“When you start a company everything is going to feel like a mess. And it really should. If you have too much process, too much predictability, you are probably not innovating fast enough and creatively enough.” IfsFeelsShouldEnoughProcessCompanyToo MuchMessPredictability Author:Keith Rabois
“You can build the most important companies in history with a very simple to describe concept. You can market products in less than 50 characters. There is no reason why you can't build your company the same way. So force yourself to simplify every initiative, every product, every marketing, everything you do. Basically take out that red and start eliminating stuff.” WayImportantReasonCharacterForceStuffSimpleCompanyProductsConceptsRedMarketingReason WhyNo ReasonInitiativeSimplifyEliminating Author:Keith Rabois
“You don't have to wait for a record company to tell you that you're good or to sign you. You can put your music out on itunes, youtube, soundcloud, so it's kind of a plus, I think.” ThinkingKindWaitingCompanyRecordsPlusYoutubeRecord CompaniesItunesSoundcloud Author:Shanice
“The reason companies work is because you're able to get a lot of people doing the work; it's not because of this visionary. Steve Jobs didn't make Apple; it was a bunch of people. The building of the right team is an art in and of its own right.” PeopleArtReasonAbleJobsCompanyTeamBuildingBunchApplesWorking ItVisionaries Author:D.A. Wallach
“My dad worked for Del Monte and then for Monsanto as one of the chief scientists on the Calgene Flavr Savr Tomato. But it was a huge disaster because the tomato didn't taste good. And then my dad started his own genetics company and I began doing that with him. He and I ran a genetics company for 10 years. And so I sold seeds to Florida.” YearsCompanyHugeDadTasteScientistMy DadSeedsDisasterChiefsRanFloridaGeneticsTomatoesMonsanto Author:Sanjay Rawal
“The Flavr Savr wasn't about taste at all; that was just the name. It was about the shape and the shipability of it. My dad's company was all about flavor. His tomatoes are some of the best selling at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.” WholeNamesCompanyDadTasteShapesMy DadSellingFlavorTomatoesTradersWhole Foods Author:Sanjay Rawal
“We've already seen shifts happening in some of the big companies - Google, Apple - that now understand how vulnerable their customer data is, and that if it's vulnerable, then their business is, too, and so you see a beefing up of encryption technologies. At the same time, no programs have been dismantled at the governmental level, despite international pressure.” IfsHas BeensBigsLevelsCompanyTechnologyHappeningsProgramPressureInternationalCustomersDespiteVulnerableDataApplesGoogleBig CompaniesEncryption Author:Laura Poitras
“Government support is not only investing in upstream areas like basic research, but also in downstream areas like applied research and early-stage financing for the companies themselves. This means there are great risks.” MeanGovernmentCompanySupportRiskStageResearchAreasInvestingFinancingGreat RiskBasic Research Author:Mariana Mazzucato
“I'm not sure how it is in America, but for what I can say about Germany, most people give their information willingly to anyone who asks for it such as companies like Google. We just don't question it anymore.” PeopleGivingI CanAmericaAsksCompanyInformationNot SureGermanyGoogle Author:Christian Schwochow
“When you're working on a game that has a budget of tens of millions of dollars and you have to sell millions and millions and millions of copies to break even, you have a lot more layers between you and the audience. You have a marketing department, and there's a different marketing department for every continent, and the parent company has stockholders, and all that kind of stuff.” KindDifferentGamesStuffParentCompanyBreakMillionsAudienceSellsDollarsMarketingBudgetsDepartmentCopiesLayersContinentsBreak Even Author:Steve Gaynor
“I think that the good thing about working smaller and being a smaller company that doesn't have to make as much to make money back is that you don't have to worry about, well, critics like this and they'll tell people to buy it, but millions of people might say, 'Oh, well I'm not interested in that subject matter' and we're sunk.” PeopleThinkingWellsMatterMightCompanyMillionsWorrySubjectsGood ThingsCriticsMaking MoneyNot InterestedSubject MatterOh Well Author:Steve Gaynor
“But just [proposing the standard] puts companies on notice that if you're looking to construct a new natural-gas or coal facility, you really need to pay attention to these. This is what they should be designing new facilities toward as soon as this proposal hits the streets.” IfsNeedsShouldNaturalPayAttentionCompanyStreetsDesignStandardsPay AttentionGasCoalConstructsProposalFacilityNatural Gas Author:Gina McCarthy
“It's the next phase of authorship of this country's energy future. It's gonna come from the people. It's not gonna be deus ex machina or Obama ex machina, or science ex machina. It's gonna be the people. It's not going to be a wind energy company that comes in and saves the day. It's going to be the people who figure this out.” PeopleCountryNextEnergyCompanyFiguresWindPhasesExesAuthorshipWind Energy Author:Josh Fox
“When a record company makes a mistake, the artist pays for it. When a manager makes a mistake, the artist pays for it. When the artist makes a mistake, the artist pays for it.” ArtistPayMistakeCompanyRecordsManagersRecord Companies Author:Robert Fripp
“If two parties, instead of being a bank and an individual, were an individual and an individual, they could not inflate the circulating medium by a loan transaction, for the simple reason that the lender could not lend what he didn't have, as banks can do. Only commercial banks and trust companies can lend money that they manufacture by lending it.” IfsTwoReasonIndividualCan DoSimplePartyCompanyMediumsLoanTransactionsLendingLendersCommercial Banks Author:Irving Fisher
“The thief who is in prison is not necessarily more dishonest than his fellows at large, but mostly one who, through ignorance or stupidity [or racism or poverty! - Draffan] steals in a way that is not customary. He snatches a loaf from the baker's counter and is promptly run into gaol. Another man snatches bread from the table of hundreds of widows and orphans and similar credulous souls who do not know the ways of company promoters; and, as likely as not, he is run into Parliament.” KnowsMenWaySoulRunningCompanyPovertyIgnoranceRacismFellowsTablesPrisonStupidityStealingBreadThievesParliamentAnother ManWidowsOrphanBakersPromotersWidows And Orphans Author:George Bernard Shaw
“Artists have so much more control of their futures - they don't need to rely so much on major labels or big companies to help them. You have artists like Skrillex that can dominate so much that he gets 5 Grammy nominees, and he's clearly an underground artist.” NeedsHelpingBigsArtistCompanyMajorsLabelsRelyGrammyBig Companies Author:Steve Aoki
“Any institution becomes a community - whether it's a high school or a boarding school or a publishing company or a small town where everybody knows certain things about people.” PeopleKnowsSchoolCertainCommunityCompanyHigh SchoolTownsInstitutionsPublishingSmall Town Author:Alice Hoffman
“I'm going to go do this crazy thing. I'm going to start this company selling books online.” BookCompanyCrazySellingOnlineCrazy ThingsSelling Books Author:Jeff Bezos
“In nations that have become too complex, taxes and regulation cause at least a doubling of the amount employers must spend on labor. Many experts call this 'progress,' but the natural result is that many companies respond by sending their operations and jobs to less costly nations.” JobsNationsCausesNaturalResultsCompanyProgressAmountTaxesLaborComplexesOperationsExpertsRegulationEmployers Author:Oliver DeMille
“Intrapreneurs work and lead with the Producer mindset. They run their department, team, or company with an abundance mentality, an attachment to true principles, and a fearless and informed faith in people and quality.” PeopleRunningQualityCompanyPrinciplesTeamMindsetProducersFearlessAbundanceDepartmentAttachmentMentalityAbundance Mentality Author:Oliver DeMille
“The central challenge for any company, regardless of its size, is to keep doing a better job for its customers.” JobsChallengesCompanySizeCustomersBetter Jobs Author:Ralph Nader
“I work constantly but I work at a lot of different things. You know, I run a theater company in New York, I direct plays, act in plays, in movies, so I try to keep it eclectic.” KnowsTryingDifferentPlayRunningCompanyNew YorkDirectTheaterDifferent ThingsEclectic Author:Philip Seymour Hoffman
“When I look at founders and CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook and Brian Chesky at Airbnb and Sebastian Thrun at Udacity, these are companies that are creating extraordinary social good and extraordinary economic and educational empowerment, all within with context of a for-profit model.” LooksSocialCompanyEconomicCreatingModelsEmpowermentMarkExtraordinaryProfitEducationalFoundersCeoBrianSocial GoodZuckerbergAirbnb Author:Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen
“If you rent a U-Haul to move your company, it costs twice as much to go from San Francisco to Austin than the other way around, because you can't find enough trucks to leave the Golden State.” IfsWayStatesEnoughMovingCompanyCostGoldenTruckSan FranciscoHaulAustinU Haul Author:Rick Perry
“One of the best investors around, Joel Greenblatt, has written a popular, charming and funny book about investing in great companies at low P/E multiples. To simplify an already simple book, great companies are generally measured as companies that can generate lots of profit without requiring a lot of capital. This means that they have high ROEs.” MeanBookSimpleCompanyWrittenLowsInvestingProfitInvestorsCharmingSimplifyGreat CompanyFunny Book Author:David Einhorn
“When you have the Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee and the political director of the Romney campaign, and their two companies get $150 million at the end of the campaign for the 'fantastic' get-out-the-vote program... some of this borders on RICO violations.” TwoEndsPoliticalCompanyMillionsRepublicanDirectorsProgramVoteCampaignsChiefsFantasticBordersStaffCommitteesRomneyViolationRicoChief Of Staff Author:Patrick Caddell
“If you want to create a memorable company, you have to fill your company with memorable people.” PeopleIfsWantCompanyMemorable Author:Bill Taylor
“To enter the maintsteam market is an act of aggression. The companies who have already established relationships with your target customer will resent your intrusion and do everything they can to shut you out.” CompanyCustomersTargetAggressionResentIntrusion Author:Geoffrey Moore
“If insurance companies paid for lifestyle-management classes, they would save huge sums of money. We need to see that alternative medicine is now mainstream.” IfsNeedsCompanyClassHugePaidManagementMedicineLifestyleAlternativesMainstreamInsurance CompaniesAlternative Medicine Author:Deepak Chopra
“I really am happy that I met my agency and my management company, because they see me as a person and not just a Latin woman.” PersonsCompanyMetsManagementAgencyLatinLatin Women Author:Daniella Alonso
“When you have a company name that is to descriptive about what you do, you don't stand out.” NamesCompanyStanding Out Author:Philip J. Kaplan
“We are working hard to build a service that everyone, everywhere can use, whether they are a person, a company, a president or an organisation working for change” PersonsHardUsePresidentCompanyOrganisation Author:Mark Zuckerberg
“There were a couple of companies that wanted to put me with a producer, and I said, "Well, I just produced my last album," and I wasn't about to go backwards.” WellsSaidWantedLastsCompanyCoupleAlbumsProducersBackwards Author:Shuggie Otis
“A very high fraction of America's economic problems come not from our difficulties with education or globalization or competition with the Chinese or whatever. But they come from the fact that a small number of wealthy and powerful people who run dangerous and/or inefficient companies are able, through the use of money in the political process, to prevent the government from regulating them properly.” PeopleFactsUseProblemGovernmentRunningAbleAmericaPoliticalProcessPowerfulNumbersCompanyEconomicDangerousDifficultyCompetitionChineseWealthyGlobalizationFractionsSmall NumbersEconomic Problems Author:Charles Ferguson
“Carli Fiorina says companies are consolidating because it's the only way to compete with big, corrupt government. "This is how socialism starts." Is that also why she bought Compaq when she was CEO of Hewlett-Packard?” WayBigsGovernmentCompanySocialismCeoCorrupt Government Author:Kevin Drum
“Some people don't want to know that very little progress has been made. It is in the same way that companies are selling their products (i.e. the billion dollar cosmetic industry), they can package the message of femininity and normalization around this disease.” PeopleKnowsWayWantLittlesHas BeensMadeCompanyProgressProductsIndustryDiseaseMessagesDollarsBillionsSellingMade ItFemininityPackagesCosmetics Author:Ravida Din
“There's a long history of subsidized philanthropy - particularly in the USA - and again the public has come to expect corporations to play a role in their social welfare. It's become easy for some companies to profit from citizen goodwill and volunteerism.” LongPlaySocialEasyCompanyRolesCitizensProfitCorporationsWelfareUsaPhilanthropyGoodwillVolunteerismSocial Welfare Author:Ravida Din
“The pink campaign has also served to "normalize" and depoliticize the disease and that makes it less threatening for a LOT of companies to jump onboard and claim breast cancer as their cause.” CausesCompanyDiseaseClaimsCancerCampaignsBreastsThreateningBreast Cancer Author:Ravida Din
“anyone own a disease? I was also startled at the level of hypocrisy. How can a leading make up company not sign onto the "Campaign for Safe Cosmetics" and at the same time promote itself as leading the fight against breast cancer?” FightingLevelsCompanySafeDiseaseCancerCampaignsHypocrisyBreastsBreast CancerCosmetics Author:Ravida Din
“I'm sure the gasoline companies would love to keep their 100 percent monopoly on transportation fuel.” CompanyPercentFuelMonopolyTransportationGasoline Author:Chris Paine
“What oil companies don't want you to know is that refineries use a huge amount of electricity in refining gasoline. And that's usually not even figured into reports about gas cars' overall energy use.” KnowsWantUseEnergyCompanyCarHugeAmountOilReportsGasElectricityGasolineRefiningOil CompaniesEnergy UseRefinery Author:Chris Paine
“Oil companies earned a permanent enemy in me when they messed with the electric car the first time around, and I think they continue to do a disservice in making it seem like fossil fuels are cheaper than they really are in terms of total cost.” ThinkingFirstsSeemsTermCompanyEnemyCarCostFirst TimeOilPermanentFuelElectricFossilsCheaperFossil FuelDisserviceOil CompaniesElectric Car Author:Chris Paine
“When you have a food safety system that's voluntary and not mandatory, you're in a situation in which everybody wants everybody else to go first. So as a normal course of doing business, food companies cut corners and don't want to take the kind of trouble and the kind of testing and the kind of careful procedures that are required to produce the safe food because they don't have to.” WantFirstsKindCoursesCompanySituationCuttingTroubleProduceSafeNormalSafetyCarefulCornersTestingProceduresFood SafetySafe Food Author:Marion Nestle
“You probably couldn't have found much daylight between the NRA and the Disney company. They probably would've had had identical demographics for the people who really loved those companies.” PeopleFoundCompanyIdenticalDaylightDemographicsNraDisney Company Author:Abigail Disney
“Under the current U.S. policy, because of this power struggle, American oil companies can't do business with Iran. So I think the ultimate goal of the U.S. administration in Iran is regime change, to put into power a pro-Western government that will eliminate the strategic challenge to U.S. interests and, at the same time, allow the lifting of sanctions and allowing American oil companies to do business with Iran.” ThinkingGovernmentGoalInterestChallengesCompanyStrugglePolicyUltimateWesternCurrentsOilAdministrationIranAllowingRegimesStrategicLiftingSanctionsUltimate GoalOil CompaniesPower StruggleRegime Change Author:Michael Klare
“There's something seriously wrong with Google. Technologically, they're brilliant, sensational. But morally, its management is completely adolescent. The company is so big and so arrogant, they do whatever they like, they think they are above the law.” ThinkingBigsLawCompanyManagementBrilliantArrogantGoogleSensationalAbove The Law Author:Max Mosley
“Most of the female-directed films, if they got distribution, would have fewer dollars to support the film and play in fewer theaters than the men. Because the female-directed films go to smaller companies. So the gap starts widening.” IfsMenPlayFilmCompanySupportHe ManFemaleTheaterDollarsGapsFewerDistribution Author:Catherine Hardwicke
“When I sat there in 1971 and watched my grandfather open Walt Disney World, I was a little 11-year-old girl who worshiped the ground he walked on. You probably couldn't have found much daylight between the NRA and the Disney company.” WorldYearsLittlesGirlFoundCompanySatGrandfatherMy GrandfatherDaylightWaltNraDisney Company Author:Abigail Disney
“Wal-Mart workers make just over $8 an hour, and they must pay more than a third of their health insurance premium if they choose to take the company's insurance. That means just about half of them don't choose to take the health insurance because they can't afford it.” IfsMeanHoursPayHalfCompanyThirdsWorkersPremium Author:Liza Featherstone