Dan Gilbert Quotes

Capital structure isn't an eyeshade economic thing: It's about your ability to protect your workforce and your service levels.

You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.

Edelman maintains a very conservative balance sheet. We do small acquisitions. This helps me sleep well at night.

For resourceful tech founders, finding capital is rarely a problem; making the best use of it is another story. A few years slinging pepperoni pies and chicken wings - on tiny margins and with minimal investment - might not be the worst fiscal training.

I worked for twenty-some years with no capital, so I never had any liquidity. Managing my loans alone wouldn't do it, and working hard twenty-four hours a day seven days a week alone wouldn't do it. You have to be properly capitalized.

Landing a million-dollar investment for your startup is exhilarating. But as big as that number sounds, it doesn't go far. Many startups just getting off the ground won't have a CFO to monitor finances. It doesn't take much for spending to spiral out of control.

You do not want to get your debt ratio out of whack.

I've made a payroll. I know what it's like to execute a business plan. I know what it's like to expect the proper return on investment... and I know you can't spend your way out of debt.

When you take smaller gambles, no one particular deal can be big enough to have a material adverse effect on the company.

Don't take risk, and don't get into debt.

The most important word in the world of money is cash flow. The second most important word is leverage.

Now, people when I say that look at me and say, 'What are you talking about, Joe? You're telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?'. The answer is yes, that's what I'm telling you.

I certainly think you could look at the business side of how WWE was run, which was as a conservative company with little debt and strong cash balance.

No matter what business you're in, business is business, and financing and money are critical. I would have made a lot fewer mistakes if I had more schooling in that area.

Suning Appliance has no problem of financial risk. Do you think I'm risky? I'm definitely not risky.

I try to stay ahead of things, if you know what I mean. I take the money I make and reinvest it.

I very rarely use a credit card, but I do if I know I have big bills coming and I need to stagger payment.

One way to mitigate our risk is to invest in companies with understandable business models.

I like not to feel that all my eggs are in one basket, or I get nervous.

If you're not staying on top of your money, you are putting your financial well-being at risk.

Many businesses fail because the owner wasn't willing to invest and wasn't educated on the difference between spending money frivolously and investing money into the business for growth, and the risks and rewards of that cash infusion.

If you're running a business for the long term, the last thing you should be doing is borrowing money to buy back stock.

You have to manage money. Particularly with market economies. You may have a great product, but if your bottom line goes bust, then that's it.

When I first got into business, I made a lot of bad decisions.

Between calculated risk and reckless decision-making lies the dividing line between profit and loss.