News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on What if successful startups are just lucky?.

Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by jxf on Monday November 25, 2013 @11:01AM (#6794775)
"I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."

-- Thomas Jefferson (apocryphal; see [0])

[0]: http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/i-am...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by kristofferR on Monday November 25, 2013 @11:42AM (#6795102) 

  Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.
  – Seneca

  Fools wait for a lucky day but every day is a lucky day for an industrious man.
  – Buddha
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by sien on Monday November 25, 2013 @05:18PM (#6797477)
Critics said he won many battles simply because of luck; Napoleon responded, "Give me lucky generals," aware that "luck" comes to leaders who recognize opportunity, and seize it.

(wikipedia - Napoleon)

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by craigyk on Monday November 25, 2013 @12:05PM (#6795258)
It takes both. luck is a constant that can range between 0 -> inf, and work is the multiplier 0 -> 1.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by smky80 on Monday November 25, 2013 @03:33PM (#6796773)
His slaves worked pretty hard too though. Just saying.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by bippi on Monday November 25, 2013 @12:06PM (#6795268)
Chance favors the prepared mind.

--Louis Pasteur

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by tomasien on Monday November 25, 2013 @11:07AM (#6794829)
Bizarre - the last link I was on was a random ESPN quiz with UVa star Joe Harris in which that quote was one of the questions. (I realize this is a pretty meaningless and useless comment, but seeing this quote 2 times in less than 10 seconds was too much not to mention).
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by evanspa on Monday November 25, 2013 @11:33AM (#6795043)
I'm unable to find a definitive reference, but Gary Player (golfing legend) is also attributed with the quote: "The harder I practice, the luckier I get." Perhaps that's why it was on ESPN.

Pretty sure George Simmons has this quote of Player's on one of the chapter pages in his "Precalculus Mathematics in a Nutshell" book.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by gruseom on Monday November 25, 2013 @11:37AM (#6795072)
Quote Investigator has tackled this one:

http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/07/14/luck/

The upshot is that its origin is unknown, but goes back at least to a Walter Winchell column from 1949. Gary Player used it and became associated with it. The attribution to Jefferson is nonsense, of course.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by tomasien on Monday November 25, 2013 @12:00PM (#6795231)
Jefferson and Einstein, never trust a quote attributed to them!
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by tomasien on Monday November 25, 2013 @11:38AM (#6795080)
It was just because Thomas Jefferson said it and Joe Harris goes to the University he founded, it's just bizarre that I saw it 2 times in less than 10 seconds.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by MichaelGG on Monday November 25, 2013 @04:31PM (#6797200)
Is it bizarre? Given the number of people on HN, the number of things you're likely to read -- it seems inevitable that "bizarre" coincidences will certainly happen.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by baddox on Monday November 25, 2013 @10:04PM (#6798838)
Presumably it's still bizarre for him to experience the phenomenon.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by baddox on Monday November 25, 2013 @10:02PM (#6798833)
And buying more lottery tickets increases the chances of winning the lottery.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by vijayr on Tuesday November 26, 2013 @10:11AM (#6801720)
LUCK is also defined as 'Labor Under Correct Knowledge'
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by benihana on Monday November 25, 2013 @09:18PM (#6798655)
"The results of hard work and dedication always look like luck to saps."

-- leveling up in Morrowind (no idea who to attribute this quote to)

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by rokhayakebe on Monday November 25, 2013 @03:33PM (#6796780)
They wait for IT to come. I became IT.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What if successful startups are just lucky? by csense on Monday November 25, 2013 @05:15PM (#6797459)
You turned into a Segway?

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway_PT#Early_history_and_pre...

[ Parent | on HN ]