Every successful case is a special case

It's easy to dismiss strategies or plans or people who succeed by pointing out how they have something special, something irreproducible, some sort of advantage that makes their success special.

Special as in, "not available to me."

They went to Harvard, they're public, they're not public, they have a great fundraising team, they have a powerful partner, they didn't go to Harvard, they already have a reputation, they have no reputation to risk...

This is silly, as all success is special. That's what makes it success. We don't consider breathing a success, since, fortunately, we all can breathe.

The trick is learning about what the special cases have in common, in understanding how maybe, just maybe, you have some of the very same attributes that others have used in a new way.