Lucky or Smart?
by Bo Peabody · first published 2004
9mentions
7recommended by
8HN commenters
2007–2016first – last mentioned
88% recommend13% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A short, first-hand account by Tripod founder Bo Peabody of building an early web startup during the 1990s boom. It offers practical startup lessons for founders and aspiring entrepreneurs, and it is brief.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…losing a big one won't sink the company? Your life is way easier. Doing well enough financially that you've been able to build up a sizeable nest egg? Your life is way easier. As for luck, Bo Peabody's 'Lucky or Smart?' is the classic here - it's a great little book. Companies do get lucky break, but they have to be able to recognize and take advantage of luck when it comes.
on “Ask HN: was anything ever easy? ” ↗Forgot the bonus round book: "Lucky or Smart" by Bo Peabody - another VERY short reflection on his founding of Tripod during the tech boom.
on “What books would you recommend reading? Why?” ↗Ayn Raynd - Atlas Shrugged Founders at Work The Innovators Dilemma Lucky or Smart (quick read) Unleashing the Idea Virus
on “Ask HN: The Best Books to Keep the Entrepreneurial Mindset?” ↗Bo Peabody's 'Lucky or Smart?' is relevant here. Good short read, decent synopsis from Bo here: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050101/lucky-or-smart_Printer_... Twitter's emergence from Odeo is pretty similar to Tripod's switch…
on “Timing Lessons” ↗Two more that come to mind: Burn Rate by Michael Wolff and Lucky or Smart by Bo Peabody.
on “Ask HN: Best Books about Startups” ↗I'd also recommend "Lucky Or Smart?" from Bo Peabody, who built Tripod in the mid 90s, one of the early successful web startups of the 90s. https://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Smart-Fifty-First-Time-Entrepre...
on “Just Deserts” ↗Lucky or Smart by Bo Peabody
on “Ask HN: Essential books for starting/running a web company” ↗…doing. Give full time effort when the business requires your full time effort, there's no point in doing it full time when you have no users and no application to support. Books I recommend: Rework, Lucky or Smart, The Art of the Start Languages: HTML, CSS, and Javascript are a must (jQuery is a great JS library to use). I recommend Python and Django for the server side, though what ever language you choose you…
on “$300,000 lost salary to start up - would you do it?” ↗I just realized he also has a 58 page book called Lucky or Smart http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/140006290X/104-7347251-5666331?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 Contents: Chapter 1: Start a company that is innovative, morally compelling and philosophically…
on “Inc Magazine: "Lucky things happen to entrepreneurs who start fundamentally innovative, morally compelling, and philosophically positive companies."” ↗