
Frighteningly Ambitious People - zohaibr
http://diegobasch.com/frighteningly-ambitious-people
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javert
_When it comes to ambition, I tend to agree. Ideas are not ambitious, people
are._

The author just doesn't support this claim. All the examples he gives (Bill
Gates, Zuckerburg, and people leading successful companies) could just as
easily be explained by:

 _Successful people are usually those who find a line of work they truly enjoy
and pursue it, with some luck._

To me, that kind of person seems more likely to make it than someone who is
just "extremely ambitious" without those qualities.

To me, this little writeup comes across as a pseudo-philosophical pep talk
(i.e., basically hogwash).

~~~
diego
Yeah, it's all idle speculation based on personal life experiences. No hard
science to back it up.

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tsantero
"Ambition is key because he[Bill Gates] could have left Microsoft much
earlier, and moved on to do anything else he wanted as extremely wealthy man.
He was already a billionaire when he chose to stay, and turned Microsoft into
an empire."

Value creates opportunity.

I'm not suggesting that Bill Gates wasn't/isn't ambitious, but if one of your
ventures has made you a billionaire I'd imagine it be much easier to stay on
board and see how far you can ride that train.

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intenex
Sperm vs monkey climbing a tree to eat a banana? I'm not sure that's a valid
comparison on any level.

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shingen
I think it's entirely possible to be both throughout a lifetime. I've been
frighteningly ambitious and conservative at different points in my life and
with different ideas.

When I was 21 / 22, I decided I was going to take on eBay. The premise, circa
2002, was to wipe out fees and shift the monetization to information and
reselling (provide analytics & data to the sellers, and a re-selling channel
in which they could contact buyers and attempt to generate repeat business).
Basically sell tools and productivity to the sellers, instead of just slapping
them with fees; at the time eBay was borderline retarded when it came to
analytics and data provided by the marketplace.

I built the service, launched it, got modest early traction, took no venture
capital, used guerrilla marketing, and then a really bad event struck my life
that was outside my control. Shit happens and all that.

My latest venture is more modest, and I'm older and wiser. The odds of success
are radically higher in this venture.

At 30 (no kids yet), I find my threshold for frighteningly ambitious projects
is now primarily dependent on my personal finances. At 21 I didn't give a
shit, at all. When I add another layer of financial security, I'll chase the
dragon again - I really can't wait.

