Codus Operandi

I love the concept of luck surface area. Worth a read https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

I am not sure if Jason Roberts was the first to use this phrase but here was his take on Luck Surface Area back in 2010. That was the first I personally heard of the term Luck Surface Area. I don't know that Jason's take is any more insightful than the linked article, but I feel like he deserved a call out as well on this topic. https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

To paraphrase the great answer given by ' jbaudanza': Be consistent in both producing value, and in sharing it. Try to get better at both of these activities as you progress. Your 'luck surface area' [1] will, over time, increase and then network effects will take over. [1] - https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

I agree with Jessica's perspective. For me, though, there's an open question with how best to balance it with the "luck surface area" concept, especially when starting out. [1] [1] http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

Classic case of increasing your luck surface area http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

Nice discussion. Remined me of what Github's Founder Tom Preston Werner said last year on Startup School[1]. And remined me of the great article recently mentioned[2] by Duck Duck Go's founder Gabriel Weinberg: How to Increase Your Luck Surface Area [3] [1] http://www.justin.tv/startupschool/b/272178966 [2] http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2011/10/what-i-learned-from-raisin… [3] http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

This was very interesting. I would also recommend reading the article about increasing your luck surface area (http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area). Luck is a concept people think about a lot in terms of startups and "luck surface area" is a great way to quantify this.

I've been able to quit my job and work full time on Marginalia Search, and starting with 8 months expenses' worth of savings and an incoming grant back in 2023, the project is now funded so I can keep going for several more years. Seems fairly important to somehow write or talk about what you do[1]. Building stuff and never telling anyone about it never got anyone paid. You don't need to become a shill, but the world needs to learn about what you're doing. Will say with full certainty I would not have been able to quit my job and do this full time if I didn't blog about my misadventures. Risk of this being mostly survivorship bias, but I think in general it's helpful to build something that's more of an end product and not a library or some other widget in the making of products. Possibly also helpful if yours is an ambitious project that somehow seems doable. Ladybird is possibly an even better case of this going well. Exception possibly being if you end up as a linchpin tech like curl. In general I don't think patreon/github/etc. donations will ever add up to much than coffee money. Most of my money has been from grants, one large donation from some rando anonymous person, and a nonprofit. [1] Basically this: https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

Here’s a good idea about Luck Surface Area https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

Today I was rereading an old link on the same topic from my bookmarks https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

Missing credit to the original creator of both the term “luck surface area” and the chart: https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area The idea was also expanded upon by one of his friends in a mental models book here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525533583/

I think the first mention of the concept was on a podcast called TechZing. The author later wrote it down on his blog (referenced in the article) https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

As mswen linked to elsewhere, you can increase your "luck surface area": https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area omair_inam linked to another related take: https://www.swyx.io/create-luck

Should mention that this idea has been around the internets for a while. Is mentioned in article, but not linked to. https://pmarchive.com/luck_and_the_entrepreneur.html https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

This is a better article: https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

Are you referring to the luck surface area? https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

Luck Surface Area (https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area) definitely applies to this, though - it's all about positioning yourself so that you have the opportunity to get lucky.

There is a balance requiring both hard work and luck. I believe it was Louis Pasteur who said "fortune favors the prepared mind" in the mid-19th century. Jason Roberts of TechZing captured this idea with the catchy phrase "luck surface area", explaining that both doing & telling combine to multiply opportunities. http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area > In other words, you make your own luck.

Can you share which podcast it was? Nvm. Reference : http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201005/make-your-own-luck http://www.bing.com/search?q=luck+studies&go=Submit&qs=n&f… http://www.forbes.com/sites/michakaufman/2015/01/30/embracing-the-upsi… http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

While luck isn't something you can completely control, it doesn't have to be entirely random either. I read this article a while back talking about a "luck surface area"[0], which you can expand, increasing your odds of being "lucky" in the future. [0]: http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

I rather like the Techzing guys' take on this, called "luck surface area," because it tracks with my experience and is actually weaponizable in a way that "be more observant" is not. http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area If you for some reason want to get into a guild protected by a scouting system, then your priorities should be a) identifying what the scouts are looking for and getting good at it and b) getting in front of as many scouts as possible as often as possible. There exist many opportunities which HNers want which resemble "a guild protected by a scouting system" if you squint at them, by the way.

dhh is the first example that comes to my mind. Interesting point, but I think it's still probably important for early stage startups to blog. It helps get them exposure and increase their luck surface area (http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area). Things probably change when you get really big though.

Previous to Carl Lange’s post, this was described in "How to Increase Your Luck Surface Area" - http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area Apparently, Carl was unaware of it as well despite the post and subsequent discussion receiving a fair amount of attention on HN at different times. Disclaimer: I wrote it.

Definitely true - I skipped some of the non-PR reasons to be careful, but I liked Jason Roberts' post on that: http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/forget-the-techcrunch-launch

Source: http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area

This reminds me of a topic the guys from the TechZing podcast talk about pretty frequently, increasing your luck surface area. Jason Roberts has a short post about it on his blog that sums it up pretty well (http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area). This concept has resonated with me and for the past couple of months, I've started to do things with the hopes of increasing my luck surface area.

I'm fairly sure this must be the blog post you are trying to remember: [ http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area ].