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Comment by kloncks | Hacker News Reader

author of post here.

Steve Jobs might not have completed much college, but the company he created wouldn't have been successful without Woz who more closely resembles the model I wrote about.

Steve dropped out of college without any plan. That (miraculously) worked.

But it wouldn't have worked if it wasn't for Woz (and others)...Jobs really couldn't have done anything he ended up doing without others. Woz, like others, only left when it was clear something else would be a good option and that point only grudgingly.

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Miraculous?

So what about NEXT and Pixar? Apple the second time? They were also just strokes of miraculous luck? I disagree.

Of course it takes technical talent to start a company but that doesn't mean you need it to make a big/good company. This points to the diversity of our personalities. Steve knew how to make it work. The focus, confidence, perseverance, risk-taking dedication, and whatever else it took, only he knows. Those of us who lack in any of these departments make up for it by getting degrees. The rest of us, like Woz, do it to for passion.

Doesn't mean degrees are the requirement.

At this point I want to make it clear that I'm also back in school. I didn't come back because I couldn't make it work. I came back because I LOVE engineering. I want to learn more and I want to build things. I don't have the resources of labs and funding to do it on my own so I came back - rest assured the piece of paper I get upon graduation had NOTHING to do with it.

Steve is an outlier, there is absolutely no doubt about it. There also can't be doubt that Steve did have a few strokes of luck that landed him at the right place in the right time, but I think you are also right in that the evidence of his skills are found in the fact that he was consistently successful.

I think being consistently successful in your ventures is a sign of true skill more so then being wildly successful, and it's safe to say that consistent success comes from experience or talent (if you are lucky).

EDIT: Technical talent is always important in a company that is based in technology. Steve's ability to design complemented the technical talents of the people he surrounded himself with, he knew that design and engineering are a nearly perfect couple with the right balance.

Yeah, no...an outlier that is also your dataset's most beautiful (valid) point? I don't think so. Either we are plotting him in the wrong graph or our initial hypothesis is incorrect.

Oh the Secret of Steve Jobs! One day there will be a person that outshines Steve. Rest assured somewhere out there they are sitting in their desks trying to figure out the meaning of life while struggling with the curveball life keeps throwing at them.

Outliers tend to be the most ugly or beautiful.

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