Of course, I have the perspective that I was “lucky” to have received the call from the business-to-business telecommunications provider. Nonetheless, I had also designed Speed Anywhere to be able to take example of precisely this type of opportunity. I had consciously created the capability to test new product offerings very quickly at a very low cost; I had consciously developed a fast, low-cost way of creating new Web sites to offer new products; and I had a system in place for quickly expanding my advertising on Internet search engines to accommodate new offerings. I had missed seeing the superior business-to-business opportunity at the outset of my work, but I was well prepared to take advantage of luck when it visited my doorstep.

It’s worth noting here that when I received the inquiring phone call I did not immediately see that the business-to-business market represented a huge opportunity. I was quite skeptical. But I had designed the business with a capability to quickly test and assess ideas, at low cost as they came to me. This allowed me to continuously experiment with new approaches, even when I doubted that the results would be successful. The lesson here? An experimental attitude combined with flexibility is a sure source of increasing the odds of positive luck.

• Later in its development, Speed Anywhere’s referral service for businesses seeking a large broadband connection (known as a T1) was called T1 Anywhere (www.T1Anywhere.com), and I envisioned that it had three principle values for the

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