What are fastest paths to financial success?

At Digg, one mentor gave me the savvy advice that the fastest path to financial success was working for four years at three different just-about-to-IPO companies. A surefire way to retire by forty. (This is, for the record, pretty good advice.)

https://lethain.com/forty-year-career/

What are other fastest paths to financial success? Currently am a software engineer, so looking for advice in this career choice.