Aaron Levie Quotes

Long-term planning is often undervalued by our indefinite short-term world.

You just can't get too focused on worrying about what's going to happen in the next quarter. You have to worry about where the business is headed long-term.

You have to build businesses for longer term.

We don't look at what happens in our business in six-month periods.

My own view is that every company requires a long-term view.

You need to make certain decisions to expand your market.

What we need to do is run our business. We need to come up with a value prop that is so compelling that customers have to go for it.

You can have it all, but not all at once.

If you haven't created the time as an owner to understand why people are choosing your model over your competition, then you are only managing the business that comes in the door, not actively seeking it out.

As I spent tons of time with customers, not just in the United States, but in emerging markets, in Europe, in Latin America, top of mind for everybody is how do they drive growth for their business going forward.

There are companies that are good at improving what they're already doing. There are companies that are good at extending what they're doing. And finally there are companies that are good at innovation. Every large company has to be able to do all three - improve, extend, and innovate - simultaneously.

Do not so contemplate eternity that you waste today.

What's important now? - To evaluate the past, focus on the future, and tell you what you have to do in the present

But as the business grows, you get more attention, and then you realize that the whole world is trying to get time from you. Which is amazing. But every time you give it to the world, you give less to what you’re doing.

Business is all about learning to balance the short-term, medium-term and long-term and I think it's when things are going well it covers up a lot of mistakes and bad decisions because you're growing so quickly.

With a wonderful business, you can figure out what will happen; you can't figure out when it will happen. You don't want to focus on when, you want to focus on what. If you're right about what, you don't have to worry about when

Running a company on market research is like driving while looking in the rear view mirror.

I’m here to build something for the long-term. Anything else is a distraction.

Strategy is about shaping the future.

We may be very busy, we may be very 'efficient', but we will also be truly 'effective' only when we begin with the end in mind.

So it's worth some real up front time to think through the long term value and the defensibility of the business.

Be wise and don't let good things crowd out those that are essential.

I aim for weekly routines with clear goals but make sure I do some stuff that I think I'll value in the long run.

If you have to choose between power and speed and it often turns out you have to make that choice, you've got to go for speed.

My business is circumference.