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Marc Andreesen, co-founder of Netscape, has an interesting post on his blog about luck and entrepreneurship. My entrepreneurial genes are currently switched off after a few years of wheel-spinning, but this is good info to store against a future need. He describes the four types of luck written about by Dr. James Austin in his book Chase, Chance, and Creativity:
- pure dumb luck (I)
- keep busy and luck (II) will find you
- luck (III) will find the prepared mind
- who you are and how you behave draws out luck (IV)
So type I is the kind of luck that most people associate with the word luck or chance (Austin refers to all of these as types of chance). Type II luck is the kind of luck that happens because you stumble upon it. It doesn’t often happen to people who are inactive. Type III luck is the kind tailored to a person specifically prepared for it. Andreesen gives the example of Sir Alexander Fleming who discovered penicilin. Type IV luck is the kind of luck that happens because you are pursuing your hobbies or interests in your own way. This luck won’t find someone else because that person would be doing things differently, presumably.
