Safra A. Catz Quotes

I think you have to be a niche player. You've got to find smaller ideas that are going to benefit in the conditions as they are. You can change the conditions and always try to find ways to make money in the conditions as they exist.

You don't have the chance in a small business - when every dollar counts, every day - to make too many mistakes and recover from them, and you don't have the luxury of waiting to make the decision. You have to move quickly.

Most companies don't have the luxury of focusing exclusively on innovation. They have to innovate while stamping out zillions of widgets or processing billions of transactions.

Managers today have to do more with less, and get better results from limited resources, more than ever before.

One of the banes of successful innovation is that companies may be so committed to innovation that they will give the innovators a lot of money to spend.

It's always the organizations that are resource constrained that come up with the good ideas to win.

I don't think that ambition should not be in the dictionary of entrepreneurs. But our ambition should be realistic. You have to realise that you can't do everything.

I think there's a number of pillars to success. One is you've got to have a great idea. The other is you've got to have a constituency, you've got to have finance, and you've got to be able to raise awareness.

I could go insane if I obsessed over every little detail of all of my companies. My management philosophy is to pay attention to the vital few and ignore the trivial many.

The most common way to grow a business is by overseeing each and every aspect of the company - the 'ground up' method.

I've found that in business opportunities will constantly emerge or situations develop that make you revise your plans along the way.

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

Everyone has a different perspective and they all want their perspective to be addressed within the limited resources you have.

The only choice that leads small business owners to real success in their endeavors is the one that requires real thought. Understanding and building the systems they need within their company to afford them a framework of organization that can scale the business from a company of one to a company of one thousand.

What matters in the Sun-tzu universe are not positions of strength and power, but situations in which you have options, full of potential force.

I think we need ideas for the future.

Cool innovation might happen in startups, but they often lack the resources or the deep expertise in the problems they want to address.

I'd love to see more businesses take this approach - intentionally rightsizing themselves. Hit a number that feels good and say, 'Let's stick around here.'

I'm not one for conventional wisdom. I founded my label in 1998, but after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, my Japanese backers pulled out, and I couldn't afford to produce the line myself. I needed fresh ideas from someone who understood technology, since that was the direction the business was going.

I've always been an idea person, so I've always been great at having ideas, just not having the resources to make them happen.

Small businesses are more nimble and innovative than large corporations, and as a result are much more likely to develop the breakthrough ideas we need for global competitiveness.

I wish developing great products was as easy as writing a check. If that was the case, Microsoft would have great products.

For me, it's just being wiser, finding my opportunities, and really fighting a smart fight.

It doesn't make any sense for us to do a scripted series if it's not going to be big, so we have to be really disciplined about them.

You want to put yourself in the best position to try and win.