Good or Lucky?

Am I good or am I lucky?

People ask about my time at Levelset since we were acquired. They see the outcome and want to know how we got there.​

I've talked and written a ton online about my journey and the many things we learned along the way.​

But the honest answer is… I’m still not sure which parts were skill and which were luck.​

I know we worked hard. I know we were intentional.​

I know built a strong team and a world-class culture.

​I know we had thousands of happy customers and tens of millions in revenue.​

I also know that getting acquired for a good price is incredibly rare.​

So yes, we built a real business. But a lot of things had to break our way.​

That part is easy to forget when you’re only looking at the ending.

​What I’ve learned since then:​

You can’t build a company hoping for a lucky break.​

You have to build toward good. And that means you have to know what "good" looks like.​

Some parts are objective, like a strong company culture or a healthy revenue stream.​

Other parts are subjective, like how fast you should grow each year or how you profitably you can monetize your product and services.​

To define what "good" looks like for you means choosing a model to emulate.​

Curating your standards by reading and observing other companies and individuals who are ahead of you.​

You have to be a lifelong student with a voracious appetite for learning and growth.​

Moving deliberately toward a version of the business you’d be proud of, even if the market never rewards it the way you hoped.​

The irony? That’s usually when the market does notice.

​Luck still plays a role.​

I’ve read before about the four types of luck:​

1. Dumb luck

2. Luck from hustle

3. Luck from insight

4. Luck from reputation​

You can increase your surface area for luck, but you still don’t control the timing.​

The only thing you control is whether the thing you’re building is actually good by your own definition.​

What matters most is what comes from within your business.​

A good company doesn’t need an exit to validate it.​

A good team doesn’t need a headline to prove their worth.​

And a good outcome is often just a byproduct of years spent making honest decisions and holding a high bar.​

That’s what I try to optimize for now.​

Not the exception.​

Just the work that earns it.​

Sometimes I joke that its better to be lucky than to be good.​

But in my experience, if you are good then you are often lucky.

Or at least it appears that way.​

So focus on being good. Start by defining what that means to you.