How much Does Luck Play in Entrepreneurial Success?
November 28th, 2005 by 
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My associate professor in City University of Hong Kong, Prof Reuben Mondejar, who is also an author of the books, “The Guide to Entrepreneurship” and “Business Creativity: Breaking the Invisible Barriers” recently went on a university tour to talk to teachers of entrepreneurship. I was honored to be a guest speaker in one of the forums.
One of the arguments is how much luck does entrepreneurship plays in the person success, and amongst the things I did was to recount this story which I have heard years ago.
“There was a 10th high school reunion, and everybody was excited to meet each other. There was the school valedictorian who was voted as most likely to succeed, and who was now a branch manager of the bank. There were also some classmates who they thought would really succeed in the business world, but who were now contented housewives. Suddenly, they saw a cool Benz drive in, and out come Arnold, the school bum.
Arnold has never been really a good student, and he spent his school hours peddling all kinds of stuff off his dormitory. Now, it seemed like he had the coolest car and seemingly making the most money. Everybody was just excited how he ‘did’ it.
“Well, ” Arnold told him, ” AFter graduation, I peddled all kinds of stuff. It was hard to get a job so I decided entrepreneurship was for me. After a few months, I was making not so very good money, until I found this stuff which I could buy for a dollar, and sell for 3 dollars to a local exporter. I was able to maintain the business for the next few years, and I tell you, its amazing how even a 2 percent margin can make you rich so quick!”
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Arnold did not master the basics, but he worked hard to look for opportunities, and he did find his. How much did luck, or ability play in his success?
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Posted in Entrepreneurship | 
November 28th, 2005 at 7:04 am
[...] How much Does Luck Play in Entrepreneurial Success? Filed under: On Entrepreneurship — @ 7:03 am [...]
November 28th, 2005 at 1:09 pm
It sounds like persistence and hustle made the difference for him.
There is quite a lot of good material on luck and success in Nassim Taleb’s book “Fooled By Randomness.”
Thanks for the insight.
December 7th, 2005 at 9:07 am
[...] - How much does luck play in Entrepreneurial Success? [...]
December 19th, 2005 at 4:40 pm
I’ve read once (I forgot what book) that “luck favors the persistent.” I think the reason some see success as a product of luck is because when people are working on different things, we never see them or nobody talks about this guy who tried 10 different businesses that failed. All we hear was the deal that made him a millionaire: we never get to hear the many deals that did not push through.
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