Richard Branson Quotes

At a young age I always had an entrepreneurial spirit. So I'm trying to develop things on my own, too, and there are a couple things that have absolutely nothing to do with the entertainment business that I'm trying to tackle. We'll just sort of see.

If you look at the careers of great entrepreneurs and you look at the moment they took their plunge, the plunge is rarely a great financial or material risk, it’s a social risk. At the moment they started their new businesses, everyone around them said ‘you’re an idiot’.

If you have an idea that you can't get out of your head, do a startup. Otherwise join a startup.

Finding your entrepreneurial spirit and making it strong is more important than the idea or business you are developing.

Starting and growing a business is as much about the innovation, drive and determination of the people who do it as it is about the product they sell.

The life of the professional writer - like that of any freelance, whether she be a plumber or a podiatrist - is predicated on willpower. Without it there simply wouldn't be any remuneration, period.

Freelancers are 'free' because they take risks - they don't like being told what to do. That's both exciting and daunting, because you have to police you.

When I started the business, I hardly went home. I became very driven about work and about my career.

As the years passed, and I was nine, 10, 11 years old, it became obvious I was going to start up a business of some sort.

When you run an entrepreneurial business, you have hurry sickness - you don't look back, you advance and consolidate. But it is such fun.

For me, the most entertaining evening would be to go sit with entrepreneurs and talk with them about how they're building their companies and how we can help to make them better. That's the one thing in the world - well, I love doing that.

The American economy has been built and sustained by risk-taking entrepreneurs whose pioneering ideas and hard work gave birth to flourishing businesses.

Passion gets an entrepreneur through the startup days and the enormous efforts it takes to build a business.

I think entrepreneurs are born and not created, and so I think you see a lot of similarities among entrepreneurs in different parts of the world. Their backdrop may be very different, but their drive to create a business and to create jobs remains very much the same, whether it's in Silicon Valley or Kandahar or Kabul.

It's hard to tell with these Internet startups if they're really interested in building companies or if they're just interested in the money. I can tell you, though: If they don't really want to build a company, they won't luck into it. That's because it's so hard that if you don't have a passion, you'll give up.

If I had sat around and waited until I had an idea to be a successful photographer, I would still be in finance.

I learned I'm not a good executive, I'm an entrepreneur and I'm creative. I have to go with my gut and do what I want to do.

I'd like to see the word 'entrepreneur' knocked off its pedestal. Being 'entrepreneurial' is something I look for not only in founders to invest in, but also employees to hire.

There are a lot more companies with a lot younger people. It is just like 23-year-olds are starting companies, and they are scaling really quickly.

Aspiring entrepreneurs are often advised to work at a startup for a couple of years first, to understand what's involved. But often, each company's approach to success is very narrow. So my advice is, 'Just do it.'

We are calling ourselves a startup nation, but the number of people who set out on their own is very low; even 10,000 a year would be low in a country like India. We can say we are a startup nation but the world won't say it.

Many people dream about being an entrepreneur, starting their own business, working for themselves, and living the good life. Very few, however, will actually take the plunge and put everything they've got into being their own boss.

Entrepreneurship is not only about starting businesses but is an attitude to life.

There are lots of people who say you are born an entrepreneur - you either have that gene or not. I really disagree with that.

At Venture for, we've worked with hundreds of aspiring young entrepreneurs who want to build businesses and change things for the better.