The easy answer is unremarkable. Hard work. Nothing can replace hard work or its drivers: perserverance, determination, and motivation. In fact, I have always said with resolve that perseverance, determination, and motivation are more valuable than genius, talent, and skill.
I have co-founded a handful of companies. Half were successful, half were complete flops. All took hard work. I don't have any hidden secrets, no unusual talents, no gifts or remarkable skills. I only have my resolve. I have a ton of undergraduate and graduate education and attended great institutions, but know folks more educated and far more "successful" than I. In college, fellow honors students often mistook me for being smart or gifted. Little did they know that I had to work and study twice as hard as they, just to be able to look them in the eye. I have a dream job (my version of one) that I had to work increadibly hard to get, succeed at, and continue to work hard to keep in terms of meeting the performance standard of expectation. So my answer is nothing remarkable. Nothing can take the place of old fashion hard work. There are no shortcuts in my book.
I had a feeling that you were the startup kinda of guy. You're m.o. had it all written. Congrats on the hard work paying off. I only wish I could achieve what so many in the Valley have done.
One of the things i'm learning very hard right now, it's really hard to find people that you can count on to go into biz with. Things are great when things are going fine, but whenever a bump comes around, more then often I see folks running for the door, taking the "let me transfer to this 9-5 job position that just opened up in XYZ big corp to get my paycheck to pay the bills, but Ill continue to work with you off hours" type of opportunity. Of course the later part usually wanes from "I'll help you when I have time to…I don't have any extra time to help you", despite how miserable that steady 9-5 job is, or how pathetic that 0-5% raise each year.
A lot of people like to talk about doing, I'm finding it's very hard to find people people actually end up following through. Personally, I think it's insane to work 9-5 at a big corp and expect you'll be taken care of, especially in this economic environment. I'm just waiting for the cutbacks to start rolling in. I have a very simple objective. I just want to maintain my current quality of life doing something where I have more control over the outcome, not gamble on some numbers that some big corp wig throws out. Anyone who has made it on their own (with their possie), my hats off you you. It's sure an enviable position.
