The older you get, the more you realize luck is just exposure.
If you sit in the same chair, same routine, talking to the same people, nothing new happens.
You have to touch the world to win.
Travel more. Talk to strangers. Try a new coffee spot. Post on social media. Start a side hustle.
The world rewards motion. You don't find opportunity sitting still.
Across 5000+ founder meetings, the rarest success trait we saw was pathological determination (<1% of founders). These individuals have a borderline-delusional ability to run through any wall and don’t have an off-switch. It’s not easy to screen for and most investors don’t ask the right questions to uncover it.
We have 12 proxy signals that we use to measure determination, such as a desperate desire to prove someone/something wrong, multiple previous failed businesses, early-life adversity and irrational optimism when most others would quit.
Our findings showed that founders with a high determination index were much more likely to build bigger companies, even if it took them longer. Determination wasn’t correlated with confidence or charisma; the most determined founders were more introverted and did not light up rooms. Most investors incorrectly ignore the power of persistence.
if youre a parent who's kid is on spring break and you're having FOMO missing all the opportunities of this market (i know i am!) this a good reminder to put things in perspective...
money in and of itself is useless. its having a family to spend it on that makes this all worth it :)