the poker table you can't even see
Every time I read or hear the stories of 1000x breakout success like Elon Musk or Jensen Huang, it feels like the public story is the same.
They are always talking about working 29 hours a day or reading thousands of emails or having 50 people report to them.
Prescribing hard work feels very relatable, often to employees, the general public or regulators. Oh see, I worked hard and I'm here. If you can do that, you can achieve it too.
Sometimes they might not even realize this. Sometimes they do, but run with the better PR story.
At that level, you have to do whatever it takes to win influence, money and fame.
The real truth is, they are at a poker table you don't even have access to. You cannot see the stakes or the information available to them.
Think about it for a moment. How can someone have foresight to invest in OpenAI in 2015, while the whole world was running behind marketplaces?
They just have access to asymmetric information, capital and quality talent. This is a hard truth to digest, but it's what it is.