Luck: Ask Any Gambler
March 1, 2018
Right now a game-changing startup is begging for funding. That’s a given. But just as likely is the idea that that company is getting completely ignored. It’s a common story that the biggest asset for startups is luck, which was wonderfully illustrated by a recent Quartz story, “Google’s Early Failure to Sell Itself Shows Why We Can’t Recognize Good Ideas.”
According to the funder who wrote Sergey Brin his second check, who advised them to give up on a failed plan to license Google:
“It’s very hard to get anyone else to adopt your baby. I told them, “You have to raise your baby yourself.” They came back some months later, and I don’t think they said I was right, but they’d decided to start their own company because nobody was interested in their baby.”
This has always been the case. These babies that tech gurus design often don’t find sympathetic investors. It’s often like hearing news of a brilliant musician who went unnoticed because of bad luck or a beautiful movie that fell through the cracks. It’s timing and luck and networking and it’s been like this for as long as anyone can remember. Quora was asking how big of a role luck plays in startup success way back in 2010. The results are about what you can expect, but perhaps luck has a flip side.
What about the companies like Excite which decided not to buy Google when Messrs. Brin and Page were stumping for financial love? What about those whose luck runs out?
Ask any gambler in the Techno Casino.
Patrick Roland, March 1, 2018
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2 Responses to “Luck: Ask Any Gambler”
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But what Google was selling in the beginning was not what made it a success. It was AdWords that made Google rich and successful. Adwords only appeared in 2000, two years after Google was founded as a search engine company.
I have had my vape for almost 3 months and started with 7mg nicotine which didn”t really work out I still found myself having a cigarette 5 times a week(which two or three cigarettes 5 days a week doesn”t sound like it”s too much, I was doing both at the same time and just really wanted to quit). Today marks 4 days cigarette Free and I already feel better. I up”d my disease to 9mg and that seems to have helped a ton. Sure, I still crave that cigarette and am half tempted to get one off of coworkers (via asking them or them offering) but I am determined to quit and make it to the end of this nicotine addiction. Wish me luck and so wish luck on to all of you as well! We can do this!