6. Robert Cezar Matei

Walked out one more than one Golden Opportunity

Even after receiving the most creatively crafted call letter with beautiful pictures and shared experiences from Kevin Systrom, Robert chose to work for Quora instead. Robert had earlier denied his place at Facebook to continue at Stanford and turned down the opportunity to be on the Square team. "If you're in the Valley for any amount of time, you'll have missed opportunities. Whatever, opportunities were rarely as close as they might seem in hindsight. There are a million ways my life could have turned out worse, too," writes Robert.