
How Entrepreneurs Can Create Their Own Luck - llambda
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/05/how-entrepreneurs-can-create-their-own-luck/
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F_J_H
What a great post. Being Canadian, something didn't sit right with me with the
Gretzky quote. I think the corrected version "skate to where the puck is going
to be" is likely what the author meant. Here are two of Gretzky's actual
quotes:

"A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays
where the puck is going to be."

and

"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been."

Another one of my favorite Gretzky quotes - "You miss 100% of the shots you
don't take."

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shaggyfrog
The mis-quote stuck out for me, too. "Skating to where the puck is", is
actually exactly what Gretzky was saying _not_ to do.

It threw me off the entire piece -- as soon as I see something fundamental so
totally wrong, I find it hard to concentrate on the rest of the message.

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ootachi
"We know that the right place for right now is somewhere in social media."

Really? This seems to imply that every startup should be about social. People
thought that Google would never succeed because search was cornered by Yahoo
and AltaVista. I would think that VC-funded startups that are aiming for huge
successes should take the opposite advice: look for holes in industries that
aren't widely considered to be the "hottest thing" and create a market. Don't
try to cash in on a gold rush in which there are thousands of players doing
the same thing.

"Don’t start a soft drink company competing against Coca-Cola."

I'm pretty sure we have a Coca-Cola in the social space. It's called Facebook.

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radley
"Don’t start a soft drink company competing against Coca-Cola."

Tell that to Red Bull...

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sayemm
Great post by James Altucher here, one of my favorites regarding luck and
startups is also this one about market timing: "Market Timing is a Skill Not
Luck" - [http://altgate.com/blog/2008/12/market-timing-is-a-skill-
not...](http://altgate.com/blog/2008/12/market-timing-is-a-skill-not-
luck.html)

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samdjohnson
I don't know about you guys, but James Altucher is one of my favorite bloggers
on the net right now.

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DanielRibeiro
Nice discussion. Remined me of what Github's Founder Tom Preston Werner said
last year on Startup School[1].

And remined me of the great article recently mentioned[2] by Duck Duck Go's
founder Gabriel Weinberg: _How to Increase Your Luck Surface Area_ [3]

[1] <http://www.justin.tv/startupschool/b/272178966>

[2] [http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2011/10/what-i-
learned-f...](http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2011/10/what-i-learned-from-
raising-venture-capital.html)

[3] [http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-
surf...](http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area)

