Quotes About Startups

#1. Axilor Ventures helps startups to improve their odds of success, and I look forward to supporting the executive management of Axilor with this vision.

Kris Gopalakrishnan

#2. Before I started Code for America, I spent my career around startups. First it was game developers, small teams trying to make hits in a tough business. Then, when I started working on the Web 2.0 events, it was web startups during times of enormous opportunity and investment.

Jennifer Pahlka

#3. World-changing startups need to be premised on accurate contrarian theories.

Reid Hoffman

#4. Best startups generally come from somebody needing to scratch an itch.

Michael Arrington

#5. We only hear success stories. You don't hear about the hundreds and hundreds - the overwhelming majority that don't go anywhere. This is a more realistic portrayal of what happens in startups.

Kumail Nanjiani

#6. Every year, thousands of startups are founded - not only in technology, but increasingly also in health care, education, and energy.

Mike Krieger

#7. We know unequivocally that the traditional MBA curriculum for running large companies like IBM, GM and Boeing does not work in startups. In fact, it's toxic.

Steven Gary Blank

#8. The fact is that the amount of money startups raise in their seed and Series A rounds is inversely correlated with success

Fred Wilson

#9. The most important thing is not to let fundraising get you down. Startups live or die on morale. If you let the difficulty of raising money destroy your morale, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Paul Graham

#10. Startups often win because it's easier to see what comes next when you don't have to worry about maintaining what came last.

Aaron Levie

#11. Customers don't care about your solution. They care about their problems. - Dave McClure, 500 Startups

Ash Maurya

#12. Long term thinking is so rare anywhere, but especially in startups. This is a huge advantage if you do it.

Sam Altman

#13. For most software startups, this translates to keep growing. For hardware startups, it translates to don't let your ship date slip.

Sam Altman

#14. In the last years of the nineteen-eighties, I worked not at startups but at what might be called finish-downs. Tech companies that were dying would hire temps - college students and new graduates - to do what little was left of the work of the employees they'd laid off.

Jill Lepore

#15. Your writers write these pieces about meaningless startups, meaningless apps and meaningless companies.

Nick Denton

#16. One thing I tell startups all the time is that the best way to grow is to make their product better.

Sam Altman

#17. At Andreessen Horowitz, we talk about the notion of being 'too hungry to eat.' That's to say, we often see startups that are so entrenched in the product that the founders forget they need muscle to grow.

Scott Weiss

#18. Slapping a catchy acronym like the JOBS Act on a piece of legislation makes it more difficult for politicians to oppose it - and indeed that's what happened with the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act.

Steven Rattner

#19. Everyone is on Facebook. It is very rare that I can't find a startup. Out of the 72 Y Combinator startups, almost all of them were on Facebook.

Robert Scoble

#20. Geeks are a critical driver of America's innovation ecosystem, from the entrepreneurs launching startups in Silicon Valley to the scientists experimenting in university research labs to the whiz kids building gadgets in their parents' garages.

Todd Park

#21. In a big company, you can do what all the other big companies are doing. But a startup can't do what all the other startups do.

Paul Graham

#22. Desktop freelancers and innovative startups all over the world

Thomas Friedman

#23. Even though plans themselves are worthless, the exercise of planning is very valuable and totally missing in most startups today.

Sam Altman

#24. I love what the Valley does. I love company building. I love startups. I love technology companies. I love new technology. I love this process of invention. Being able to participate in that as a founder and a product creator, or as an investor or a board member, I just find that hugely satisfying.

Marc Andreessen

#25. I have a particular relationship with Vinod Khosla because he's got a lot of very interesting science-based energy startups.

Bill Gates

#26. Good startups usually take 10 years.

Sam Altman

#27. Progress in manufacturing is measured by the production of high quality goods. The unit of progress for Lean Startups is validated learning-a rigorous method for demonstrating progress when one is embedded in the soil of extreme uncertainty.

Eric Ries

#28. Jon Miller would be amazing for Yahoo because he is extremely good at building display advertising businesses and buying young startups.

Jason Calacanis

#29. Big companies such as Google and Facebook buy startups at ridiculously high prices - not for their products, but for their people.

Vivek Wadhwa

#30. You can make something big when young that will carry you through life. Look at all the big startups like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. They were all started by very young people who stumbled on something of unseen value. You'll know it when you hit a home run.

Steve Wozniak

#31. The most important thing in startups is getting a product to market, as imperfect as it may be, and then iterating on it and continually making it better. A first rev of a site that has a few typos may not be perfect, but it was the start of something that I deeply believed in.

Kathryn Minshew

#32. 90% of Startups fail.
Come in to be the 90% until we shift to rest 10%. ;)

Prerak Trivedi

#33. I think the biggest myth entrepreneurs have is that the growth and performance of their startups depends more on their entrepreneurial talent than on the businesses they choose.

Scott Shane

#34. We can never have enough startups that are pursuing unique solutions to important problems.

Chris Yeh

#35. Very ambitious startups often take a long time to work - or sometimes they take a very long time to look ambitious.

Sam Altman

#36. It's so important for startups to get their culture right at the start. They need to feel unique and that they are on their own important mission in the world.

Sam Altman

#37. Too many startups get in the habit of continually raising more and more money, which has the deleterious effect of both pushing out profitability and limiting your exit options. The less rounds of capital you need to raise, the more of your company you get to own.

Jay Samit

#38. When it comes to starting startups, in many ways, it's easier to start a hard startup than an easy startup.

Sam Altman

#39. New startups embody the creativity, the innovation of young people, and for me, it was and is a very worthwhile experience to interact with them.

Ratan Tata

#40. A great product will survive all abuse. Google Glass is a great product. How do I know? Every person I put it on (I did it dozens of times at 500 Startups yesterday) smiles. No other product has done that since the iPod.

Robert Scoble

#41. Was I going to start companies outside of Shutterstock or inside? Going public kind of meant I was going to start them inside, and I kind of thought this through and decided that if I was going to do that, I was going to continue to operate Shutterstock like it was an incubator of startups.

Jon Oringer

#42. Our tenants now are companies like Uber, the taxi service, Meituan, China's version of Groupon - and a large number of startups. These companies operate in a modern way, just like their customers: They go on the Internet, look for an offer and take it.

Zhang Xin

#43. Etermination is the most important quality in a founder, open-mindedness and willingness to change your idea are key, and all startups face rejection at first.

Jessica Livingston

#44. A recession is very bad for publicly traded companies, but it's the best time for startups. When you have massive layoffs, there's more competition for available jobs, which means that an entrepreneur can hire freelancers at a lower cost.

Timothy Ferriss

#45. Startups allow technologists and scientists to take risks and change plans in a way that would be frowned upon in a big company. Having said that, big companies will play a key role in certain areas and in partnerships with little companies. Each has its strengths.

Vinod Khosla

#46. Startups are the engines of exponential growth, manifesting the power of innovation. Several big companies today are startups of yesterday. They were born with a spirit of enterprise and adventure kept alive due to hardwork and perseverance and today have become shining beacons of innovation.

Narendra Modi

#47. It's amazing that about 10% of startups couldn't be found on Facebook because they had common names or names that weren't searchable.

Robert Scoble

#48. Startups don't fail because they lack a product; they fail because they lack customers and a profitable business model.

Steve Blank

#49. There are a lot of music startups that don't have anything to do with anyone's love for music. It has to do with them having a glorious IPO and then retiring to the Bahamas somewhere. It's important to keep that in mind.

DJ Shadow

#50. Learning is the essential unit of progress for startups.

Eric Ries

#51. There's a lot of glorification of startups and being a founder. People brush the failures under the rug, but that's the worst thing you can do. You kind of have to face it head on.

Christopher Poole

#52. Startups are transforming our society. Over the past 100 years, we've gone from an industrial era, where a hierarchical structure dominated business and society, to a post information era where the network is rapidly disrupting the hierarchy and transforming the way we work and live,

Brad Feld

#53. Most startups eventually pivot to adjust to what the market is telling them.

Alejandro Cremades

#54. If you thought financial crises came and went, just count on them - another economic collapse, it's almost going to be like not news any more. But for startups this is great, because it's a perpetual driver of disruption.

Steve Jurvetson

#55. Darwinism may be a fine theory in other contexts, but in startups, intelligent design works best.

Peter Thiel

#56. Startups often have to do dubious things.

Paul Graham

#57. Successful startups are just like jazz bands, masters of improvisation marching to syncopated beats

Mark Anthony Peterson

#58. We need to encourage investors to invest in high-technology startups.

James Dyson

#59. Sometimes people think Y Combinator has big ideas about themes. But really, we just fund the best startups.

Sam Altman

#60. Research conquers doubt. It aligns everyone around the incontestable. Research is the key to clarity - in startups, enterprises, and life itself.

Laura Busche

#61. Doing startups is all about making mistakes.

Biz Stone

#62. Startups on the inside are always badly broken.

Sam Altman

#63. Enterprises have customers! Ask them for feedback and you can compete with startups!

Colin Humphreys

#64. Startups are based in faith, and the ones that succeed have no fear.

Micah Baldwin

#65. Most startups are not nearly focussed enough. They work hard ... maybe, but they don't work hard on the right things.

Sam Altman

#66. I think extreme secrecy is a bad sign in all startups. Very few startups die because they tell you exactly how their technology works. On the long list of startup killers, that's pretty far down. Though on the list of entrepreneur fears, it's pretty high.

Sam Altman

#67. The main thing to know about me is that I'm a champion of entrepreneurs and the startups they build. They are my rock stars. If in doubt, I side with them, and that's clear from my writing.

Michael Arrington

#68. Startups don't starve; they drown." There

Eric Ries

#69. Silicon Valley's long-running track record of creating globally disruptive startups is the envy of the world.

Jay Samit

#70. Startups are often very undercapitalised, but I found that to be very beneficial because it forces you not to throw money at problems. Instead, you learn all the nuts and bolts of what you're doing and become an expert.

Jerry Greenfield

#71. For startups, SM is now crucial: it has never been cheaper and easier to reach one's customers. Entrepreneurs should thank God for Twitter, Facebook ...

Guy Kawasaki

#72. The tremendous success of general management over the last century has provided unprecedented material abundance, but those management principles are ill suited to handle the chaos and uncertainty that startups must face.

Eric Ries

#73. I've been lucky enough to be involved in a number of great startups, including eBay and Wikia as an entrepreneur and LinkedIn and Paypal as an investor.

Gil Penchina

#74. There are so many startups out there raising money. I don't think this is a bad thing. It's a good thing. Entrepreneurship is in vogue. Innovators are innovating. Makers are making.

Fred Wilson

#75. There are a lot of white female-led startups that are raising money without a tech founder. At the core of it is value.

Kathryn Finney

#76. Applying scientific principles and validated learning to identify and eliminate sources of waste Adapting company vision to reflect customer insight Emphasizing fast iterations to stay ahead of uncertainty Effectively evaluating progress using a new set of benchmarks designed for startups

Vocreo Publishing

#77. Little startups are ridiculously overfunded.

Sean Parker

#78. Technology does more than delight, entertain and make our lives more convenient, it's also an agent for social good. That is why it's important for tech startups to stay informed about, and make a mark on, policies that impact them.

Ron Conway

#79. The thing about startups is you can make it, and if it's wrong you can remake it, and you can build a team that you want to have, a product that you want to have. You're utterly focused on your users or your customers and their needs, and trying to figure out how to meet those needs.

John Katzman

#80. The best Startups don't create noise. They create a gravitational pull.

Wayne Chang

#81. Before you break all the rules, learn the game. Too many startups and entrepreneurs want to sprint before they learn to crawl.

Mark Anthony Peterson

#82. On average, it takes as much as $100 million in paid media for a brand to be a household name in America. Marketing partnerships are the best form of off-balance sheet financing one can ever find. Smart startups use this technique to scale their companies and build their brand equity.

Jay Samit

#83. If you can just learn to think about the market first, you will have a big leg up on most people starting startups.

Sam Altman

#84. Startups do not need cost effective patent filings, they need a strong IP system to help them succeed.

Kalyan C. Kankanala

#85. Startups aren't about reading the crystal ball; they're about your ability to react.

Matt Blumberg

#86. This is the reason why there are currently about 6,000 startups in Israel. And the nature of the Israeli entrepreneur - who is not afraid and is resourceful, motivated and fast moving - all give us an advantage.

Yossi Vardi

#87. Silicon Valley has evolved a critical mass of engineers and venture capitalists and all the support structure - the law firms, the real estate, all that - that are all actually geared toward being accepting of startups.

Elon Musk

#88. I've always had a passion for technology, photography, startups, and connecting people. Bringing those aspects together made me successful.

Kevin Systrom

#89. Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality.

Sam Altman

#90. Startups that succeed are those that manage to iterate enough times before running out of resources.

Ash Maurya

#91. The pace of decision-making at startups is way faster than it is at big companies. It has to be because most startups are burning cash.

Anonymous

#92. The biggest problem is startups in search of a problem. Chase what you're passionate about; you'll probably already have knowledge in the space.

Mike Krieger

#93. Startups are rapidly changing systems. If you use an annual review cycle, you aren't getting feedback at the same pace that you need to adapt and change the business.

Fred Wilson

#94. Venture-backed startups with billion dollar market caps are called 'unicorns' because they are supposed to be rare mythical creatures that few entrepreneurs will ever ride.

Jay Samit

#95. On Startups: "I hate it when people call themselves "entrepreneurs" when what they're really trying to do is launch a startup and then sell or go public, so they can cash in and move on.

Walter Isaacson

#96. I want something completely new and different to happen, and lots of it. Stuff that makes us change the way we think about a market or the world. Something that inspires a new generation of crazy startups doing crazy things.

Michael Arrington

#97. Almost every failed startup has a product. What failed startups don't have are enough customers.

Gabriel Weinberg

#98. I focus on consumer Internet. Sometimes it's a working prototype; sometimes it's an idea on a napkin. I don't do a ton of deals a year, and I really like working with startups - it's the only way I can invest. It fits my ADD brain.

Kevin Rose

#99. There are certain zip codes that generate a disproportionate share of patents, of startups, of wealth, of jobs. And it's really important if other parts of the country are going to want to create these tech centers.

Juan Enriquez

#100. So my advice to startups in this particular category is if you're going to put your product in beta - put your business model in beta with it. Far too often we are too product focused and not business-model focused. That's one thing I definitely would have done differently with JotSpot.

Joe Kraus