On Growth
“Dribbble is what I like to call a “boot up,” or “organic startup” – a company that lives and breathes on revenue. […] For us, getting cash flowing in sooner than later was critical to give us resources to respond to the site’s rapid growth. I think we erred in letting our traffic and operational concerns outstrip our business model, where simply maintaining what we had was preventing us from advancing our product.”
Rich Thornett,Co-Founder / Dribble
“What I learned from Rockefeller that’s off-the-hook important is: You need to know exactly where you stand in a business at all times. Measure everything, because everything that is measured and watched improves.”
Bob Parsons, Founder / Go Daddy
“Don’t measure too many things. People often become overwhelmed with a deluge of data because they’re looking at 1,500 variables. And that can be paralyzing because you end up sitting there looking at your analytics program all day long as opposed to doing the more uncomfortable thing that you should be doing, like calling that big customer. And usually, the most uncomfortable thing to do is the one that people need to act on soonest.”
Tim Ferris, Author/Entrepreneur / 4-Hour Workweek
On Hiring
“As tempting as it may be to staff your new business with friends and relatives, this is likely to be a serious mistake. If they don’t work out, asking them to leave will be very tough…One of your goals should be to find a manager who truly shares your vision, and to whom you can someday confidently hand the reins so that you can carry out the next step.”
Richard Branson, Founder / Virgin
“Over time I took to telling people the following, “Join BuildOnline because you think you’ll get great experience. Join because you like the mission of what we’re doing. Join because if you do a good job we’ll help you punch above your weighclass and work in a more senior role. And if you ever feel that in the year ahead of you you don’t think that you’ll increase the value of your resume and you’re not having fun then go. Join because we pay well but not amazing. Stock options are the icing on the cake. They’ll never make you rich. Don’t join for the options.”
Mark Suster, Founder/Investor / Upfront Ventures
On the Entrepreneurial Grind
“Something worth doing might take a while, so really flesh out the potential of the business and be honest about whether it’s worth doing. If it’s not a $100 million company in five years, maybe it’ll take 10 or 15 years. If you’re doing something that has a universal, timeless need, then you need to think of the company in a timeless way.”
Scott Heiferman, Founder / Meetup
“It’s hard. And just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. There’ll be times when it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse. Meanwhile, everyone else around you is getting better and happier and richer. You’ll feel like the only one who hasn’t figured it out yet. You’re sinking, your life sucks, and your business isn’t going anywhere. Oh yeah, and you’re not getting any younger, either. And just when you think about finally throwing in the towel and saying “f* all this!” that right there is the test that all founders are eventually faced with: when things get too hard, you decide to stay, or you decide to quit. My advice is this: Before you decide, look at all those great, successful businesses that inspired you to start your own. They stayed.”
Ben Chestnut, Founder / Mail Chimp
“I think a simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.”
Mark Zuckerberg, Founder / Facebook
Miscellaneous Startup Advice
“The desire to get press when a site/product goes live is flawed. ‘News’ is relative to when it is announced, not when it happened. Wait for it…” “To focus more on something you must focus less on something.” “Time sorts most things out.”
Scott Belsky, Co-Founder / BeHance
“Don’t be afraid to fail. My dad encouraged us to fail. Growing up, he would ask us what we failed at that week. If we didn’t have something, he would be disappointed. It changed my mindset at an early age that failure is not the outcome, failure is not trying.”
Sara Blakely, Founder / Spanx
“You need space to try things and create. It takes a long time to recalibrate if you let people pull at you all the time. A lot of stress comes from reacting to stuff. You have to keep a certain guard [up], if you’re a creative person.”
Pete Cashmore, Founder / Mashable
“Be true to yourself. If you follow that principle, a lot of decisions are actually pretty easy.”
Tony Hsieh, Founder / Zappos
“Learn public speaking. Of all the skills that an entrepreneur can have, I think the ability to convey an idea or opportunity, with confidence, eloquence and passion is the most universally useful skill. Whether you’re pitching a group of investors, rallying your employees, selling a customer, recruiting talent, addressing customers, or doing a press tour, the ability to deliver a great talk is absolutely invaluable. And it is perhaps THE most under-recognized and under-nurtured skill.”
Tim Westergren, Founder / Pandora
