Alan Patricof Quotes

I've never been one who enjoys maintaining the status quo. I'm always pushing for new ideas, whether it's in business or philanthropy.

I believe in being an innovator.

Most entrepreneurial ideas will sound crazy, stupid and uneconomic, and then they'll turn out to be right.

There would really be no reason to get up in the morning if Founders Fund was not willing to invest in companies that were doing important things, great businesses that very few people believe in.

When you innovate, you've got to be prepared for everyone telling you you're nuts.

Innovation happens everywhere.

I do think there are more and more entrepreneurs all the time that think big. Those are the people we should be finding and funding. Most of them will fail, but the ones who succeed will change the world, and that is progress.

I hear entrepreneurs use the word 'disruption' on a daily basis and continuously hear the cliche change the world.

Fundamentally there is a narrative around where innovation can come out from.

Life is like the monkey bars: you have to let go to move forward. Once you make the decision to leap into entrepreneurship, be sure to loosen your grasp on old concepts so you can swing your way to new ones.

To innovate is not to reform.

My view is there's no bad time to innovate.

Entrepreneurs almost always have to step out of existing institutions that embody old ways of doing things to build their vision.

I often have said to people that there are really two cities in the country where the outlook is always forward-looking - there is never really a backward-looking tendency. My banking work has taken me out to Palo Alto, what is commonly called Silicon Valley. And you sense out there is always a forward-looking outlook. And New York City.

Something new will always be the source of growth in Silicon Valley.

It is important to nurture any new ideas and initiatives which can make a difference for Africa.

When you look at every studio in the '20s or '30s, from Louis B. Mayer to Jack Warner, you see people who started with one plan and quickly shifted gears to adapt to a changing world. One of my favorite stories is that Walt Disney mortgaged his house to make 'Snow White.' He saw there was a real opportunity to change the world.

Not every innovation in transportation is going to come from government or even a large enterprise. There are smart people out there with tools and skills to come up with great ideas.

I feel that the best companies are started not because the founder wanted a company but because the founder wanted to change the world... If you decide you want to found a company, you maybe start to develop your first idea. And hire lots of workers.

Innovation happens because there are people out there doing and trying a lot of different things.

A lot of technologies in the world were unusual in the beginning, and became standard. That's the beauty of bottom-up entrepreneurship and innovations.

I believe in entrepreneurs. I believe in their ability to make positive change in the world.

Technology ventures can succeed with very little investment, unlike many other industries. A lot of the big Internet players like Google or Yahoo were started by a couple of guys with computers. Microsoft was started in Bill Gates' garage.

If the idea is really new and unique and big, other people will all think it is bad and is going to fail.

We who work in technology have nurtured an especially rare gift: the opportunity to effect change at an unprecedented scale and rate. Technology, community, and capitalism combine to make Silicon Valley the potential epicenter of vast positive change.