Eric Ries Quotes

Learn as many mistakes and what not to do while your business or product is small. Don't be in such a hurry to grow your brand. Make sure that you and the market can sustain any bumps that may occur down the road.

For me, the winning strategy in any start-up business is, 'Think big but start small.'

We're no longer a small business; we're a large organization spread around the world. I can't imagine Netscape growing as fast as it has if it weren't for the way we use our products.

I'm really inspired to build a billion-dollar company. The hardest part is building the vehicle to get you there.

Successful enterprises are built from the ground up. You can't assemble them with a bunch of acquisitions.

I think the biggest myth entrepreneurs have is that the growth and performance of their startups depends more on their entrepreneurial talent than on the businesses they choose.

If you're growing very rapidly, it doesn't matter if you make mistakes, in a way, because the growth kind of bails you out.

At Andreessen Horowitz, we talk about the notion of being 'too hungry to eat.' That's to say, we often see startups that are so entrenched in the product that the founders forget they need muscle to grow.

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.

It's a lot easier to gain traction when there is such a great proliferation of Internet access. The velocity at which some of these startups are gaining traction is mind-boggling. Companies like ShoeDazzle, Stella & Dot, Gilt, Groupon - these companies are going from zero to hundreds of millions in revenue in three years.

We knew we had to think global and think big. Most companies that are emerging don't do that.

I ran a profitable boostrapped company for five years, then raised $40 million from Andreessen Horowitz.

It's a lot easier to figure out how to scale something that doesn't feel like it would scale than it is to figure out what is actually gonna work. You're much better off going after something that will work that doesn't scale, then trying to figure how to scale it up, than you are trying to figure it all out.

Creating the right advisory board for your startup can be the single most important step you take in building a new business.

I have long been an advocate of starting an IoT journey with a small, low-risk project that can produce immediate benefits. But don't confuse small with non-strategic. Align each project, no matter how small, into your larger strategic vision.

Learning is the essential unit of progress for startups.

I want to take a long-term view. Being distracted by short term things can be dangerous when you are making cold, calm, long-term decisions.

Even though we live in a fast-changing world with short term-ism all around, it requires years of determination to transform a company and structurally reap the rewards. Innovation companies need to set their sights on solving unmet needs - but this approach requires focus and long-term tenacity.

A startup is not just about the idea: it's about testing and then implementing the idea. A founding team without these skills is likely dead on arrival.

It's core to Amazon's culture that we want to innovate and think big, and it's great to be at a place like that.

In their infancy, startups need geniuses who fit their current tight-knit culture and will iterate quickly as they push towards an ambitious vision - and they need a scaffolding of advisors, strategists, early users, and product-thinkers around these savants to guide them.

There's no seminar in the world that will give you multi million-dollar advice on building a business from scratch!

I aim to combine all the things I do in a comprehensive and holistic fashion that benefits startups and the people who make them grow.

Successful movements also need an organisational model that allows them to keep growing.

Whenever I invest, I invest in the person as well as the business.