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Comment by BasDirks | Hacker News Reader

Don't know why you were downvoted, it's a decent point you make. There are people who dedicated their entire life to an idea or ideal, and succeed _that_ way.

Perhaps it's useful to distinguish between "entrepreneurial" success-stories and achievements like Einstein's

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Well, yeah, I might give him some slack if he limited it to entrepreneurial success, although I still wouldn't agree with it. He contends the entrepreneurs behind Club Penguin (sold to Disney) or Mint (sold to Intuit) -- or to go old-school, Berkshire Hathaway -- "winged" their way to success.

But he doesn't stop there:

Even Fortune 500 CEOs, Nobel Prize winners, and U.S. presidents — all are really good at winging it.

Proclaiming Nobel Prize winners in fields like Chemistry or Physics are "winging it" is, frankly, uninformed and insulting.

"He contends the entrepreneurs behind Club Penguin (sold to Disney) or Mint (sold to Intuit)"

I can't speak for Mint, but Scott Cook (who founded Intuit) was definitely winging it:

http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail523.html#

Yes, I didn't say all entrepreneurs have a clear idea of what they want to do, how they will do it, and how it's likely to come out -- many clearly don't. However, that's not always the case. I believe Club Penguin, a site that clearly targeted a demographic of youth, and Mint which targeted personal finance, are examples of companies set up from day one with a clear idea of what they were trying to accomplish.

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