[Sakes]

I used to think I was really smart and that my intelligence would carry me when I finally set out to start a company.

Wrong, while I still consider myself to be smart, I don't think I'm savvy enough to rely upon good decisions to carry me. There are plenty of people smarter than me that have failed in their ventures. So, I've reverted to a brute force strategy coupled with an unrelenting resolve to see projects to completion.

Just lucky? Not just. When you build your companies with a willingness to change, frequently self re-evaluating, you will amaze yourself with how much you grow as an entrepreneur. It is ridiculous what I know today when compared against my assumptions 2 years ago.

When the author was talking about the failed MMO, I took him at his word when he said his team created an amazing game. So the point of failure is obviously marketing. Who knows what could have been if those game developers had a comparable marketing team in their corner. What if they launched a beta 1 year into development to help develop a core user group as well as aid in gamer feedback which could then be redigested by the marketing team to help them create buzz.

I love this rumored quote assumedly from Jack Dorsey "It only took 10 years for me to become an overnight success." The entrepreneur that doesn't die is hardened and polished in failure over a number of years. When luck finally strikes, he will have the tools, experience, insight, vision to take full advantage.

I'm 2 years into this journey, hopefully I'll find luck in year 3, and hopefully I will have grown enough to take full advantage of it.

[kansface]

You missed the point of the article. Ultimately, the universe is unfair. No special insight, ability, breakthrough, or perseverance is sufficient to change that.

[Sakes]

I didn't say anything about fair. I didn't even say that you don't need luck. I believe you do need luck. But, you can remove a lot of your dependence on luck by getting better at the game over time, as well as by playing a lot. Just ask anyone that plays Texas Hold'em.

Want to score more? Get your number of shots on goal up. Luck is just the positive result of chance being realized. Chance to succeed vs chance to fail. So as long as you don't care about the number of failures you stack up, you just keep rolling the dice until you succeed.

Perseverance is sufficient as long as it is accompanied by adaptability. You simply need the ability to recognize your strengths/weaknesses/personality type and play the game accordingly. Either invest in improving your weaknesses, or spend time networking to find a partner to complement them. Even better, pick an idea where your weaknesses will not be a factor.

What makes startups so hard is all the opportunities to fail that come along as you try and build something new. Every month, or every week, there is a new thing that wants to kill you. Sometimes these things have nothing to with the company. But, there are sooo many ways to mitigate these problems and you learn how to do so better and better the longer you play the game.

If you'd like me to go into some more personal details to show some examples, just let me know.

Edited: minor edits.