• The reality is in the middle of these two:

- You can be unlucky and still successful (e.g. Oprah Winfrey was raised in a poor, traumatising, unstable household but still became wildly successful)

- But hard work can’t undo luck in all cases (e.g. if Warren Buffett was born black or a woman or in war-torn Iraq, no matter how much he worked, he wouldn’t have the same opportunities/success he did)

The key to success is working hard and smart (on things you are lucky/have unfair advantages in)

An unfair advantage is a condition, asset or circumstance that puts you in a favourable business position

Examples of unfair advantages – being tall in basketball, being rich before starting a business, knowing someone at a company when applying for a job etc.

• Can’t be easily copied or bought
• Unique to you
• Build on each other and have a snowballing, multiplicative effect
• For any early-stage startup, the startup’s UA = sum of individual founders’ UAs

This is why it’s important to choose founders that complement your UAs

• Money – the capital you have/can easily raise

1. Money gives you a safety net, contingency and the power to scale (you need money to make money).

• Intelligence and Insight – ‘book smarts’, social + emotional intelligence and creativity

1. Business isn’t an exam – all aspects of intelligence are needed (not just ‘book smarts’)
2. Insight is required to find a need/problem in the market that can be solved

• Location and Luck – being in the right place at the right time

1. A good location affects your vibe and makes it easier to make friends, find out business insights, have access to capital and better infrastructure
2. Note – location isn’t just physical – it refers to your environment (which can be online)
3. Luck/timing is important – you don’t want to be too early (i.e. VR) or too late (i.e. Bing)

To be more lucky – maximise your ability to seize chances, trust your intuition, expect to be lucky, turn bad luck into learning opportunities and take more action

• Education and Expertise – formal schooling and your self-learning/gained knowledge

1. Education can be formal/informal – doesn’t matter
2. Three main benefits from formal education – knowledge, network and signalling that comes with a degree.

• Status – social status (your network and connections) + your ‘personal brand’ (how you’re perceived) + your inner status (confidence and self-esteem)

Status is your perceived ability to add value

It’s comprised of three types of capital – economic (i.e. wealth), cultural (i.e. social class/subculture) and social (i.e. who you know)

• Lots of money can make you complacent, wasteful and less hungry to succeed
• A lack of intelligence can mean being more humble and willing to ask questions and less overthinking
• A good location costs money and being frequently lucky means you may not develop the skills needed to develop your startup when luck runs out
• A lack of status (i.e. being an outsider) reveals powerful insights and enables you to stand out/be memorable