If you think that the world is basically a meritocracy, as I do, then seeing successful incompetents is actually very encouraging. Have you ever seen a startup with the world's stupidest idea raise million of dollars? Well if you have an actually decent idea, then it will be even easier for you to raise millions as well.
I was actually reading a post by Patrick McKenzie the other day and I think his commentary on this was one of the best I've seen. While it's encouraging and optimistic to think like this, the reality is that 90% of the time, mediocrity (or worse) is good enough. One example- most businesses run on poorly-engineered, shitty legacy software systems stitched together over time as a lineage of sucky-to-great programmers have come and gone and inherited each other's garbage amid changing requirements. Early in my career I noticed this and was brazen enough to think that there was obviously a much better way to engineer the software, so why didn't the executives see it? Over time I realized that I was naive- business managers care about increasing revenue and profits. Quality code and engineering doesn't even register on the radar.
Incompetence in engineering is just one area of incompetence. It is important to remember that incompetence in selling or networking, while probably a lot harder for one to see in oneself, can be just as detrimental to one's chances of success (perhaps more so). The point is that a crappy idea getting funding does not in any way indicate that a better idea is more likely to get funding.
I was actually reading a post by Patrick McKenzie the other day and I think his commentary on this was one of the best I've seen. While it's encouraging and optimistic to think like this, the reality is that 90% of the time, mediocrity (or worse) is good enough. One example- most businesses run on poorly-engineered, shitty legacy software systems stitched together over time as a lineage of sucky-to-great programmers have come and gone and inherited each other's garbage amid changing requirements. Early in my career I noticed this and was brazen enough to think that there was obviously a much better way to engineer the software, so why didn't the executives see it? Over time I realized that I was naive- business managers care about increasing revenue and profits. Quality code and engineering doesn't even register on the radar.
Incompetence in engineering is just one area of incompetence. It is important to remember that incompetence in selling or networking, while probably a lot harder for one to see in oneself, can be just as detrimental to one's chances of success (perhaps more so). The point is that a crappy idea getting funding does not in any way indicate that a better idea is more likely to get funding.