Yeah that's the thing with investing. Markets change, trades get crowded, data/tech gets commoditized, and strategies stop working. If you do not have a process and evolve, you are roadkill.

So some guys who are early, big and right can attract a halo that long outlives its reality.

To build some piece of tech you need to have some sort of process, and it is probably replicable to building another piece of tech. It is entirely possible to just get lucky right place, right time and make a killing investing for a good run before your lack of process catches up with you.

Half the "Big Short" guys fall under the same category as Dalio & Gross.

But hey, if you make your number and then can graduate into "thought leadership" its not such a bad gig either.