This is one of my favorite books mostly because it gives a glimpse into how all big-name extraordinary companies were started by ordinary people. Below are some of my favorite founders along with their quotes which stood out to me:
Evan William, Blogger.com
Luck comes in many forms and often looks bad at first. If you have some plan and it doesn’t go that way roll with it. There is no way to know if it’s good or bad until later, if ever.
I think I was also surprised by the success of something so simple. How far you can get on a simple idea is amazing. Simplicity is powerful.
Ray ozzie, Lotus Notes
I am one of those people who believes he can accomplish basically anything in software – it’s just a big toolbox. So if you know that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to what’s worth accomplishing
James Hong, Hot or not hot
Do it while you are young. There is no right path. There’s no plan that fits every business; you have to figure it out yourself. There is no magic formula. There is no such thing as easy entreprenuership. It’s going to be painful, it’s going to be emotionally unstable. You are going to feel insecure. if you are not already bipolar you will feel like you are.
Tim Brady, Yahoo (first employee)
Do all the thinking upfront: why I am getting in, when do I leave, if I leave then why am I doing it, what gets me up in the morning, what would happen that could make me stop getting up in the morning. I’ve seen lot of people got so emotional coz they start something on whim; they are doing this thinking while they are doing business and when things don’t go well, you don’t act normally. There’s lot to it. It can get really emotional because you get tired and there’s a lot of work and you are vested in it.
Caterina Fake, Flickr
“Women have to be twice as prepared as men”. it takes lots of nerve for women to face up to this assumption and that assumption is everywhere, even in some of the most surprising places – that they don’t measure up, that they are not good enough. Twice as much will be expected of them”
Craig Newmark, Craigslist
The biggest entreprenuerial lesson I have leaned has been that you really do need to follow your instincts. I truedted some poeple who my insticnts were telling me were untrustworthy, and in some cases they proved to be untrustworthy.
Mena Troff, Six Apart
Since it never occurred to us that we can do it, it also did not occur to us that we could not do it. The lack of experience made us think “why can’t this just be done”. There were all these little things you had no clue about. It was incredibly overwhelming. But if you think about it too much, then you don’t do it. You almost have to not know what you are getting into to actually do it.
David Heinemeier, 37 Signals
If turns out that when you build only software that you absolutely need, you don’t get more software than you’ll actually use.
If we took the same people and put them in an enviornment where they had all the money & time even we can’t make Basecamp again.