It's a motivational message, sure, but completely void of any substance or practical advice.
When I write my articles for The Startup Foundry, I try to focus on what will help startups succeed. I've gotten some pretty sad emails from startups that think they're failures for not being huge in 6 months or less. I wrote this to make a point that it takes time for most startups.
All the best, Paul
if you're not independently wealthy within ten years, you didn't work hard/smart enough.
Exactly.
You can work as hard/smart as someone who achieved independent wealth and if, after ten years, you're not independently wealthy someone can say "well, you didn't truly work hard/smart". An objective definition of what hard/smart is would lead to a testable hypothesis.