In 1995, I was fired for telling my boss the internet would become bigger than cable TV.

He was a respected media analyst. He had made millions investing in cable, radio, television, and newspapers. He had made nothing from the internet. The consensus was that the internet was a fad and "interactive TV" was the future.

I was the junior analyst. In my spare time, I began tracking Mosaic, which became Netscape. Because I had sold computers in college and served as managing editor of the university newspaper, I saw what the browser represented: computers connected to open information. I was willing to bet my career on that shift, two months before my wedding. Conviction has a cost.

After losing my job, I contacted 50 people building the new medium and began publishing independent analysis. They became my first subscribers. The research spread globally. Wall Street offered millions. Venture capitalists offered blank checks. CNBC wanted me full-time. I declined, although I appeared weekly. Bloomberg Press asked me to write a book. "About what?" I asked. "Anything you want," they replied. It became a global bestseller in eight languages.

Years later, I spoke at Stanford. My former boss was in the audience. He said, "When I let you go, we lost one of the good ones."

Careers take strange turns. Believe in yourself when you have a clear vision. Clear vision comes from recognizing patterns. The global economy advances through platform shifts. The clues hide in plain sight.