Pirates of Silicon Valley Essay

Neither Bill Gates nor Steve Jobs had a traditional success stories. Their companies were both total gambles in the beginning, but have gone on to become huge successes. Both men were willing to take the risk of failing because they knew that it was worth trying. However, they both have also been quite lucky.
Of course, both men had genius ideas and brought marketable and useable products to the market. However, they also both started their companies on the cusp of the technological era, so their timing was perfect. Even though success stories of that scale aren’t typical, the “American Dream” of using ingenuity and hard work to become successful remains alive.
Since the Internet has become so widespread, other individuals, such as Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google, and Mark Zuckerburg, creator of Facebook, have also become very successful with products that were unheard of twenty years ago. These new ideas have become global phenomenon. Certainly the huge accessibility of information over the internet makes it a great place to release a new idea. However, the more common it becomes, the more flooded the internet is with thousands and thousands of websites. The more competition, the harder it will be to succeed as a new company.
But, as the past has certainly proved, these new, great, ideas cannot be predicted. Some will thrive while others will fail. It is impossible to know what will be the “next big thing.” Because of the uncertainty involved in a free market economy, there will always be a place for ingenuity and hard work. That will never go out of style.