“My co-founder Dylan Smith and I left our junior year of college to move to the Bay Area. To the horror of our friends' parents, we actually had two other friends drop out of college to work on the product. The four of us were just working non-stop growing Box.” YearsTwoMovingLeftParentFourGrowingCollegeProductsHorrorAreasBoxesFoundersDylanJuniorsNon StopBay AreaJunior Year Author:Aaron Levie
“One thing people underestimate is how markets don't allow anyone to do anything except make better and better products. There's not much leeway. The world is a lot more competitive than most people think, particularly in a high-technology area. If a company takes its eye off improving its products, if it tries to do anything that would be viewed as an exercise of power, it'll be displaced very rapidly.” PeopleIfsThinkingWorldTryingWould BeEyeCompanyTechnologyOne ThingProductsExerciseAreasImprovingUnderestimateHigh Technology Author:Bill Gates
“Financial innovation can be highly dangerous, though almost no one will tell you this. New financial products are typically created for sunny days and are almost never stress-tested for stormy weather. Securitization is an area that almost perfectly fits this description; markets for securitized assets such as subprime mortgages completely collapsed in 2008 and have not fully recovered. Ironically, the government is eager to restore the securitization markets back to their pre-collapse stature.” GovernmentDangerousProductsFitAreasStressInnovationFinancialWeatherDescriptionAssetsCollapseTestedSunnyMortgageStatureStormySunny DayStormy Weather Author:Seth Klarman
“Truly world-class firms are always examining their business processes and continuously seeking solutions to improve in key areas, such as lead time reduction, cost cutting, exceeding customer expectations, streamlining processes, shortening time to market for new products, and managing the global operation.” WorldProcessClassCuttingProductsKeysCostSolutionsExpectationsAreasSeekingCustomersFirmOperationsReductionExaminingWorld ClassNew ProductsStreamlining Author:Daniel Baldwin
“In many rural areas of the world, local communities use kerosene for indoor lighting, which leads to asthma, poor quality of light, and the desperate cycle of oil-based products that continually degrade the environment.” WorldUseLightCommunityPoorQualityEnvironmentProductsAreasOilLocalsDesperateCyclesLightingDegradeAsthmaRural AreasLocal CommunityPoor Quality Author:Olafur Eliasson
“Shareholder value theory - the destructive idea that companies should be run solely for the benefit of shareholders - has led to financialized businesses that do not invest in the areas that will lead to future growth or the invention of useful new products.” ShouldIdeasRunningValuesGrowthCompanyProductsTheoryBenefitsAreasInventionDestructiveShareholdersNew ProductsFuture GrowthShareholder Value Author:Mariana Mazzucato
“I think harmonious relations with the U.S. would be very good for us from the economical point of view, more than in any other field, because all our industry has been established by the U.S. and primary products and repair parts that we have to make with much difficulty or to bring from other areas could come directly. And besides, sugar, which traditionally we had the American market is also near.” ThinkingHas BeensWould BeViewsFieldsProductsIndustryAreasDifficultyRelationVery GoodPoint Of ViewPrimariesSugarHarmonious Author:Che Guevara
“No matter how significant or life-changing your greatest hit or miss might be, neither even begins to define who you are. Each of us is a product of all our experiences and all our interactions with other people. To cite calculus, we are the area under the curve.” PeopleMatterMightMissingProductsAreasWho You AreSignificantLife ChangingInteractionCurvesCalculusCitingInteraction With Others Author:Colin Powell
“The oil industry is a stunning example of how science, technology, and mass production can divert an entire group of companies from their main task. ... No oil company gets as excited about the customers in its own backyard as about the oil in the Sahara Desert. ... But the truth is, it seems to me, that the industry begins with the needs of the customer for its products. From that primal position its definition moves steadily back stream to areas of progressively lesser importance until it finally comes to rest at the search for oil.” NeedsImportantSeemsMovingScienceCompanyTechnologyGroupsExamplePositionProductsIndustryTruth IsMassAreasTasksImportanceDefinitionsProductionsExcitedCustomersOilDesertStreamsPrimalBackyardsStunningOil CompaniesScience TechnologyMass ProductionOil IndustrySaharaSahara Desert Author:Theodore Levitt