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
Startup CEOs should not play the odds. When you are building a company, you must believe there is an answer and you cannot pay attention to your odds of finding it. You just have to find it. It matters not whether your chances are nine in ten or one in a thousand; your task is the same.
Interpretation
Focus on finding solutions rather than worrying about the likelihood of success.
This quote emphasizes the importance of determination and belief in the pursuit of building a startup. Ben Horowitz suggests that a CEO should concentrate on the efforts needed to solve problems and find answers without being distracted by the odds of success, as the challenge remains constant regardless of the perceived chances of success.
In practice
A motivational speech for aspiring entrepreneurs at a startup event.
Big companies have trouble with innovation. Innovation is about bad ideas, or ideas that look like bad ideas. That's the fundamental thing.
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.
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.
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.
Nobody knows how to be a CEO. It's something you have to learn. It's a very lonely job.
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.
Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.
I am the one person who can truthfully say, I got my job through the New York Times.
A dollar won is twice as sweet as a dollar earned.
No success or achievement in material terms is worthwhile unless it serves the needs or interests of the country and its people and is achieved by fair and honest means.
It never entered my father's mind nor my mind ever to do a job other than at one's best ability.
You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.
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