You can tell Buterin is really smart (and focused) within a few minutes of talking to him about Ethereum. He showed up a few minutes late to an event I helped coordinate. Given his personality, I just assumed he had been off somewhere lost in his thoughts or finishing some critical task; it would never cross my mind that he took the event less seriously or meant to be impolite.

That's how I'd take it, but the author reports that Novogratz saw it differently.

He's probably used to doing what he wants since he works for himself.

Don't forget season 4 of Silicon Valley starts on Sunday :)

The lesson is to be so good they can't ignore you.

That may be true, but is not what the author seems to imply.

He was late to a private party at some billionaire's home, right? Perhaps there's some other context, but that doesn't seem particularly rude or ballsy, unless this was like a 4 person "party".

A "dinner party" suggests the latter. Regardless, Novogratz was "shocked".

...and in Office Space, where the hero's indifference gets him a promotion

I think that "paying attention to" could just mean watching for other bad behavior to justify action. Not necessarily paying attention to take notes from.

At that point in the article, it seemed clear the context was investing in digital currencies and why that might be advisable.