John Quelch Quotes

Prove to yourself that your business, in micro-scale at least, creates value. If you believe it, you'll find it that much easier to convince potential investors, partners and employees, too.

You can't be successful in business without taking risks. It's really that simple.

A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.

An entrepreneur assumes the risk and is dedicated and committed to the success of whatever he or she undertakes.

One of the banes of successful innovation is that companies may be so committed to innovation that they will give the innovators a lot of money to spend.

Business has only two functions - marketing and innovation.

Everyone does a style book, and I wanted to write a business book for people that didn't think they would like a business book.

I've been good at product entrepreneuring.

If you're not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business.

Successful companies obviously have people with ideas and energy.

Be it $15 million here and $11 million there, it takes hundreds of millions to be successful in this business.

When we do acquisitions, we decide what we want. We decide what fills a hole. And if the price is too high, our alternative is the $5 billion we spend on R&D every year. We're not well-known for overpaying, because at Oracle we always have an alternative.

Business comes and goes and we make a strategic decision that could lead you to whole new place.

I didn't mind spending 40 lakh on the promo of 'Jaane E Mann,' because big things need big money. A quality product has to be marketed well.

With a wonderful business, you can figure out what will happen; you can't figure out when it will happen. You don't want to focus on when, you want to focus on what. If you're right about what, you don't have to worry about when

For entrepreneurs, ignorance is not bliss. It's fatal. It's costly. And it's for losers. You either get organized, or get crushed.

Just as water is a key ingredient to growth on the farm, capital is required for businesses to thrive.

Taking risks and being focused, sometimes, are at odds. Both are required to build a great company.

I have no problem with money coming in and spawning competition. I am honest enough to admit that Mahindra & Mahindra would not have been going to the IITs and doing research if there was no competition.

I took a risk and invested in SM Mall of Asia because I wanted to create something that could contribute to Philippine tourism growth.

TNA has had a lot of great periods - Hulk Hogan even came in, but I don't think he was beneficial to TNA. They spent a lot of money on him, but made a lot of mistakes. They should have saved that money for me.

Skunk works differed from advanced research groups in that they were more than just product development groups. They had direct interaction with customers and controlled a sales channel which allowed them to negotiate their own deals with customers.

When companies are successful or not successful, they almost immediately jump to the wrong conclusions about how they got there or why they got there.

Other than playing the game I love, my passion is investing in innovative companies and helping the entrepreneurs behind them succeed.

You need to run the company on an even keel, and you need to be thinking about the company long-term and how to drive your next innovation.