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This reminds me of one of PG's old essays, "The Power of the Marginal" - http://www.paulgraham.com/marginal.html

People never see disruption coming and by its very nature, the best contrarian value investments will always be dismissed, and overlooked, by insiders early on. And probably the same is true of the founders behind them.

WhatsApp and Jan Koum are perfect examples of this.


"The best contrarian value investments will always be dismissed, and overlooked" is a tautology.


Nice! And I'd also add my most favorite PG essay: http://paulgraham.com/determination.html


I like your new default colors and this project in general. So nice job with putting this out there.

But at the same time, I don't use your CSS file. I think the commenter above who's hating on this thinks some of it might be redundant. I guess it depends on your use-case and what kind of styling you do... I am by no means a CSS/web designing expert. For my projects personally, I just your use the HEX code of your new default colors whenever I need it. And I keep it bookmarked it for reference.


Yeah! I think judging by web traffic that is how most people use this project - which wasn't my intention at all - but I'm glad some people are finding it useful. I tried to make it as easy as possible to digest/use/install the colors however you want. Whether it's cutting and pasting from the web page - or installing through npm.


Best post on luck, similar to this one, is by Paul Buchheit, "Serendipity finds you" - http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2010/10/serendipity-finds-y...

And the best book IMO is by Michael J. Mauboussin, "The Success Equation: Untangling Skill and Luck in Sports, Business, and Investing" - http://www.amazon.com/Success-Equation-Untangling-Business-I...

Way better than Nassim Nicholas Taleb's work, he's got his head up his ass way too much and makes too many hyperbolic remarks.


Sam Walton's biography is one of the best business books I've ever read: http://amazon.com/Sam-Walton-Made-In-America/dp/0553562835

What's really instructive about his story is that he started his first retail store when he was in his mid-late 20s, sold that and earned his first stripes in his early 30s. And it wouldn't be a decade later until he started Walmart in his early 40s.

Walmart was a culmination of several decades of Walton's life that he dedicated to mastering, and dominating, retail.


One of the greatest(meaning influential) deals in the 2nd half of the 20th century, in my opinion, was Walmart's acquisition of Big K

http://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/23/business/kuhn-s-big-k-stor...


I do not understand. When you write, "earned his stripes," what exactly do you mean?


It's a military reference. Sergeants (I think) have a striped insignia, and it would mean a bump in rank (experience, knowledge, skill).

Edit: Not to say he was in the military, it's a metaphor for how Walton gained experience and 'rank' in retail.


Incidentally, he did serve in the military. :)


That was his first success as an entrpreneur, selling a Ben Franklin franchise store - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Walton#The_first_stores


I think this all depends if you're really a "startup" or not. As per Paul Graham's definition: http://paulgraham.com/growth.html. Just because you're starting something up doesn't mean you're really swinging for the fences for a big home run. But if you are, your survival depends on deal-making and hardcore talent, so you're at a huge disadvantage by not being in a major tech hub.

But if you're focused on building a 7 or low 8-figure business, bootstrapped, and self-funded, and your goal is financial independence/freedom instead of "changing the world", totally agree, starting up outside of SF is a great way to build up and earn those first stripes.

I live in San Diego and there are lots of internet millionaires here: http://helenchangwriter.com/2009/11/20/millionaire-internet-...


Wow, this comment really stopped and made me think. I honestly used to think "startup" was used for any new business with an unusual, efficient way of doing business.

Now that I know how HN people define it, I guess my inclinations are way more towards small business than startup.


Agreed that the word startup is highly overused to apply to everything from Pinterest to a new marketing company in town - small business is what usually applies to companies not swinging for the fences trying to quickly acquire millions of users.


"Without great solitude no serious work is possible." - Pablo Picasso, http://zenhabits.net/creative-habit


Nice site... Solitude is in fact a Zen habit... I've been introduced to Zen and practicing it lately and has been a great experience so far.

I reckon solitude is good for both: creative work, and self-awareness...


Bob Parsons has an interesting life story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Parsons

- Grew up poor, flunked high school, enlisted in the Marines during the Vietnam War

- Graduated from college, self-taught programmer at age 25

- Started Parsons Technology at 34

- Grew it to 1,000 employees and sold it for $64M at 44

- Started GoDaddy at 47

- Exited Godaddy in 2011 for $930M at age 61 (http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/techflash/2014/06/go...)

Great entrepreneurs never develop overnight, this game only gets better with age.


God knows I can't find it now but I remember a story line about Bob betting the ranch and almost running out of money when he started godaddy and using the money from his previous company to fund it. And almost didn't make it (almost like a Fred Smith Fedex type story). Can't find the link right now.

Another thing about Parsons (that I remember but can't link to) is that he insisted on building all his systems in house and not licensing technology or software from others which seems to have worked to his advantage.


Interesting you mention Fred Smith of Fed Ex. He and Parsons were both Marines, served in Vietnam, started companies, and are now billionaires.


You skipped the chapter where he killed the elephant.


I'm no fan of poachers, but it's pretty irrelevant to his business career. In fact I'd put money down that there's a positive correlation between successful entrepreneurs and psychopaths.


You'll probably have a blast reading this (I know I did):

http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-o...


Setting aside the killing of the animal ... his actions directly translated to thousands if not millions of domains moving from GoDaddy to competitors. Seems relevant to his career to me.


You mention the elephant, but not the SOPA/PIPA support?


and I think we skipped the part where GoDaddy is losing $200 million a year.


  "Still, I stay close to the heat
   And even when I was close to defeat, I rose to my feet
   My life's like a soundtrack 
   I wrote to the beat"
- Dr. Dre, http://rapgenius.com/412394


This is a great list of tips, thanks for posting.


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