Browse 1451 quotes about Entrepreneurship.
“Chase the needs, and you are halfway to entrepreneurship.”
“Of the top 10 sources of innovation, employees are the only resource that you can control and access that your competitors cannot. Employees are the one asset you have that can actually be a sustainable competitive advantage.”
“A significant portion of what we call reality was shaped by human effort.”
“Ideation is important for innovation. But it is only the first step! Incubation must follow and so must acceleration for the circle of innovation to reach completion,or else, you risk expiration.”
“There is almost something contagious in the air here when you suddenly start to think of that market need no one has addressed yet, realizing that “to be sane in a world of madmen is in itself madness,” to quote Jean-Jacques Rousseau.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“Businesses are born, businesses live, and businesses die. And that's okay.”
Source: Business Essentials
“Serving my generation with excellence will mean in turn, my generation can lead with excellence.”
“If you don't appreciate your customers, someone else will.”
“Great customer service alone can make us buy something we know we do not need.”
“Tidy your business by looking at your product offerings and categorize them by putting them into value grade buckets.”
“No one is more productive than a procrastinator with an impending deadline.”
Source: Anti-Time Management: Reclaim Your Time and Revolutionize Your Results with the Power of Time Tipping
“As an entrepreneur, it’s critical to have a vision and to have faith in your vision. Almost every entrepreneur has to go up against some doubters, and faith provides immunity against doubts.”
“Due to the current income restrictions for accredited investor status, over 90% of U.S. households are entirely excluded from private stock ownership.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“Making something is Hard
Making something you don't even CARE ABOUT is
EVEN HARDER .”
“Those who regularly use a TV are the most likely to occasionally use a CV.”
“Where there is purpose, money flows!”
“The overall data shows that more than twice the money flows into venture capital from LPs than comes back to them in a given year.
I wanted to hold onto something positive from this industry—after all, I’ve met a few brilliant people in it—but looking at the data, it’s hard, if not impossible.
In a Freudian sense, it's worth remembering that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar—not everything has a deeper psychological meaning.
VCs have made it look like magic, but the illusion disappears once you turn on the lights.
At its core, venture capital isn’t as much a unique asset class as it is a troubled one. The industry survives by injecting more and more capital each year, while leaving the majority of limited partners stuck at the losing end of a pay-your-bid auction.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“The successful CEOs I have seen are ones that never give up. Even when I am telling them 'you really need to consider giving up'.”
Source: The 6 Startup Stages: How Non-technical Founders Create Scalable, Profitable Companies
“The world cries out for impactful ideas and ventures, and alas, most such ideas are not viable for the majority of financiers, who focus on investment returns rather than social impact—impact that aligns with the well-being of individuals and families. Ironically, that is simply rational behavior on their part. But you know this, right?”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“Yes, capital is the oxygen in the life of a startup. But then again, acquiring capital is not the purpose of your startup—just as breathing oxygen is not the purpose of human life. It’s almost comical how we chase investors, running around as if we’re in a game of musical chairs.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“Sadly enough, while we all keep segregating ourselves into little tribes, passionately claiming our moral rights and neglected privileges to capital access, we overlook the fact that the real divide comes down to just two sides. Those of us with the desire and mental ability to build and innovate —or, as it's called in finance, the "sell-side." And then there's the "buy-side"—the folks who have some spare capital to invest. How did they get that extra capital in the first place? Good question—fair question.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“I am not stating that every startup deserves to succeed or should get funding without effort. I am saying that the pitching arena should start shifting toward a reversed scene, where natural selection, in a Darwinian fashion, applies to investors pitching themselves—showing how they can help and contribute beyond just money.
Until that happens, our modern startup world can best be described exactly as Jennifer Lopez’s character put it in her 2019 hit movie Hustlers:
“We are all living in a gigantic strip club where you got people tossing the money… and people doing the dance.”
Source: No Limits: Modern Poetry For Modern People
“Simply put, we need plenty of risk capital flowing into the real economy—into real startups solving real problems. If we live in a world where small businesses—the true engines of the economy and job creation—are dying faster than they’re being born, it raises a critical question: What’s wrong with a financing system that’s supposed to provide the oxygen for new ventures?
Do you hear me, derivatives traders?”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“I believe that any meaningful change requires initiating the kind of conversations that make people uncomfortable. I believe in asking questions – and searching for the truth. I have questions and would rather “have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned,” paraphrasing Richard Feynman, a quantum physicist and Nobel prize winner who lived here in Los Angeles.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“You live in an era where raising funding has turned out to be the most important skill of all.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“Here, I must say that some terminology in the language of finance is slightly misleading. Uber’s “loss” largely means heavy investments in other businesses and stock-based compensation stemming from the company's initial public offering.
Unsurprisingly, Travis Kalanick, Uber’s co-founder, sold nearly $1 billion in company shares the moment Uber’s IPO lockup period (read: the timeframe when you can’t sell your shares) was over. Duh.
When a company files for an IPO instead of bankruptcy, the IPO should be renamed a bailout—because modern business solutions require modern business jargon. #sarcasm”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“In entrepreneurial finance, the asymmetry between what needs to be backed and what actually gets financed—often driven by purely speculative expectations—is truly remarkable.
Case in point: CB Insights has been doing an admirable job publishing its "mortality reports," analyzing why some of the most promising and heavily vetted startups fail. And for years, the number one reason for failure among VC-backed startups has remained the same:
There was no market need.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“The general rule of thumb for a seed-stage round is to preserve at least 80% of your equity pie.
In other words, before you hit the marketplace, don’t sell more than 20% of your company’s ownership.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“Most of us eagerly celebrate yet another mega deal, cheering for a founder who landed a venture capital fund and secured a sizeable investment.
Now, let’s pause and think about what that actually means. It signals that our fellow entrepreneur has officially taken on… yes, a liability burden.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“When a venture capitalist says, "We are now one team," take it with a grain of salt—and remember, his primary job is to make sure that you do yours.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“You might well ask—what now then, shall I stop looking for capital?
Haha, that’s like asking whether you should get married or not—as they say, you’ll be damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“I believe that in the 21st century, we need to redefine ownership, innovation, and capital—because if we don’t, we’ll soon wake up in a modern-day feudal society. And no, I’m not kidding.
In the vast majority of countries, an average citizen can’t invest in a privately-held company—yet private equity, including direct investments, now makes up the largest share of family office portfolios, serving exclusively high-net-worth individuals.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“Now, if you live in the U.S., keep in mind that the average annual interest rate for a credit card ranges between 15-19%—while store credit cards and banks like Wells Fargo charge 25% or more.
This means you’d have to generate returns comparable to the best-performing family offices—entities run by some of the most highly educated investment professionals in the world, whose full-time job is managing wealth.
So, next time a VC thoughtfully suggests you bootstrap your business with a credit card, tell him to take a hike.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“Today.
We.
Have.
Everything.
You see, we now live in an age where markets—especially those with high purchasing power—are overserved to the point of absurdity.
Let’s start with the fact that we now have over 4 million apps for just about everything—from monitoring your health and tracking your pet’s habits to making harmonica sounds with an iPhone in your mouth or using the chat app Yo—which exists solely to send your friends the word "Yo."
The latter, by the way, managed to raise $1 million in seed funding.”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“The saddest reality is that 30% of the clothes produced worldwide today are never sold.
Now add to that the fact that up to 50% of food produced is never eaten—it simply gets thrown away.
This should make you pause and reflect on one of the most disturbing examples of massive market inefficiency happening across every wealthy country—from the United States to Sweden (the home of H&M).”
Source: Raise and Rise: Funding Sources for Your Startup in the Era of Digital Transformation & Blockchain
“Each year about 600,000 start-ups are launched. Less than 0.5 percent attract VC. Of Inc. magazine's annual list of the 500 fastest growing companies in the United States assessed over a decade (1997–2007), less than 20 percent of companies were venture backed”
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“62.4 percent of VC investments were completely lost while 3.1 percent of the investments accounted for 53 percent of the profits for roughly 600 investments”
Source: The Business of Venture Capital: Insights from Leading Practitioners on the Art of Raising a Fund, Deal Structuring, Value Creation, and Exit Strategies
“Amidst all the hype and hoopla around this business, I wanted to emphasize the challenge—it is seductive but the failure rate is very high. And those who fail have no good place to go.”
Source: The Business of Venture Capital: Insights from Leading Practitioners on the Art of Raising a Fund, Deal Structuring, Value Creation, and Exit Strategies
“A good portfolio manager knows which companies to keep and which ones to let go. Many a GP has struggled with portfolio companies that cannot meet their value-creation milestones, or raise additional follow-on rounds of capital, or generate target returns in a time span of, say, five to seven years. The faster you recognize those losses, the better it is.”
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“As David Cowan says, “Just focus on your top five—the rest is distraction.” The harder part of the investor's discipline is to know when to quit.”
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“You have to constantly scan all of those things and be willing to adjust your own sense of what's a reasonable outcome and move the company into a position where it has the maximum chance to succeed. ”
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“Time is your enemy: Portfolio companies always take twice as much capital and twice as long to exit. Early-stage companies rarely meet milestones as planned and always burn cash faster than anticipated.”
Source: The Business of Venture Capital: Insights from Leading Practitioners on the Art of Raising a Fund, Deal Structuring, Value Creation, and Exit Strategies
“I got into business to help others achieve “self-reliance through self-employment” (the slogan of my first real company - an international mentor venture capital enterprise). ”
“Deliverables are the sum total of the goals of a nation's knowledge econony”
Source: Longevitize!: Essays on the Science, Philosophy & Politics of Longevity
“Deliverables are the sum total of the goals of a nation's Knowledge Economy.”
Source: Longevitize!: Essays on the Science, Philosophy & Politics of Longevity
“In business, wrong location leads to suffocation.”
“You don’t need a business plan. You need a customer, a product, and a reason to keep showing up.”
Source: Money's Dirty Little Secrets: How to Break the Rules, Get Filthy Rich, and Laugh All the Way to the Bank
“Strive to be bored is a contradictory statement for most entrepreneurs. But we have to strive to be bored to make space for more if we want to grow our business.”
Source: The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success
“The self-employed need business strategies that are relationship-based, not transactional, authentic to who you are, and right-sized for small business.”
Source: The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success
“It is not your job to prove your value to anyone. It is your job to find the people that already value what you do.”
Source: The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success
“Having a successful life and business requires that we first learn who we are, then do what we have to do in order to have what we want.”
Source: The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success
“We used to build businesses with all effort and hard work. Today, we create businesses by paying attention to what the market wants and co-creating with those we serve.”
Source: The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success
“Build systems for the business to come, not the business you have.”
Source: The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success
“The biggest risk is not in what you build. It is in not supporting what you build.”
Source: The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success