Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of creating and managing a business venture, taking risks and seizing opportunities to innovate, disrupt, and create value. It requires vision, resilience, adaptability, and an entrepreneurial mindset to navigate challenges, solve problems, and drive growth, ultimately shaping industries and impacting society.
“Chase the vision, not the money. The money will end up following you.” — Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos
Entrepreneurship Quotes
“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.” — Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
“No more romanticizing about how cool it is to be an entrepreneur. It’s a struggle to save your company’s life—and your own skin—every day of the week.” — Spencer Fry, co-founder of CarbonMade
“You don’t need to have a 100-person company to develop that idea.” — Larry Page, co-founder of Google
“See things in the present, even if they are in the future.” — Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle
“Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard.” — Guy Kawasaki, entrepreneur and co-founder of Alltop
“Lean forward into your life. Begin each day as if it were on purpose.” — Mary Anne Radmacher, author
“When I’m old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say, ‘Wow, that was an adventure,’ not, ‘Wow, I sure felt safe.’” — Tom Preston-Werner, co-founder of GitHub
“Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.” — Golda Meir, fourth Prime Minister of Israel
“Always deliver more than expected.” — Larry Page, co-founder of Google
“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” — Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn
“Don’t try to be original, just try to be good.” — Paul Rand, graphic designer
“Fortunes are built during the down market and collected in the upmarket.” — Jason Calacanis, founder of LAUNCH Ticker
“Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.” — Daniel Pink, author
“Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that.” — Anthony Volodkin, founder of Hype Machine
“Every day that we spent not improving our products was a wasted day.” — Joel Spolsky, co-founder of Stack Overflow
“However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.” — Stephen Hawking, English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author
“Timing, perseverance, and 10 years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success.” — Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” — John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States
“You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.” — Oprah Winfrey, media proprietor
“In the end, a vision without the ability to execute it is probably a hallucination.” — Steve Case, co-founder of AOL
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” — Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft
“When you find an idea that you just can’t stop thinking about, that’s probably a good one to pursue.” — Josh James, CEO and co-founder of Omniture
“If people like you, they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.” — Zig Ziglar, author, salesman, and motivational speaker
“Money is like gasoline during a road trip. You don’t want to run out of gas on your trip, but you’re not doing a tour of gas stations.” — Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media
“Every time we launch a feature, people yell at us.” — Angelo Sotira, co-founder of deviantART
“Do not let the memories of your past limit the potential of your future. There are no limits to what you can achieve on your journey through life, except in your mind.” — Roy T. Bennett, author
“Make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect.” — Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter
“It’s more effective to do something valuable than to hope a logo or name will say it for you.” — Jason Cohen, founder of Smartbear Software
“Don’t worry about funding if you don’t need it. Today, it’s cheaper to start a business than ever.” — Noah Everett, founder of Twitpic
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” — Steve Jobs, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc.
“If you can’t feed a team with two pizzas, it’s too large.” — Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon
“Anything that is measured and watched improves.” — Bob Parsons, founder of GoDaddy
“The value of an idea lies in the using of it.” — Thomas Edison, co-founder of General Electric
“Diligence is the mother of good luck.” — Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States
“Don’t play games that you don’t understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them.” — Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos
“The last 10% it takes to launch something takes as much energy as the first 90%.” — Rob Kalin, founder of Etsy
“Always look for the fool in the deal. If you don’t find one, it’s you.” — Mark Cuban, AXS TV chairman and entrepreneur
“The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new.” — Socrates, father of Western philosophy
“You can’t make anything viral, but you can make something good.” — Peter Shankman, founder of HARO
“Get a mentor in the applicable field if you’re at all unsure of what you’re looking for.” — Kyle Bragger, founder of Forrst and co-founder of Exposure
“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 of Wendy’s
“The fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be.” — Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn
“Embrace what you don’t know, especially in the beginning, because what you don’t know can become your greatest asset. It ensures that you will absolutely be doing things different from everybody else.” — Sara Blakely, founder of SPANX
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” — Maya Angelou, poet, singer, and civil rights activist
“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” — Michael Jordan, former professional basketball player
“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 of Apple Inc.
“Ideas are commodity. Execution of them is not.” — Michael Dell, chairman, and CEO of Dell
“Always think outside the box and embrace opportunities that appear, wherever they might be.” — Lakshmi Mittal, chairman & CEO of ArcelorMittal
“If you can dream it, you can do it.” — Walt Disney, co-founder of the Walt Disney Company
“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” — Oprah Winfrey, media proprietor
“An entrepreneur is someone who has a vision for something and a want to create.” — David Karp, founder, and CEO of Tumblr
“Data beats emotions.” — Sean Rad, founder of Tinder
“Nothing works better than just improving your product.” — Joel Spolsky, co-founder of Stack Overflow
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” — George Bernard Shaw, playwright
“All humans are entrepreneurs not because they should start companies but because the will to create is encoded in human DNA.” — Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” — Les Brown, motivational speaker
“Get five or six of your smartest friends in a room and ask them to rate your idea.” — Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga
“If you just work on stuff that you like and you’re passionate about, you don’t have to have a master plan with how things will play out.” — Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook
“No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.” — Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney, co-founder of the Walt Disney Company
“If you’re interested in the living heart of what you do, focus on building things rather than talking about them.” — Ryan Freitas, co-founder of About.me
“If you define yourself by how you differ from the competition, you’re probably in trouble.” — Omar Hamoui, co-founder of AdMob
“Education costs money. But then so does ignorance.” — Sir Claus Moser, statistician
“Don’t worry about people stealing your design work. Worry about the day they stop.” — Jeffrey Zeldman, entrepreneur and web designer
“Best startups generally come from somebody needing to scratch an itch.” — Michael Arrington, founder and co-editor of TechCrunch
“Wonder what your customer really wants? Ask. Don’t tell.” — Lisa Stone, co-founder and CEO of BlogHer
“Get big quietly so you don’t tip off potential competitors.” — Chris Dixon, investor at Andreessen Horowitz
“Stay self-funded as long as possible.” — Garrett Camp, founder of Expa, Uber, and StumbleUpon
“A person who is quietly confident makes the best leader.” — Fred Wilson, co-founder of Union Square Ventures
“There’s nothing wrong with staying small. You can do big things with a small team.” — Jason Fried, 37signals founder and co-author of Rework
“I never dreamed about success, I worked for it.” — Estee Lauder, founder of Estee Lauder Cosmetics
“It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.” — Scott Belsky, co-founder of Behance
“I try not to make any decisions that I’m not excited about.” — Jake Nickell, founder and CEO of Threadless
“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” — Charles Darwin, naturalist, geologist, and biologist
“Don’t be cocky. Don’t be flashy. There’s always someone better than you.” — Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos
“Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.” — Charles R. Swindoll, author, educator, and radio preacher
“Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.” — Howard Schultz, interim CEO of Starbucks
“Step out of the history that is holding you back. Step into the new story you are willing to create.” — Oprah Winfrey, media proprietor
“Some people dream of success, while other people get up every morning and make it happen.” — Wayne Huizenga, prolific US business person.
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” — Helen Keller, US author, political activist, and lecturer
“Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.” — Les Brown, motivational speaker, author, and former politician
“The most dangerous poison is the feeling of achievement. The antidote is to every evening think what can be done better tomorrow.” — Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA
“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” — Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft
“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
