Sam Graves Quotes

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.

Like any small business owner, I experienced the pressures of building a company from the ground up - developing a business plan, balancing the books, meeting payroll and building a customer base.

Most small-business owners have no financial education when they started. They weren't trained to be entrepreneurs.

One thing I never thought about in my big-company job? Cash flow. When your business has billions of dollars in revenue, you can make a lot of mistakes and still have a viable business. But in a startup, make a few hiring mistakes, and you can find yourself in real jeopardy fast.

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.

I started my first business when I was 19. I learned a valuable lesson as a small business owner. You are the first one to work, last one to leave, and last one to be paid.

I'm a businesswoman who's serious about her money. I want an empire.

As a former small business owner, I recognize both the important role small businesses play in our economy and the broad universe of challenges that small business owners face in trying to make ends meet.

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.

An entrepreneur, whether man or woman, has to be willing to take help, whether financial or technical, to grow his or her business.

Quit being 'busy' and start actively owning and operating your company, and you'll be able to understand where the money is coming from and how to make more of it.

Most entrepreneurs come up with a product, or they come up with an idea and they think they can be successful with it. But if they don't know the financial side of their business and understand credit and working capital and what it takes money-wise, you can't be successful. The product is just a product.

The first aspect of a business that you need to make it work well is money. Once the money aspect is flowing, you can freely work on other aspects.

I want to put money back in people's pockets.

We can't leave small business owners to fend for themselves.

Cash flow is a problem for a small and developing company, and the lack of it is the reason why many small businesses fail. Ensure that you have enough money in your bank account to make you able to carry out daily basic needs for your business.

What we are doing is increasing our focus on cash flow, return on investment, and value creation.

I really love being finance director.

You know what kind of companies generally survive? Companies that make more money than they spend. I know, duh, right?

It's amazing how small business owners figure out how to stretch a dollar as far as they possibly can.

I'm sensitive to the resources needed by a small business to get started and keep going.

We started in our living room on a card table in our living room, and we have a multi-million dollar company and we know it can be done without borrowing a dime. It takes a while to get it started and to turn the wheel over, but the next time it's easier and the next few hundred times, it's easier than that. Have a budget where you reinvest a percentage of every dollar you earn to grow it.

Economy consists in a due and proper application of the means afforded according to the ability of the employer and the situation chosen; care being taken that the expenditure is prudently conducted.

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.

Our region's economy was built upon their entrepreneurial spirit, and our economy still depends on the continued success of the enterprises they have worked so hard to create.