Why quotes? Believe it or not, you can learn a lot from quotes from people who have been successful in their fields, building their businesses (yes, more than one). Or you can read quotes simply for motivation. Either way, here are some of the best quotes for startups and entrepreneurs to learn from or to read for motivation.
1. “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs, Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Apple
2. “Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you.” – Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO
3. “Growth and comfort do not coexist.” – Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM
4. “Help others rise. Greatness comes not from a position but from helping build the future. All of us in positions of power have an obligation to pull others up.” – Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo
5. “It’s almost always harder to raise capital than you thought it would be, and it always takes longer. So plan for that.” – Richard Harroch, Venture Capitalist and Author
6. “Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard.” – Guy Kawasaki, Alltop Co-Founder, and Entrepreneur
7. “Don’t start a company unless it’s an obsession and something you love. If you have an exit strategy, it’s not an obsession.” – Mark Cuban, serial entrepreneur, and investor
8. “Any time is a good time to start a company.” – Ron Conway, Noted Startup Investor, SV Angel
9. “Being a woman in business doesn’t come without challenges. My advice? Surround yourself with other supportive women that encourage you, share ideas, and get you motivated.” – Jessica Alba, Founder of The Honest Company
10. “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” – Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn Co-Founder, and Venture Capitalist
11. It takes humility to realize that we don’t know everything, not to rest on our laurels, and to know that we must keep learning and observing. If we don’t, we can be sure some startup will be there to take our place.
– Cher Wang, HTC CEO
12. “User experience is everything. It always has been, but it’s undervalued and underinvested in. If you don’t know user-centered design, study it. Hire people who know it. Obsess over it. Live and breathe it. Get your whole company on board.” – Evan Williams, Co-Founder, Twitter
13. “If it takes more than a sentence to explain what you are doing, it’s almost always a sign that what you are doing is too complicated.” – Sam Altman, co-founder of Loopt, venture investor, and president of Y Combinator
14. “Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.” – Nelson Mandela, South African Leader
15. “What do you need to start a business? Three simple things: know your product better than anyone, know your customer, and have a burning desire to succeed.” – Dave Thomas, Founder, Wendy’s
16. “Always deliver more than expected.” – Larry Page, Co-Founder, Google
17. “Make your team feel respected, empowered and genuinely excited about the company’s mission.” – Tim Westergen, Pandora Founder
18. “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” – Jack Welch, former Chairman and CEO of General Electric
19. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates, Microsoft Founder, and former CEO
20. “In between goals is a thing called life, that has to be lived and enjoyed.” – Sid Caesar, Entertainer
21. “Wonder what your customer really wants? Ask. Don’t tell.” – Lisa Stone, BlogHer Co-Founder, and CEO
22. “Don’t be a lone wolf. Lean on the experience and smarts of your teammates, investors, and mentors to help solve the tough problems and take advantage of the opportunities.” -Seth Bannon, founder, and CEO of Amicus
23. “Don’t take too much advice. Most people who have a lot of advice to give with a few exceptions generalize whatever they did. Don’t over-analyze everything. I myself have been guilty of over-thinking problems. Just build things and find out if they work.” – Ben Silbermann, Founder of Pinterest
24. Why do I start businesses? The answer is the same today as it was when I launched my first company five decades ago: to make a positive difference in people’s lives. I believe that companies should have a similar desire at their core, no matter what industry they’re in.
– Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin group of companies
25. “As an entrepreneur, you have to be OK with failure. If you’re not failing, you’re likely not pushing yourself hard enough.” – Alexa von Tobel, founder of LearnVest
26. “The strategy is to first know what you don’t know, the tactic is to grind, and the value is to remember: there are plenty of places to innovate.” – David Friedberg, founder of Weatherbill
27. “Risk more than others think safe. Dream more than others think practical.” – Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO
28. “You don’t build a business, you build people, then people build the business.”
– Zig Ziglar, former American author, salesman, and motivational speaker.
29. “If you are not getting traction on your idea, you try few things. You try pushing harder, cleaning up something, building up to something aggressively — but if it doesn’t get traction, then don’t bother.” – Vijay Sharma, Founder of Paytm
30. “If you want to be an entrepreneur, it’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle. It defines you. Forget about vacations, about going home at 6 pm – last thing at night you’ll send emails, first thing in the morning you’ll read emails, and you’’ wake up in the middle of the night. But it’s hugely rewarding as you’re fulfilling something for yourself.” – Niklas Zennstrom, founder of Skype, and Kazaa