Ted Waitt Quotes

When we start a new venture, we base it on hard research and analysis. Typically, we review the industry and put ourselves in our customer's shoes to see what we could do better.

My business is the analytical framework.

The successful man is the one who finds out what is the matter with his business before his competitors do.

In any competitive environment, whether you're in sales or marketing or whatever it is, you have to know your competition, understand who they are, do intelligent analysis on them and then you have to know yourself - who you are and what you're capable of doing.

You need a different checklist and different mental models for different companies.

Drew and I have always been very analytical at looking at the business opportunities. We're entrepreneurs through and through.

When I walk into a new organization and I don't know the industry or the people, which has always been the case, I do a few things. One is I think about the business from the outside in.

I read annual reports of the company I'm looking at and I read the annual reports of the competitors - that is the main source of material.

I study my competition for at least an hour a day. I get on the internet, look at what they doing, then I look at ways to defeat them.

We are really very lucky to have so many fantastic brands. But to grow them we should not be too much in a hurry. They are growing fast, but they have to grow accordingly to the market and to the capacity we have to deliver good products.

The essential element of successful strategy is that it derives its success from the differences between competitors with a consequent difference in their behavior.

There is a healthy competition as there would be in any business. But we do not spend our days thinking about what Marvel is doing.

Start small; get to know the landscape. We take risks but not major risks. We always started with small capital - €4m in Holland, $10m in Russia - and as we get to know the landscape of a country, we think about other businesses.

In business, staying focused requires that you turn most opportunities down.

The most interesting information I can have about a competitor is the cost.

I think there's a number of pillars to success. One is you've got to have a great idea. The other is you've got to have a constituency, you've got to have finance, and you've got to be able to raise awareness.

The real challenge in this line of work is being able to weed the productive ones from the chaff, to decide which you're going to spend the next six to nine months turning into something that people will pay for.

Marketing is a very good thing, but it shouldn't control everything. It should be the tool, not that which dictates.

An entrepreneur needs to know what they need, period. Then they need to find an investor who can build off whatever their weaknesses are - whether that's through money, strategic partnerships or knowledge.

Every good businessman or woman carefully analyzes all the available facts before making a decision.

If you haven't created the time as an owner to understand why people are choosing your model over your competition, then you are only managing the business that comes in the door, not actively seeking it out.

Entrepreneurs are natural problem-solvers, which means that we always have ideas for new businesses popping into our heads. Having a lot of options is great, but sometimes it can be hard to focus on one when you are keen to move onto the next.

No matter what, the entrepreneur must strive to be above average and, at the same time, understand what is driving those averages they are seeking to beat. Take the time to understand and test the metrics you are using, and then you can not only set the average, you can exceed it.

At a small company, so much of the trick is focus. Not only can you only do a finite number of things, but you have to do them in the right order.

If you put on your business hat, you can't maintain competitiveness by staying at a competitive disadvantage. I mean, you just can't. The odds are just not in your favor.