Tom Colicchio Quotes

Do something. If it doesn't work, do something else. No idea is too crazy.

The reason why the Wright brothers were successful wasn't because they had the most resources, but because they understood how invention works. You have to iterate quickly, and you should be prepared to fail. Because things often don't go as planned.

Failure's inevitable. It happens all the time in a complex economy. And how did the economy produce all these amazing things that we have around us, computers and cell phones and so on? Well, the process was trial and error. There were a bunch of ideas, and the good ones grew and prospered, and the bad ones were pretty ruthlessly weeded out.

It's very much like filmmaking always is-you're always asked to do something that you're not sure you know how to do. So you make an educated guess as to what you think will work and you hope between that and plan B, that you can end up with a product that's really good.

My methodology is not knowing what I'm doing and making that work for me.

I tried a dozen different modifications that were rejected. But they all served as a path to the final design.

That's the way it is with entrepreneurial people. You try one thing, it doesn't work, you try another.

I have ideas that I think might be amusing, and I try them, and if they look right, I carry them out, and if they don't, I throw them out and try something else. I don't agonize about it.

I don't believe in pitfalls. I believe in taking risks and not doing the same thing twice.

One of the advantages of moving quickly is if you do something wrong you can change it. What technologies tend to do is they tend to make a lot of mistakes... but then we go back and aggressively attack those mistakes - and fix them. And you usually recover pretty quickly.

My idea of artistry has always been 'try everything until you find out what works.'

I don't think that you can invent on behalf of customers unless you're willing to think long-term, because a lot of invention doesn't work. If you're going to invent, it means you're going to experiment, and if you're going to experiment, you're going to fail, and if you're going to fail, you have to think long term.

As counterintuitive as it sounds, 'speed to fail' should be every entrepreneur's motto. Success isn't born wholly-formed like Venus from a clamshell; it's developed through relentless trial and error.

You need to fail quickly and learn from those failures to continue to build along the way.

Generally, our first idea of what our business is going to be is not the right one. It takes a few iterations; to get there, you have to be able to let go.

The willingness to experiment with change may be the most essential ingredient to success at anything.

People think innovation is just having a good idea but a lot of it is just moving quickly and trying a lot of things.

Don't be afraid to stumble. Any inventor will tell you that you don't follow a plan far before you strike a snag. If, out of 100 ideas you get one that works, it's enough.

If failure is not an option, neither is success. Innovation is just repeated failure till you come up with something that works.

If everything you do works, then you're not taking many risks and probably aren't innovating either.

If you want to be inventive, you have to be willing to fail.

The only phrase I've ever disliked is, 'Why, we've always done it that way.' I always tell young people, 'Go ahead and do it. You can always apologize later.'

Sometimes one must try anything, it is no disgrace. On the contrary, it is a sign of wisdom.

Failures are life's way of nudging you and letting you know you are off course. Trying new things and not being afraid to fail along the way are more important than what you learn in school.