Palmer is very lustful. Actually. His last name is Luckey. At the age of 22, he is also one of Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30 and founder of Oculus VR. His company is developing virtual reality technology, and Facebook recently bought it for $ 2 billion, even though the product is still in the prototype stage and not yet generating revenue. Luckey’s goal is to make virtual reality affordable for mass market consumption and integrate it into our everyday lives. Mark Zuckerberg is obviously a believer and believes that it will become a mode of communication of a similar magnitude to television or telephones. With a net worth of $ 500 million, Palmer is the youngest self-made billionaire.
Luckey was homeschooled and from a young age immersed himself in video games and watching science fiction movies, which led him to become interested in virtual reality. He began collecting and modifying virtual reality hardware and had the opportunity to work with a virtual reality pioneer and expert, where he honed his skills. Communication with online enthusiasts led to a connection with some big hitters in the software and games industry. This, in turn, led to the promotion of his prototype by John Carmack, a well-known programmer, and his first investment by Brendan Iribe, a product manager for a games company. Then came a successful Kickstarter campaign raising $ 2.4 million in one month, and the company took off from there.
Realizing that he lacked the skills to run the company, Luckey hired Iribe as its CEO and Carmack as its chief technology officer. Now he spends his time promoting the product, researching and attracting new talent. He admits that he is not good at managing people, but he is good at getting people to work with him.
Recognize your limitations
For all Luckey’s innovation and persistence in pushing this technology forward, his recognition of its limitations is commendable. He knew he lacked the skills to run the company and instead found someone else with the skills to do it. He put his ego aside and “found a strength.” Many of his coworkers on the Oculus engineering team in Menlo Park, California, don’t even know who he is.
Luckey is an interesting contrast to the many budding entrepreneurs featured on Shark Tank, the reality TV show where people host a panel of 5 billionaires / billionaires to secure funds for their inventions. They are often so caught up in the excitement of their new product that they don’t realize it may be difficult to market, lack in demand, or not scalable, and they don’t want to take the advice of sharks (which they obviously do). know how to be successful in business). Often these entrepreneurs lack the strengths necessary to be successful in business, but they do not want to listen to those who do have the strengths.
Unlocking
Pause for a moment and identify an area of your personal or professional life where you are stuck. You’ve been trying to start a project or develop a plan, but you keep tripping over a wall. The problem may be that you don’t have the full set of skills necessary to pull it off. I knew it would be a challenge, but because I didn’t have the budget to buy the services, or I thought the missing skills weren’t that critical, I was hoping I could somehow solve it or learn on the job.
Well, the reality is that although there are some areas in which we can develop competencies because they align with our strengths; in other areas, we will never develop enough strengths to be seen as extremely capable. We all have significant weaknesses in several areas. And certain weaknesses are difficult to learn or train. When we do not have sufficient aptitude or skill in these areas, and when they are crucial to the success of our business, this can result in failure.
The best strategy is to easily recognize the competencies you need and be creative in your approach to “finding a fortress.” Find someone who has the skills you lack. Find someone who complements you. Build a team and collaborate with others. Find someone who has a similar passion and values, but needs you strengths to achieve your goals as well. The faster you recognize your need and take action, the faster you will take off and be able to move forward with your initiatives. Ultimately, you save time, money, and great frustration.
So my last challenge for you is Do what you do well, but don’t start a project unless you have the right tools to finish it.
Read more about Palmer Luckey in the Forbes issue of January 19, 2015. http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2015/01/05/palmer-luckey-oculus-rift-vr/
