Like all investors, we spend a lot of time trying to learn how to predict which startups will succeed. We probably spend more time thinking about it than most, because we invest the earliest. Prediction is usually all we have to rely on.
We learned quickly that the most important predictor of success is determination. At first we thought it might be intelligence. Everyone likes to believe that's what makes startups succeed. It makes a better story that a company won because its founders were so smart. The PR people and reporters who spread such stories probably believe them themselves. But while it certainly helps to be smart, it's not the deciding factor. There are plenty of people as smart as Bill Gates who achieve nothing.
Read the rest of Paul Graham here.
1 comment:
It makes sense.
With all the talk in all the world, you'll never know if you don't have a go.........Whats the worst that can happen? Now lets make it happen!
A lot of people start a business with a goal of doing less. Such as, the common turned out spiel of 'I am going to retire before I am 40' or 'this business is going to set me up for life'.
I can almost guarantee that if that is one of your goals you will fail, since your passion is driven by the goal of doing less.
This is most often seen in 2nd generation businesses, that lack of passion that existed in the 1st generation, is often lost in the 2nd, the business is essentially the same but often never has the same growth or does as well.
The few people I know that could really afford to do less are generally the first in each morning and the last out, they have passion and enthusiasm, and they are not interested in retiring.
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