in general) was that those who succeeded tried and failed many times over. There is no single skyrocket to success, OK there probably is, but the norm, if you can call it that is one of trial and error, and making intentional changes and improvements until you succeed.

[codex]

Or it's simply luck. If the odds of succeeding are random, say 1%, then the more you try, the greater the odds you will eventually win the lottery. It would make sense that most of the winners had tried multiple times. I'm not sure it follows that the winners are necessarily more talented than the losers.