Andrew Mason Quotes
I look at being a capitalist businessperson like riding a bike - if I go too slowly, I'll fall over. Or it's kind of like a shark: if I stop swimming, I'll just die.
Mason, Andrew. Interview by David Kamp. "The Enigma of Andrew Mason." Vanity Fair, Condé Nast, June 2011.
He was discussing the political problem whereby if political leaders take policy risks and succeed, they receive little credit and their opponents call the success a failure anyway. While if the policy fails, then they have both their opponents and their previous supporters attacking them along with the press and public. Business however cannot stand pat. Companies which do not take risks do not survive very long.
When earning money is the primary driver of a business, that business has come under the control of people who no longer have the vision, interests or focus of the founders and the people who originally made it what it was. Making money is an important part of making a successful company, but if that is all, then unless one is an investor, there is no great advantage to becoming a customer. All of the great new companies started with a vision that may have included making money but went far beyond that.
Andrew D. Mason (born 1981) is an American businessman and entrepreneur. He is the founder and former CEO of Groupon, a Chicago-based website offering users discounts on local businesses and scholarships. He is also the founder and CEO of Descript, an audio editing tool for podcasters.
