Building a Business

“You can have everything you want if you're willing to give up what you think you want.”

“The most important decision is deciding what's important to you.”

“Life is too short to do things that don't matter.”

“A startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.”

“The most important question for a startup: are we building a product that customers want?”

“Innovation is not about being first, it's about being better.”

“The Mom Test is simple: talk about their life instead of your idea.”

“Trying to learn from customer conversations is like playing chess in the dark. Great questions are your flashlight.”

“Compliments are worthless, criticism is priceless.”

“Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is in even shorter supply than genius.”

“Every moment in business happens only once.”

“The next Bill Gates won’t build an operating system. The next Larry Page won’t make a search engine.”

“Wealth is not about money, it's about freedom.”

“The slow lane is the road to mediocrity.”

“You don't get rich by working for money, you get rich by creating value.”

“Minimalism in business means focus on what really matters.”

“The best ideas are often the simplest ones.”

“Success comes when you do less, but better.”

“Workaholics aren't heroes. They don't save the day, they just use it up.”

“Planning is guessing.”

“The real world isn't a place, it's a time.”

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

“The best way to learn is to teach.”

“Vision without traction is merely hallucination.”

“Clarify your vision and you will make better decisions about people, processes, finances, strategies, and customers.”

“Most people are sitting on their own diamond mines. Find your core focus, stick to it, and devote your time and resources to excelling at it.”

“If you don't own your business, it owns you.”

“Being the hero is heroin. Your brain is wired to prefer being needed over being free.”

“You can own things and be owned by them.”

“Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness is largely a matter of conscious choice.”

“The best companies are not the most innovative, they're the most disciplined.”

“Success comes from being consistent, not from being lucky.”

“There’s always another mountain to climb, but that doesn't mean you need to start the hike.”

“Enough is a moving target—unless you define it for yourself.”

“Success at the cost of happiness is failure in disguise.”

“Disruptive technologies typically enable new markets to emerge.”

“Disruptive technology should be framed as a marketing challenge, not a technological one.”

“The very decision-making and resource-allocation processes that are key to the success of established companies are the very processes that reject disruptive technologies.”

“The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery.”

“Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt.”

“If you can't make it through the Dip, don't start.”

“Lead the client, don’t follow them.”

“Declare your expertise.”

“We will be selective about the clients we take on.”

“The first step to achieving your dream is believing it's possible.”

“Ask yourself: What would you do if you couldn't fail?”

“Your dream matters, no matter how big or small.”