"We would have bought your company."

"You just got lucky because it was the right time for that kind of thing."

"All the elements in the industry were just lining up when you started your company".

 

If a project is successful, in hindsight, it was very obviously the right thing to do.

If McKinsey buys your company, JP Morgan, in hindsight says, "we would have bought your company.  We would have paid more for it."

A successful acquisition makes the transaction seem like a good idea, in hindsight.

If a company is successful, people analyse it for the timing, industry, other external factors.  But that's just one side of the equation.  The other side is a small team of people, building knowledge in an industry, establishing a solid reputation, accumulating expertise at their jobs;  they are biding their time, and slowly working towards creating a market that is receptive to their product.  When the market reaches a tipping point, they are ready for that as well.  And they ride that wave to success.

And other people will look back and say, "weren't they lucky to be in that industry at the time?"