Marc Randolph Quotes

When I started Biocon in 1978, the obstacles I needed to navigate were manifold - ranging from infrastructural hurdles to issues related to my credibility as a business woman. With no access to venture capital, money was scarce and high-cost, debt-based capital was all I had.

Start step by step. I didn't start being a big company in the beginning. You go to the bank for loans when nobody knows about you.

Our experience is that most entrepreneurs are able to attract debt, even for risky and early stage investments. There are investors who provide debt, but very few who fund through equity.

Accessing capital to start a business can be a daunting process, especially for entrepreneurs who start out with a great idea, but have no real familiarity with the business world.

I'd been a great angel investor, but professional venture capital was clearly not the right thing for me.

Every venture capitalist says at some point, 'I wish I could run this company myself' - to be the entrepreneur instead of the investor.

Ask any venture capitalist, and they will tell you that they consider the experience and completeness of the founding team to be a more important factor in their investment decision than the technology that is being built.

If your business had no risk, you could go get a bank loan and call it a day. VCs like risks - without them, venture capital wouldn't exist. But they need to be risks that VCs are good at assessing and managing.

Silicon Valley has infinite access to capital and can lose money indefinitely.

People invest in businesses that they believe have the leadership, mission and team to grow and operate profitably.

We all get into business, and we take a risk in terms of putting capital.

My dad did everything he could. It was a start-up, and the banks didn't want to lend him enough money, so he mortgaged our house.

Mitt Romney understands free enterprise, he has worked in it. He has seen companies succeed and he has seen them fail, too. He knows what people think about when they invest their money.

For all founders, going public is a momentous milestone that has to be experienced to be fully understood. It is the culmination of years of hard work and personal sacrifice.

A lot of people want to start a business, and they're like, 'I wanna start a business, give me some money to invest.' Where is your business plan? Are you investing money yourself into your own business? How is this going to work? People think that they can just come to you with an idea and have money.

Our main funders... a lot of them are entrepreneurs and technologists themselves as well and familiar with iterative development processes.

Finding initial funds is the primary barrier most entrepreneurs face. Many people don't have three or six months' worth of savings to free themselves up to do months of unpaid legwork.

I was thinking what happens if I break my leg today? What can I do to prevent me going back to the place of being poor? It led me to the world of venture capitalism. How are they making money? I decided I'm going to learn as much as I can.

I think just calling up a VC and saying 'I want to pitch you' is an enormous waste of time.

Ultimately the clothing company is a large investment on my part, and I'm taking a huge gamble. But having a focus away from the track is good for you.

Given the success rate, if you want to get wealthy, entrepreneurship is a horrible way of doing it. There are significantly easier ways of doing it.

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

I meet young people all the time who say something like, 'I want to work in venture capital.' And I can see why. Who wouldn't want to be smart, well-paid, dispense large sums of money, and tell people what to do?

I bought a restaurant - that was pretty expensive.

One of the things that's so interesting when talking to minority founders specifically is that there is really a knowledge gap in understanding what the risk-reward profile is for doing a startup.