Tim DraperFounder and Managing Partne, Draper Associate · I back the ideas that look crazy first

Randall Kaplan's Keys to Success

30 Mar 2023 · 1 min

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Randall Kaplan says hard work beats everything: be first in, last out, and never late. He describes an intern who test-drove from Santa Barbara to nail punctuality, and another who got a real estate job because Kaplan vouched for his reliability to a CEO.

Chapters

I said, number one, hard work. Hard work is gonna be the greatest single determinant of your success at work. When you're new at a job, first one in, last one out. Never leave before the boss, ever. Be on time. I tell my interns, 8 to 6, do not show up at 8:01. You live in LA, plan for traffic. We had an intern 2 years ago driving from Santa Barbara, and you know what he did? What? Before he began, he did a test run on Sunday to find out how long it would take him to get there. You know how many times he was late? Zero. We had a Navy SEAL intern drive up from San Diego last term, a decorated Navy SEAL. How many times he was late? Zero. Right? I got the first intern a job. He wanted to go into real estate business. Called my friend who was the CEO of a company. I told him what this Young man had done, he said, I want that kid working here.