It never stops to amaze me how many people who have made it in the tech World think it’s due only to their hard work and ‘above average’ intellect. Such is the case with Patrick Mathieson, a venture capitalist with Vinny Smith’s Toba Capital.
Over at Quora, the online question and answer session, Mr. Mathieson writes:
I’ve observed that billionaires tend to have internalized this quote from Steve Jobs:
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.
Billionaires realize that the world is pliable. With enough pressure applied to an endeavor (either through effort, application of capital, or rousure of public support), sufficiently resourceful people really can change the world.
Contrast that with the rest of us who are more likely to assume the state of the world as static, or given.
(Source: have worked with 2 billionaires.)
This was my reply back:
Let’s not get carried away here. As a VC you should know that’s not the case at all. Some people are just luckier than others, or blessed. Put your thinking cap on here – tight. Somewhere in America there is a young boy who has created an idea that can change the World. BUT because he’s from a poor black family, chances are he is being told that no one will care – especially someone white. He may have heard of VC’s and maybe even you, but he’s too scared to contact you. By now you should see my point. It’s easy to believe that you are in some way better than others – don’t beileive it for one moment. You were blessed with a gift – the question is, do you see your blessing, or just believe it was really just because you work harder than other people? Really?
And I’ll expand on that: even those of us who believe we can change the World even with the negative voices around us, sometimes never get that connection or assistance that allows us to see our dreams come true.
Zennie Abraham | Zennie Abraham or “Zennie62” is the founder of Zennie62Media which consists of zennie62blog.com and a multimedia blog news aggregator and video network, and 78-blog network, with social media and content development services and consulting. Zennie is a pioneer video blogger, YouTube Partner, social media practitioner, game developer, and pundit. Note: news aggregator content does not reflect the personal views of Mr. Abraham.