[adam419]

Pretty slim because Facebook exists in 2014 buddy.

Your problem is that you're associating the biggest most overhyped entrepreneurs as being the typical entrepreneur. And they indeed do hit huge luck. So you're right there.

What the media doesn't talk about -- are the thousands of founders running profitable companies in the tens of millions or even low hundreds of millions.

If you do something of value to society, the world will make you rich with a smile on its face.

[pyrrhotech]

No I agree completely there. I think we all have reasonably good chances of creating successful small businesses and extracting our fair value out of society of a few million or even 10 million. But to start something that grows to billions or tens or hundreds of billions that quickly--that isn't skill, that's luck. It takes being the kind of guy who can make the 5 million dollar successful small business to have a chance to play the lottery, but I'm saying that most HN readers are of opportunity to play that lottery. Zuck is much, much different than the typical member of planet earth, but not MUCH (a little better, I'll give him that) than the average silicon valley engineer.

[enewc]

> If you do something of value to society, the world will make you rich with a smile on its face.

Said no teacher, cancer researcher, etc. ever