I frankly speaking didn't know about this. But reading Wikipedia article about Tim Ferriss I got the impression that it might be his book (4HWW) that earned him money that he began to invest in these companies. The timeframes match perfectly. I don't know, may be I am wrong here.

Still I fill very allergic to all this positive thinking, self-help, goal-achieving and motivation literature. The skeptic in me just cannot stand it, everybody who writes it automatically gets "scam" mark from me. I'd rather suggest reading something like "Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America" by Barbara Ehrenreich instead.

That's just a matter of having money to invest and connections.