Martin Naughton Quotes

Executives need ample flexibility to respond to the market. That means both reducing costs and increasing innovation.

It's not wise to limit firms' expansion projects. Let us only be limited by the market.

When you start a business, go for the lowest hanging fruit.

Companies that grow for the sake of growth or that expand into areas outside their core business strategy often stumble. On the other hand, companies that build scale for the benefit of their customers and shareholders more often succeed over time.

A savvy entrepreneur will not always look for investment money, first.

In a period of economic downturn, the overwhelming instinct is to pare back, cut costs, and lay off. If you do that, do so with your strategy in mind. The worst mistake is to cut across the board. Instead, reconnect and recommit to a clear strategy that will distinguish yourself from others.

Some people are serial entrepreneurs and want to just move on to the next thing. They just want to clean the slate and start from scratch. I feel that sometimes, too, and the way that we do that here is we build things inside Shutterstock: we launch new products all the time.

Successful strategic vision lay in the fact that we visualized the retail business to be much bigger, ahead of what others thought it to be.

Too many executives I've met over the years have the mentality of a bodybuilder; they've come to accept the idea that growth is synonymous with success.

XUV is a living proof of the value of MRV. In that sense, the XUV was a wonderful validation. The XUV grew along with MRV. As the institution was built, the product was created.

You need to run the company on an even keel, and you need to be thinking about the company long-term and how to drive your next innovation.

U.S. companies are innovative and entrepreneurial.

I didn't generate my success by being a prognosticator. I developed my reputation building our businesses by building great businesses and making them more efficient.

An adaptable company is one that captures more than its fair share of new opportunities. It's always redefining its 'core business' in ways that open up new avenues for growth.

We've tapped into a huge demand, and it's up to us to fulfill that demand and to be creative doing it.

Profitability is coming from productivity, efficiency, management, austerity, and the way to manage the business.

The most important thing for us is investing and making companies great, and then they have all the options they want, whether that's to go public or stay private.

We were in the market ahead of competition. We brought new products on the market ahead of competition. We rolled out our networks. We begged, borrowed, stole, put things out. And while they were never near perfect, they were first. And that gave us, to my mind, a lot of advantage.

If guys try to make a bigger company for the sake of size, they don't create value in most cases.

As I've said, in 2007, we're free to go and we'll just have to do what's best for the business.

Recessions are the best time to start a company. Companies fail. Others hold back capital. If you are willing to do the preparation and work, it is the best time to invest in yourself and start a business.

Innovation requires resources to invest, and you can see many companies pulling back and going into an intense protective mode in a major extended period of financial distress.

I've been good at product entrepreneuring.

Efficiency innovations provide return on investment in 12-18 months. Empowering innovations take 5-10 years to yield a return. We have ample capital - oceans of capital - that is being reinvested into efficiency innovation.

Any manager can do well in an expanding market.