Steve Blank Quotes

Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality.

Startups allow technologists and scientists to take risks and change plans in a way that would be frowned upon in a big company. Having said that, big companies will play a key role in certain areas and in partnerships with little companies. Each has its strengths.

Most young people were getting jobs in big companies, becoming company men. I wanted to be individual.

I worked for Xerox for 4 years and after that I knew I was never going to be a corporate person. It wasn't my environment.

I was not very keen on joining the family business... there were 14 family members working together, and it worried me that I would not have enough individuality.

I suspect there's a lot of validity to the premise that big companies aren't going to attract entrepreneurial talent.

In talking to founder after founder; I've heard almost visceral reactions to working for companies, even very cool ones with great things to work on and lots of opportunity, like Facebook, Google, or consulting firms.

I always saw myself working for the family business.

People always ask me about career choices, though it rarely ever seems like any kind of choice. It's just like, I really want to do something, this is what I can do, and that's it. I'm lucky to be doing this at all.

I've done a lot of independent travelling, which hasn't been the best career choice, but it's been a really great life choice.

I can't begrudge anyone who opts to get a job instead of creating one for themselves.

Over the last ten years, technological advances have dramatically lowered the financial bar for starting a new company, but the courage bar for building a great company remains as high as it has ever been.

Entrepreneursh ip is a great leveller, since having the benefit of a wealthy background or a generous investor isn't always an advantage. The wonderful thing is that money is not the sole currency when it comes to starting a business; drive, determination, passion and hard work are all free and more valuable than a pot of cash.

I just started a business called HDNet. There never is one area that has a door open to everyone. Try to find an area with something you love to do and do it. It's a lot easier to work hard and prepare when you love what you are doing.

I think the reality is that it's never been a better time to be an entrepreneur, it's never been a better time to work at a startup. You work at a really intellectually free environment, you get to work with people who are like-minded, it's very energetic. It's wonderful.

My advice for achieving success is to make a career choice that reflects your passion. Then work your craft a little bit each day - even if someone's not paying you to do it. Try to balance your social life with your educational (or professional) life, and have patience.

Women have to make a living. We don't live in a wealthy world where we even have a choice. We're losing our choice of whether or not we need to work. If we want to work, we obviously should work and have that choice, but a lot of women can't even get to the word "want." They need to work. And it's great to see women who needed to work and found a way to become a firefighter or a steel worker. That, to me, is very exciting.

From the first days of my career as an entrepreneur, I have always used my own and my team's lack of experience to our advantage. In fact, at our first venture, Student magazine, we used our newcomer status to secure great interviews and generate publicity - people were excited about our new project and wanted to get involved. Our inexperience fed our restless enthusiasm for trying new things, which became part of our core mission.

If given a choice between investing in someone who has read REWORK or has an MBA, I’m investing in REWORK every time. A must read for every entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurialism is supposed to be fun!

I love everything about entrepreneurship and about owning your career and doing what you love to do.

Even though you make twelve hundred bucks a month, if I was making twelve hundred bucks a month to play baseball, I would have done it. I would have stayed.

I eventually got a job with a television company, started to see how exciting journalism could be as a career, and decided that was what I wanted to do.

If you look now, more than ever new entrants, new upstarts, are able to grow so much faster than they could before.

Small teams driven by their passion with a clear focus can do extraordinary things. Things that only large corporations and governments could do in the past.