Personally, I believe three things are necessary for success:
* A specialization. Without specializing in something, you will never be the best/at the top of your field. You need something to be good at, something to be better than everyone else at.
* Something else. I think the best thing that ever happened to me was pursuing a degree in Statistics in college (as opposed to Computer Science, which I started in). I ended up in it a rather un-panned method, and it has influenced me far more than anything else I have done. Given the chance, I would recommend any person, particularly those who want to get into start-ups, to go get a degree, but in something that interests them, not in something they think will be useful.
* Equal parts Confidence, Stubbornness, and Genius, with a dash of Charisma. Without that, you can have the best idea in the world, but never make it, or be able to sell it.
* A specialization. Without specializing in something, you will never be the best/at the top of your field. You need something to be good at, something to be better than everyone else at.
* Something else. I think the best thing that ever happened to me was pursuing a degree in Statistics in college (as opposed to Computer Science, which I started in). I ended up in it a rather un-panned method, and it has influenced me far more than anything else I have done. Given the chance, I would recommend any person, particularly those who want to get into start-ups, to go get a degree, but in something that interests them, not in something they think will be useful.
* Equal parts Confidence, Stubbornness, and Genius, with a dash of Charisma. Without that, you can have the best idea in the world, but never make it, or be able to sell it.