A study designed to discover what successful entrepreneurs have in common produced this conclusion:
There is almost always, they conclude, a moment of great capital accumulation—a particular transaction that catapults him [or her] into prominence. The entrepreneur has access to that deal by virtue of occupying a "structural hole," a niche that gives him a unique perspective on a particular market. Villette and Vuillermot go on, "The businessman looks for partners to a transaction who do not have the same definition as he of the value of the goods exchanged, that is, who undervalue what they sell to him or overvalue what they buy from him in comparison to his own evaluation." He moves decisively. He repeats the good deal over and over again, until the opportunity closes, and—most crucially—his focus throughout that sequence is on hedging his bets and minimizing his chances of failure.
(from Malcom Gladwell, on how entrepreneurs really succeed)
In other words, see value where others do not. Be a futurist. Know where the puck is going to be before everybody else does. Be the crazy one, the outlier, the only person who finds something interesting.
