David Cohen Quotes

I take a lean-startup approach: creating agile, interdisciplinary teams that get the minimum viable product to market as soon as possible. It's my job to be entrepreneur-in-residence, an internal change agent.

I think you need to have a very strong angel community that is committed to mentoring up-and-coming entrepreneurs.

Some people are serial entrepreneurs and want to just move on to the next thing. They just want to clean the slate and start from scratch. I feel that sometimes, too, and the way that we do that here is we build things inside Shutterstock: we launch new products all the time.

We worked personally with a lot of great VCs. They just work incredibly hard at supporting entrepreneurs and their companies.

The tools used by economists to analyze business firms are too abstract and speculative to offer any guidance to entrepreneurs and managers in their constant struggle to bring novel products to consumers at low cost.

We built the iPod in weeks. It had to be what I thought it was going to be because there wasn't time for endless refinements.

For me, the most entertaining evening would be to go sit with entrepreneurs and talk with them about how they're building their companies and how we can help to make them better. That's the one thing in the world - well, I love doing that.

Within HTC, hundreds of ideas are tested and discarded to find those rare ideas that define the HTC user experience.

I've been good at product entrepreneuring.

When I am there at our global product development centers, I am meeting with the design team and reviewing design work being done there and meeting with engineers responsible for work being done specific to that region, meeting with purchasing team.

The most important thing in startups is getting a product to market, as imperfect as it may be, and then iterating on it and continually making it better. A first rev of a site that has a few typos may not be perfect, but it was the start of something that I deeply believed in.

You've got to stay super focused on shipping product. There isn't a version two or three if there isn't a great version one.

Making new products is an easy tap for a company in a recession.

We recognised from the start that we couldn't just stay in the U.K. and Ireland markets. We have always looked to the products of the future. I've always said, 'If you don't innovate, you'll evaporate.'

Steve Jobs didn't really set the direction of my Apple I and Apple II designs but he did the more important part of turning them into a product that would change the world. I don't deny that.

Often, entrepreneurs don't build a board until they are forced to by their VCs when they raise their first financing round. This is dumb, as you are missing the opportunity to add at least one person to the team who - as a board member - can help you navigate the early process of building your company and raising that first round.

I've long believed that if you're not embarrassed by your first product release, you've released too late.

I'm a venture capitalist. I like to say my job is to help and support entrepreneurs. I can play a leadership role, but my organization can't be the leader.

At Foundry Group, we always look for companies that we think build magic into their products. Occipital has been one of those companies.

Fundraising is a long and distracting process, and by the end of it, all you want to do is go back to building the product that you're working on.

When we launch a product, we're already working on the next one. And possibly even the next, next one.

A big part of my job is to accelerate our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly.

Entrepreneurs can benefit a lot from the right help and advice, and you can avoid costly mistakes. You can get incredible leverage in hiring people who wouldn't even talk to you if you have the right help. An investor isn't about money - it's about the help and advice you can get.

Most entrepreneurs think capital is the biggest problem they have - but it's not. You can have all the capital you want, but if the market fit and ability to adjust are not present, your startup will likely not succeed.

XUV is a living proof of the value of MRV. In that sense, the XUV was a wonderful validation. The XUV grew along with MRV. As the institution was built, the product was created.