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Comment by JDDunn9 | Hacker News Reader

I've been there. It took me a while to figure out that the media manufactures stories to get eyeballs. Do some digging and you'll find a different story. Once you know the translation key, it is much less envious.

- Overnight success => Decade of work

- Owner is worth an estimated $100 million => Owner is saving for a couch (Kevin Rose said this after his cover story in a magazine)

- Innovative idea => Ripped off a competitor and had better marketing

- Hard work and sacrifice => Lied/cheated/stole to get where they are

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> Hard work and sacrifice => Lied/cheated/stole to get where they are

I wouldn't be so cynic. I think real life is simply not good news material.

"Tonight, the groundbreaking story of the developer who worked for 3 years on banking software, 4 years on insurance databases and a staggering 2 years on android apps! He's now ready to start his own company... or is he? Sitting on a chair and typing code has never been so exciting!"

Certainly some people do succeed through hard work alone, but corruption absolutely plays a large part at the top end of the spectrum. Youtube was mostly pirated content before they were bought, Zuckerburg stole the idea for FB and cheated his partner, Uber guys have done every dirty trick in the book...

I would listen to that news... I kind-of like it...

I have alot of idea's, but as a full-time developer, it's hard to get a team to trust and spread the word about them. Knowing there's a millionplus people ready to copy paste and invest a few dollars or a million or more. The funds i dont have.

So yes, i feel like im missing out, but more like not having a chance to miss out.

> Owner is saving for a couch (Kevin Rose said this after his cover story in a magazine)

Not that I didn't believe you, but I wanted to hear it for myself. I finally found it on Diggnation: http://revision3.com/diggnation/2006-08-03/

06:30 - They start talking BusinessWeek's cover story: "How [Kevin Rose] made $60 million in 18 months"

06:50 - Rose: "Here's the deal - I don't have 60 million dollars. I don't have 1 million dollars. I don't have any thousands of dollars."

Note: they bring up the couch because the episode starts off talking about Kevin moving out and the lack of furniture in his new place.

- Overnight success => Decade of work = Even what Appears to be an Overnight success (Facebook/Instagram) was developed by people who worked on their craft for years.

- Owner is worth an estimated $100 million = On Paper which he can not really sell

- Innovative idea => ..Better Marketing = Great Ideas and Products don't always win out. Just look at VCR

....Lied/cheated/stole = BUT You Don't Have To

Here's the Kevin Rose cover [0]. I remember him downplaying it but I thought he was being modest at the time.

[0] http://i.imgur.com/KFveyzl.jpg

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