If you actually read that post, you'll see it talks about how he got started, and that it also contains a clue as to why I think I know a bit about that. In any case, I'm not sure what this has to do with Patrick's "underpants gnome" secret. Is the trick "have a high-karma HN account"?
Here's the 200+ point annual report he did with story of him quitting his day job:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2018816
I'm sure if you look the previous reports up they'd be similarly high ranked.