J. B. Pritzker Quotes

In Silicon Valley, if you spend a lot of time thinking about the obstacles, you'll talk yourself out of everything, because the more you look at it, the less logical something sounds, since no one has done it yet.

A lot of the entrepreneurs and founders have big dreams and are on a mission to build things that the world has never seen before.

Innovation comes to you from creators who do have a vision and a passion, and that is how we succeeded.

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

Entrepreneurs always pitch their idea as 'the X of Y', so this is going to be 'the Microsoft of food.' And yet disruptive innovations usually don't have that character. Most of the time, if something seems like a good idea, it probably isn't.

I think 'crazy' is a compliment. I think you make money with people who are crazy.

New industries are created by entrepreneurs who don't necessarily have subject matter expertise when they get started, yet they are still responsible for most of the innovation we see in society.

To be successful, you don't have to have all this crazy start-up capital or a ton of knowledge. I think it's actually helpful sometimes to not know all the rules because that way it's easier to break them.

It always helps to have someone who can say, No, we can do it faster this way, or We have to break the rules, even our own rules, to get things done.

In a startup car company, everything you do has to be done in a different way than a traditional car company. And the main reason is that all of these big car companies are operating like giant well-oiled machines - you could put a very seasoned executive in, and all he has to do is make sure the machine keeps running.

I want to see creativity that breaks boundaries and isn't just about money.

The people of California really like innovation.

Be innovative. Don't listen to the tried and tested wisdom. Take a risk!

I'm also a big believer of being a scrappy entrepreneur. To be successful you don't have to have all this crazy start-up capital or a ton of knowledge. I think it's actually helpful sometimes to not know all the rules because that way it's easier to break them. And that's why it's so much easier for younger people, I think, to start companies that are challenging more traditional business models than older people. Especially if you're trying to do something good.

Answers are not enough, students should be encouraged to ask questions and explore alternatives to the norm. Entrepreneurship and invention are the backbone of the new economy, yet I doubt they get more than a nod in economics courses.

There is a place for visionaries and the avant-garde in this world, but not at 9 o'clock on a network.

To design something really new and innovative you have to reject reason.

To create an organization that's adaptable and innovative, people need the freedom to challenge precedent, to 'waste' time, to go outside of channels, to experiment, to take risks and to follow their passions.

The next Bill Gates will not start an operating system. The next Larry Page won't start a search engine. The next Mark Zuckerberg won't start a social network company. If you are copying these people, you are not learning from them.

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

I don't think as big and as creative as Joss.

The core value that differentiates Apple is our ability to innovate.

Making a moonshot is almost more an exercise in creativity than it is in technology.

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.

An open-minded and diverse population that readily shares information, encourages experimentation, accepts failure and dispenses with formality and hierarchy is what makes Silicon Valley the successful hub that it is.