Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success.

Biz Stone, best known as a co-founder of Twitter, has often spoken about the long, iterative path behind “sudden” tech breakthroughs. The line reflects a common Silicon Valley reality: products that appear to explode into public view usually sit atop years of experimentation, failed prototypes, networking, and incremental learning. In Stone’s case, Twitter’s 2006 launch followed a decade of work in blogging, publishing, and startup culture, as well as earlier ventures and false starts that helped shape his sense of how innovation actually happens. The quote is typically used in entrepreneurial and creative contexts to puncture the myth of effortless, instantaneous success.

The quote argues that “overnight success” is usually a retrospective illusion created by selective attention: audiences notice the moment of visibility, not the long period of preparation. Stone highlights three ingredients—timing (external conditions and opportunity), perseverance (the willingness to continue through setbacks), and sustained effort over years (skill-building and iteration). The punchline reframes recognition as the end of a long process rather than a magical beginning. It also implies a practical ethic: focus on durable work and readiness, because when conditions align, accumulated effort can suddenly become legible to others as “instant” success.