Dug Campbell

Lucky Entrepreneurs

Some very wise words on a Sunday evening from the Marc Andreessen blog archive:

Luck is something that every successful entrepreneur will tell you plays a huge role in the difference between success and failure. Many of those successful entrepreneurs will only admit this under duress, though, because if luck does indeed play such a huge role, then that seriously dents the image of the successful entrepreneur as an omniscient business genius.

However, it’s not as passive as it may sound. Yes, there’s blind luck where good things happen entirely out of the blue. But there’s also the far more exciting type – the luck that is more likely to occur to those who are consistently ‘busy’ (I guess that’s why that quote – “The harder I work, the luckier I get” – has such resonance).

And then? There’s also luck that appears in disguise – opportunity that only presents itself to those who have trained themselves to look out for the chance happenings that will benefit them. A great excuse for people to work hard at both training and focus on a speciality.

In other words, random luck; luck that rewards the curious who throw themselves about with enthusiasm; luck that helps those who’ve worked on their special abilities from learning and joining the dots; and luck that comes to those with ‘eccentric hobbies and personal lifestyles’ .

So, a few tips for a Sunday evening: be curious, energetic, look at how many different things fit together and don’t just follow the crowd but develop your own point of view.

And get lucky.