It isn't clear just what Bezos did before Amazon, but he engaged in a number of different occupations.
Traf-O-Data was Gates' first company. There's a reason nobody has heard of it :-)
Ray Kroc failed for 30 years before founding McDonalds. Colonel Sanders tried many things, and did not succeed until he was 62. T. Edison failed constantly.
Most musicians wander the desert for years before becoming "overnight" successes.
Mark Cuban had many attempts at business, including being a disco dance instructor (!).
Can we say survivorship bias?
There are millions of hardworking and talented individuals who try repeatedly and end up with at most moderate success.
The number of breakouts is so small that there isn't any statistical significance to what those individuals did differently. Mostly, they happened to execute well - but nailed the timing perfectly. Bill's success with MS-DOS (on the eve of the PC revolution), the rise of car culture and suburbia for McDonald's. And Cuban got really lucky at the height of the bubble.
I'm not saying they weren't smart or talented. But to perfectly nail timing requires the ability to predict the future. And if you read "The Road Ahead, 1st ed.", it's obvious even the talented BillG isn't much better at this than anyone else.
If "moderate success" is achievable without extreme fortune, then that's a perfectly acceptable target to aim for. I agree that trying to become a billionaire is a fool's errand but if you're trying to become a millionaire, you'll end up more likely to be a billionaire.
I've heard Mark Cuban say numerous times how incredibly lucky he was with Broadcast.com. But he's unapologetic in his belief that he'd be successful. He knew he'd become a millionaire and the work it took to get there, coupled with the right product and the right time is what made him a billionaire.
I have to agree with that. I'm sure Gates, Zuckerberg, Bezos, etc. would all be successful if Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon didn't become incredible successes. They just wouldn't have been as successful.
This reminds me of something coaches often said. "Practice doesn't make perfect, only perfect practice makes perfect."
Sure luck has something to do with it, but if you're learning from your mistakes & constantly improving, you're chances of success get better all the time. It's just like throwing a ball at a hoop or any other thing in life. After a while you quit making as many mistakes that lessen your chance of success.
Ray Kroc didn't found McDonalds, Richard and Maurice _McDonald_ did.
Also survivor bias but also you obviously will never accomplish anything without trying.
I think it is entertaining to try to find the abstraction that leads to success but it's probably more harmful than helpful to believe in something like that. Just do the best you can with what you have. Maybe it leads to success, maybe it doesn't but don't let that affect your perception of it, you did your best and that's all anyone can expect of you.
Technically you are correct, but that business was going nowhere under their management. It was Ray Kroc that made McDonald's in the practical sense of the word.
Traf-O-Data was Gates' first company. There's a reason nobody has heard of it :-)
Ray Kroc failed for 30 years before founding McDonalds. Colonel Sanders tried many things, and did not succeed until he was 62. T. Edison failed constantly.
Most musicians wander the desert for years before becoming "overnight" successes.
Mark Cuban had many attempts at business, including being a disco dance instructor (!).