Big companies have trouble with innovation. Innovation is about bad ideas, or ideas that look like bad ideas. That's the fundamental thing.
Ben HorowitzRead
Over the last ten years, technological advances have dramatically lowered the financial bar for starting a new company, but the courage bar for building a great company remains as high as it has ever been.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Technological advancements have made it easier to start a business, but the courage needed to create a successful one is still significant.
Ben Horowitz emphasizes that while technology has removed many financial barriers for entrepreneurship, the intrinsic challenge of building a great company still requires immense courage and determination. This highlights the importance of personal qualities over mere access to resources in achieving lasting success in business.
Themes
TechnologyCourageEntrepreneurshipBusinessSuccess
In practice
Example use cases
During a startup workshop, you could share this quote to inspire budding entrepreneurs.
More from Ben Horowitz
All quotes →As a company gets big, the information that informs decision-making gets massive. Depending upon the prism through which you view the business, your perspective will vary. If two people are in charge, this variance will cause conflict and delay.
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You read these management books that say, 'These are the hard things about running a company.' But those aren't really the hard things. The hard things are when you have to layoff half your company, or you have to fire your best friend. Or you have to figure out a way not to go bankrupt.
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Look - this is the terror of being a founder & CEO. It is all your fault. Every decision, every person you hire, every dumb thing you buy or do - ultimately, you're at the end.
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Nobody knows how to be a CEO. It's something you have to learn. It's a very lonely job.
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As long as people are clear on what they need to do and what's going on, you're very likely to succeed. When nobody is clear, then you're guaranteed to fail.
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Revolutionary products don't fail because they are shipped too early. They fail because they aren't revised fast enough.
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