When I ask people who succeeded after starting a company what the secret was, nine times out of ten they answer like this.
- If I had known it would be this hard, I would not have done it.
- I got lucky.
I think the formula for success is hidden in those two lines. The more you know, the more reasons you can see why it will not work. The smarter you are, the more clearly you understand the probability of failure. You need to know just little enough to begin. Then if you survive without dying, at some point luck meets you and compounds upward. Looking back, the things you did while crying have stacked up like compound interest.
People these days are all smart. That is why they cannot start. In an age of excess intelligence, what matters is having something you want to say to the world. People with something to say become writers, artists, and founders. No matter how high your expertise is, if you have nothing of your own to say, you remain a ghostwriter. There are plenty of ghostwriter developers too.
Some stories take ten years. If you want to keep your spirit high, not burn out, and compound your luck with good people, there are not many things better than starting a company.
"Many people do not try things themselves because they think they do not know enough about them, or because they assume someone else must already have done them. But only a few people have genuinely good ideas, and of those only a few actually try them. So if you really put your best effort into something, you can do pretty well." - Aaron Swartz
"You cannot become really good at anything you do not love. And if you love hacking, you will inevitably work on your own projects." - Paul Graham