At a startup, it's hard enough to get a single thing right, much less a whole bunch of things. Especially if the things you are trying to do are not only dissimilar but actively impede each other.
Marc RandolphRead
If you want your company to succeed, you have to have the confidence in your business to take a bet on its future - to risk destroying a mediocre business model for the chance to have a strong one.
Interpretation
Success in business requires taking risks and having confidence in new ideas.
This quote emphasizes the importance of having the confidence to invest in the potential of your business, even if it means abandoning a mediocre existing model. It highlights that true success often comes from bold decisions and the willingness to embrace risk for the possibility of achieving something greater.
In practice
Using this quote during a business presentation to motivate stakeholders to embrace innovation.
At a startup, it's hard enough to get a single thing right, much less a whole bunch of things. Especially if the things you are trying to do are not only dissimilar but actively impede each other.
The biggest problem I see with early-stage entrepreneurs is they get the idea in their head, and they leave it in their head. And they begin embellishing it in their head, making it more ornate. They add on the second story to their dream house - then add the tennis court and the turrets and the gargoyles.
Iteration, not ideation, is the most important part of early stage entrepreneurship. You have to have a lot of ideas - a lot of bad ideas - if you want to end up with a good one.
Build something, make something, test something, sell something. Learn for yourself if your idea is a good one.
The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity. An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people.
The attempt and not the deed confounds us.
Anyplace we go in the world, when someone asks us what we do, we feel an immense pride in saying, 'FBI.'
I'm proud to be associated with the value system at Berkshire Hathaway; I think you'll make more money in the end with good ethics than bad.
It's a difficult place being on top because, for me, beating the Average Joe has no significance, but for the Average Joe, beating me could be the biggest match of his life, potentially.
No man achieves great success who is unwilling to make personal sacrifices.
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