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This Single Skill Made Ankur More Than $1 Billion
The Real Secret Behind Every “Overnight Success”
“The best product always wins.” It’s a catchy phrase. Easy to believe, right? But here’s the uncomfortable truth: The best product doesn’t always win. The best entrepreneur does. You could have the next big app, the next groundbreaking gadget, or the best pizza delivery service since sliced bread (pun intended). But without the right attitude, that idea is just going to sit there, collecting dust in your brain.
The real winners? They’re not necessarily the ones with the most money, the best tech, or even the most revolutionary ideas. The real winners are relentless. They take no as an invitation to ask again — louder, smarter, more creatively. And if they get told “no” again? They do the same thing until the universe runs out of ways to refuse.
The Myth of the Overnight Success
First off, let’s put this myth to bed. Overnight success? It’s a lie, or at the very least, a misinterpretation. Sure, companies like Airbnb, Slack, and Canva suddenly exploded into our daily lives — as if from nowhere. But behind each one of those success stories, there are years, if not decades, of hustle, struggle, and endless pivoting.
Take the story of Built Rewards and its founder, Ankur Jain. Ankur didn’t just wake up one day, create an app, and get Forbes to call him a billionaire at 34. The dude worked. Hard. He went through countless “no’s,” rejection from real estate owners, skeptical lawyers, and even federal regulations that seemed designed to shut him down. The number of setbacks he faced would make most people curl up in a ball and binge Netflix for weeks.
As Ankur puts it,
“Every single day felt like a new obstacle, and every time I thought I had it figured out, something else would fall apart.” But that’s the point. Success isn’t about having the perfect idea; it’s about how many times you’re willing to get punched in the face and still come back to the fight. It’s about creating your own definition of relentlessness.
