John Collison Quotes

It typically takes multiple iterations and pivots to find product/market fit - the match between what you're building and who will buy it.

When talking to first-time entrepreneurs, I often ask them: 'How do you know that people want your product or service?' As you can expect, the answer is often that they don't yet, but will know once they launch. And they're right. That's why it's critical to launch as quickly as possible so you can get that feedback.

I've been good at product entrepreneuring.

Launching a successful product or startup has little to do with luck. Any business that gains traction on the market is the result of very careful strategizing and market analysis, not to mention the development of an original product or service.

Before product/market fit, your only job that matters is to build a great product.

Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers.

We now understand the distinction between startups - who search for a business model - versus existing companies - that execute a business plan.

Get a minimum viable product out there, test it out, see how customers respond.

Seven years is a long time, and seven years of fighting the best guys in the best organization in the world, the biggest organization in the world, it hardens you. You don't stay seven years without evolving. It doesn't happen.

'How I Built This With Guy Raz' asks entrepreneurs to tell the story of how they made their name and, in some cases, their fortune. Whether they're in the business of selling burritos or dating apps, there's inevitably something you can learn from their stories.

I understand the highs and lows of building a global business from the ground and taking that initial product idea all the way to the market.

I think a lot of entrepreneurs think they need money to build the business faster when they actually haven't figured out the business equation yet.

Coming up with ideas isn't hard. The real challenge is finding the time to actually build something and then finding a home for it.

Every point in your career is a learning lesson - I learned a lot about how much work is required to grow a user base and create a new product. I also learned that things take time and extreme hard work and passion.

There's something about being around a long time that puts stuff in perspective.

Customer Development changes almost every aspect of startup behavior, performance, metrics, and, as often as not, success potential.

When I did inventions, I always thought only of the invention itself, but the kids would ask for marketing materials.

We make interesting companies and real businesses. It's not social networks for cats.

Having my name on a cosmetics line has always been a dream, one I'm excited to share.

In their infancy, startups need geniuses who fit their current tight-knit culture and will iterate quickly as they push towards an ambitious vision - and they need a scaffolding of advisors, strategists, early users, and product-thinkers around these savants to guide them.

Decades before we were able to articulate the value of 'getting out of the building' and the Lean Startup, the value in having skunk works controlling their own distribution was starkly evident.

You can be as creative as you want to and build all these cool projects, but ultimately, if they're not successful and you don't have the business structure in place, everything will flop.

'Bazillion Dollar Club' follows six struggling startups trying to get their products together.

Build something, make something, test something, sell something. Learn for yourself if your idea is a good one.

I knew, back when I was starting up, that if I had something that could be developed for the mass market, I could really take it forward.