will.i.am Quotes

You're only the boss if you put up your own money.

Risk-taking is my thing... I think of my company as my chip stack.

I don't believe in public companies... I would prefer to risk my own money, make any necessary changes fast and grow as quickly as possible.

Once you're involved in a business, it's part of what you do. It's the way you are.

You have to spend a lot to make a lot. It's not like I'm sitting on top of a pile of money.

Entrepreneurs love to view risk as binary. The more you put on the line, the greater the potential for reward.

Rather than going through a commercial banking training program, at the first bank I ever worked in, I was the chairman. And it was my own money, so we loaned it out like it was my own money.

Pizza made me who I am. In the summer of 1998, I dropped out of college and started a pizza restaurant called Growlies in my hometown in rural Canada. My seed money: a credit card with a $20,000 limit.

Starting a business is risky. Half of all new businesses fail to experience a fifth anniversary. And everyone knows that you could lose all the money you've invested in your new company and then some. Those are the obvious risks of trying to be an entrepreneur.

When I work for someone else, I always make money for them. When I back my own ideas, I am bound to lose.

There are companies with management and companies with money. You can always find money. Management is the key to success in any business.

I'm used to doing big undertakings with my own money.

The key, I think, from a business point of view, is to learn how to be efficient in making a record that's not too expensive, so that you're not going crazy spending tons of money making a product that might not ever return that money.

There is no free lunch, so if you're playing with the big train set - on big movies - it's a lot of money they're entrusting you with, and you have to get that money back for them. I don't take that responsibility lightly.

I suspect that we might actually start selling some records with these artists in about 10 years. Some the people who invested, they're a little tight-because it's a lot of money to start up a company.

An entrepreneur needs to know what they need, period. Then they need to find an investor who can build off whatever their weaknesses are - whether that's through money, strategic partnerships or knowledge.

For me, the risks in terms of opening that brewpub were fairly high. I put my house up as collateral, I invested the liquid money I had and two years of my time to get it over, but that's really not much of a risk for what the potential reward was if it worked.

Money is always the least of the problems. It is finding the right business or growing the right business. You can't do that without the right people.

If you are handed something, it's a blessing and a curse. Look at hip hop artists, they produced everything themselves. Even people like Robert De Niro are getting into production. Again, it's art vs. marketing. Not everyone can take the risk. You have to break a few eggs to make a good omelet.

I make no claim to being a business genius. You can make so much money in this business that it loses its value.

Part of the magic of a startup is the fear of death. You have only so much money in the bank, and if you don't get to the right milestone before you run out, then the company goes under - it's over.

Opening a business is going to be hard work, no matter what choices you make. If you decide to fall on your sword and just slog through all the work as an operator instead of an owner, then you take responsibility for the entire operation and the actions of the business.

I believe that starting any business should be as easy as a 10-year-old starting a lemonade stand.

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

Arcadia was a typical venture capital deal, but I'm the adventurer and the capitalist.