everywhere everyone likes to talk about
failures you know but the main thing is
you might have a lot of little small
steps every one of those steps seem to
not take you anywhere and money it
didn’t get you much more money didn’t
get any money but you know you’re kind
of proud you show them off to friends
even your mind was increasing your
methods of coming up with better
solutions was increasing you not only
have to now read a book on how things
are done you can write the book and
that’s called creativity you create new
things yourself success with the
progressive realisation of a worthy
ideal anyone that has a goal and they’re
moving towards it they’re successful and
so you want to begin to take some
chances you want to begin to challenge
yourself and they could okay to fail and
learn from your failure
[Music]
I wake up to have a chance to meet new
people and learn things it’s a people
game right like the people you surround
yourself with over time or the people
that kind of influence what you end up
doing further on and I just I saw so
many people starting companies that was
like seems like a lot of fun I want to
try that too
[Music]
anybody can do this crap I’ve spent 20
years trying to tell people like pick up
a camera it doesn’t take much sometimes
you just need somebody to be like it’s
this simple dude and give you three
steps and suddenly you’re like that’s it
I can take it the rest of the way
getting started is always the hardest
part
yeah the best business models in the
world are the ones where you like ask
people what they want and they tell you
and you go and you build it like every
now and then you have to read between
the lines because no one at the
beginning of Instagram was like I want a
photo sharing app no one in fact very
few people but when we built it they
were like oh it no I don’t want a photo
sharing app that just does what I know
photo-sharing apps do I do want a photo
sharing app that makes my photos look
cool some of the greatest work comes
from pain or some great word comes from
and love from loss it’s like wanting to
be the best at whatever you do never
stop it to you the best like I don’t
believe in doing anything halfway I
believe in going all the way so never
stop
[Music]
you know you can’t change the way you
are wired much but you can change a lot
of what you do with that wiring when you
write down the qualities of that person
that you’d like to buy to ten percent of
look at that list and ask yourself is
there anything on that list I couldn’t
do the answer is there aren’t there will
won’t be and when you look to the person
yourself short and you look at those
qualities that you don’t like if you see
any of those in yourself he get tells
them whatever it may be selfishness you
can get rid of that I mean that is not
ordained and if you follow that and Ben
Franklin did this and my old boss Ben
Graham did this of early ages and their
young teens they just then grant looked
around and he said who do I admire you
know and we want to be admired himself
and he said you know why do I buy these
other people and he said if I admire
them for these reasons maybe other
people admire me if I behave in a
similar manner and he decided what kind
of a person they wanted to be and if you
follow that at the end you’ll be the
person you want to buy ten percent off I
mean that’s the goal in the end and it’s
it’s something that’s achievable by by
everybody in this room
[Music]
[Music]
we all go through hard times we all go
through depression we all do go through
doubt trust me everybody has a hard road
that is what makes you a person and
those difficult moments are what build
your character sometimes you just got to
get up and get done because sometimes we
have to pull yourself up and you have to
push forward even if you want to stay in
bed
[Music]
they constantly seek criticism a well a
well thought-out critique of whatever
you’re doing is as valuable as gold and
you should seek that from everyone you
can but particularly your friend
[Music]
my thing is this I keep my eyes on the
prize
I never focus on things outside the ring
my focus is the guy that’s in front of
me I always had a dream and my dream was
to be the best no matter what happens
[Music]
see we can’t control the thoughts that
come in our minds but we can control the
thoughts that we dwell on
[Music]
now why did I say that entrepreneurship
is the solution to all problems because
entrepreneurship in my view is not about
business it’s about the willingness to
take responsibility for your own life so
anybody can be an entrepreneur in any
situation whatsoever you don’t have to
be a business owner for that you are an
entrepreneur as long as you stand up and
say I am responsible for what happens to
me and I am taking ownership of my life
and I will do what is necessary to make
the results that I want to happen
[Music]
[Music]
I had the privilege of going to a Marine
base once and talking to Marines about
how they plan their next move there’s
this phrase called bias towards action
the idea that you can spend all of your
time thinking about what the perfect
next move is trying to plan am I going
to work at Google am I going to work at
Microsoft like which one Kinsey or Bain
like the next perfect move and spending
a tremendous amount of time trying to
figure that out
the Marines say you can spend all the
time you want but by the time you
figured it out you’re dead so like
sometimes you need to make a trade-off
of what is the action I can take with
the appropriate amount of information
and risk to move because moving and
progress is what gets us to the next
step by moving and learning it all adds
up that summation of your experience
over the last 10 years is what makes you
into the thing tomorrow that will be
successful all the other jobs that I had
offered there were like two or three a
couple of startup one at Microsoft one
of Google I took the lowest salary of
anyone any of the offers that I had
because I wanted to work in a specific
job at Google I didn’t care what job it
was actually I just cared that it was at
Google and I would surround myself by
amazing people that was the first lesson
that I learned just like go to where the
people are short term long term trade
offs just go to where the people are of
course we look for disconfirming a
little
one of the directors said very simply we
should make a list of everything that
irritates a customer and we should
eliminate those defects one by one and
of course that is the way to compete on
a service business involves continuing
fanaticism and so forth one of the
reasons we walk the little company and
Logan Utah is that we like the service
at ethos of the place and their
recruitment methods
[Music]
well isn’t to be the best every day the
goal isn’t out to outdo your competition
every day
that’s a finite construction finite
players play to be bet to beat the
people around them infinite players play
to be better than themselves to wake up
every single day and say how can we make
our company a better version of itself
today than it was yesterday
how can we create a product this week
that’s better than the product we
created last week we also have to play
the instant game it’s not about being
ranked number one it’s not about having
more followers on Twitter than your
friends it’s not about outdoing anyone
it’s about how to outdo yourself it’s
not about selling more books or getting
more Ted views than somebody else it’s
about how to make sure that the work
that you’re producing is better than
your work you’ve produced before you are
your competition and that is what
ensures you stay in the game the longest
and that is what ensures you find joy
because the joy comes not from
comparison but from advancement
[Music]
I just didn’t spend money on myself I
just dumped all the profit back in the
business and we were buying vintage
stuff you know four years that it costs
five ten and fifteen fifty dollars and
you’re selling it for you know one
hundred two hundred thousand I mean I
bought things for $8.00 that I’ve sold
for a thousand and that’s like that’s
really good cash flow right I didn’t
know what that word even meant you know
but it was just like it looked really
good just like building in the bank
[Music]
[Music]
the separation of talent and skill is
one of the the the greatest
misunderstood concepts for people who
are trying to excel who have dreams that
want to do things talent you have
naturally skill is only developed by
hours and hours and hours of beating on
your craft
[Music]
I think that’s actually a really
interesting part of this for me is and I
mean being in a place like this we’re
obviously a lot of you guys are thinking
about starting these starting companies
and you know for me so much of the
lesson that that I feel like I’ve
learned is I feel like it’s really hard
to decide to start a company right you
know Facebook I didn’t started to start
a company I started it because I really
wanted this thing personally and I
believe that it should exist globally
although I wasn’t quite sure that we
would be able to play a role in doing
that it was mostly just through kind of
like wanting to build it and having it
be this hobby and getting people around
me excited that it eventually kind of
evolved into and got the momentum to
become a company but I never really
understood the psychology of deciding
that you want to start a company before
you understand what you want to do and
this gets back to the question of why
did we why did we first open it at
colleges that had competitors I have
this big fear I think of getting locked
into doing things that aren’t actually
the most impactful things and to me this
is like the trait that entrepreneurs
have is they just have this like
laser-like ability to go find where they
can have the most impact and you know
when you take on a new project
especially if you hire people or start a
company you’re doing that project and I
mean there are ways they’re obviously
different ways that it can exit and all
that but I think having the flexibility
to explore a lot of different things
which you can do when you’re in college
which is one of the amazing things about
being in college is you can work on all
these hobbies and encode a lot of stuff
and try a lot of different things it’s
this amazing flexibility that I think
most people take for granted and once
you decide okay I’m going to start a
company I’m going to do it with someone
else you immediately now need to
convince someone else if you want to
change your mind on something and I
think people really undervalued the
option value and flexibility I think
explore what you want to do before
committing is really like the key thing
and keep yourself flexible and know I
think that that’s yeah I agree yeah but
I think in it you can definitely do that
within the framework of a company but I
think you have to be wary about starting
a company too rigidly because you’re
going to change what you do I mean
people talk about pivot all the time as
if it’s like it doesn’t didn’t your
thing did
works – pivoted Facebook pivoted many
times i’ma just that you know we kind of
we work college and then we were not
college and then we were just a website
and then we were a platform right and um
you’re going to change what you do so
the first step before even thinking
about investing is getting out of debt
once person gets out of debt now you
want to think about money building money
creation right and money savings like
how to save on taxes and so on and so
forth and that’s what I really like like
the focus of people is getting their
beliefs straight and then building up
wealth right and then once they build up
well there’s this idea of you know
letting the best for the future and so
on and you know what are you investing
for the future for and usually they’ll
say well retirement and that’s only
going to be like let’s say you know for
some people they might not even reach
there other people might be like three
years five years maybe it’s going to be
ten years maybe maybe longer something
like that but why would you leave your
whole life and miss out on all your
younger years because you want to have
some money and if you live a frugal life
in your younger years believe me when
you get older what are you in a volume
in you’re more like these are going to
go on vacation or something like that
easy like I think there’s issues over
emphasis on the retirement people can
focus better on getting financially
independent and financially free and
enjoying their life while they’re young
and also doing good things and they have
that energy and time and and really
bring the happiness that everybody is
looking for hundred thousand lives Oh
[Music]
but understand that naturally nobody
would teachers to the world could care
less you have to persuade them and you
have to show that you’re the one person
out there that can do it and so it’s not
just about doing focus groups it’s not
just about you know double-checking your
vision it really is about integrating
the concept of testing our ideas
rigorously throughout the product
development process out the marketing
process even as a scalar
[Music]
[Music]
and I think the reality is just you know
not quite so glamorous they’re sort of
there’s no glee side to being an
entrepreneur and also just more
importantly with wood you’re actually
spending your time on is just a lot of
hard work say I mentioned this but
you’re basically just sitting at your
desk heads down focused answering
customers customer support emails doing
sales figuring out hard engineering
problems so it’s really important that
you kind of like go in with with eyes
wide open
[Music]
I think serious you got to make sure
that that you whatever you’re doing is a
great product or service but it has to
be really great and I go back to what I
say earlier where if you’re a new
company I mean this it’s like some new
industry or new market that if it’s an
untapped market or then then you have
more ability to you this is the standard
is lower for your product or service but
if you’re entering anything where
there’s an existing marketplace against
large entrenched competitors then your
product or service needs to be much
better than that it can’t be a little
bit better because then you put yourself
in the shoes of a consumer and they say
why would you buy it as continuing or is
going to buy the trusted brand unless
there’s a big difference so a lot of
times you know entrepreneur will come up
with something which is only slightly
better and it’s can’t just be slightly
better set of you a lot better
[Music]
if anybody ever knocks you down in life
guy who tells you you can’t do something
or you know just put the downer on what
you’re trying to do in general don’t
don’t take don’t let these things get
you don’t let what these people say have
any effect on you whatsoever you have
the control of your future the control
of you is all in your mind your mind and
your hands trust me if you want
something you you can go out there and
get it and and it might take a bit
longer than you first thought doesn’t
matter you keep going you will get there
in the end if you want it that bad you
will
don’t let anybody take control of your
future
other than
[Music]
so I have like more friends that are
billionaires and I’ve won one mention
with conventions that are billionaires
and I’ve always wanted to be a
billionaire state 7 so I’m almost
halfway there and I think can you
surround yourself with the people who
are actually you’re trying to go we get
there a whole lot faster cause we tend
to be half the mistake you know you’ve
kind of marginalized the risk and so you
know if I give you a really good advice
so you don’t need to read the next book
it’s not going to unlock your books
educate you but don’t make you apply
anything and it you know if you want to
attend a course courses are great two
events are great because you know you
learn a lot but the application and the
execution is still up you a mentor on
the other hand will hold you accountable
you know he’ll make you responsible and
he’ll challenge you to really execute on
for the stuff that you’re learning so if
give me an idea the dime-a-dozen if you
can’t execute on it it’s worth nothing
you have a most brilliant idea in the
world all the town of the world and if
you know
[Music]
I’ve never really viewed myself as
particularly talented where I excel is
ridiculous sickening work ethic you know
while the other guys sleeping I’m
working what other guys eaten I’m
working there’s no easy way around it no
matter how talented you are your talent
is going to fail you if you’re not
skilled you know if you don’t study if
you don’t work really hard and dedicate
yourself to being better every single
day you’ll never be able to communicate
with with people with your artistry the
way that you want so the only thing
[Music]
[Music]
let’s say you’re the leader in a
particular arena if your competitor
focused and you’re already the leader
then where does your energy come from
whereas if your customer focused and
you’re already the leader customers are
never satisfied so you always if your
customer focused you’re always waking up
how can we make that customer say wow
how can we you know our energy our
patches we want to impress our customers
we wanted to say wow it’s that kind of
divine discontent that comes from
observing customers and noticing that
you know things can always be better
[Music]
being honorable team you got to figure
out what that balance is for yourself
you can’t take on too much but at the
same time you don’t want to just do one
thing I like to spend a lot of plates
because you put all your eggs in one
basket don’t work out you’re bored and
wasted all that time but the fact of the
matter is back in the day we used to
make a movie and then work on just the
movie and wait till the movie was out
and then figure out what to do next and
now you know it would lead sometimes to
like let’s say you made your zero
you make the movie over the course of a
while it comes out and as I said it’s
over like in a week or two weeks so I
like to spit as many plates as possible
that way like this thing in panning out
or this thing is too far off in the
distance or this ain’t going to happen
to where I want it boom we could shift
over to something else so that’s why I
do it but when you do it be careful you
got to find the right balance I wish
there’s a formula to give you there’s
not it’s all up to you that’s inside of
you just do as much as you can before
you get to the foot we’re like a day
game work
[Music]
[Music]
to express oneself honestly not lying to
oneself and to express myself honestly
no fact my friend is very hard to do
it’s not difficult to learn and speak
the word the hard thing the difficulty
me
it’s behind what is the meaning what’s
all on the expression and feelings
behind those words now I think the
successful ingredient in it was because
I was being really well myself life and
did that part just express myself like I
say honestly express myself
[Music]
boys you must strive to find your own
voice because the longer you wait to
begin the less likely you are to find it
at all
Thoreau said most men lead lives of
quiet desperation
don’t be resigned to that break out
[Music]
if you want a thing bad enough to glide
and fight to work day and night to give
up your time your peace and your sleep
and if you gladly sweat water and prep
for it and plan for it and lose all your
terror of the opposition for it and if
you simply go up to that thing that you
want with all of your capacity if
neither cold poverty famine or ghost
sickness the pain of body and brain can
keep you away from the thing that you
want you’ll get
[Music]
reflecting now back in my career like my
dedication is what made me successful
because I’ll be honest I wasn’t the most
genetically blessed guy on stage I just
had a lot of dedication commitment I was
relentless
it all begins kind of with you so you
know that’s about belief you can’t
expect a bunch of people out there to
believe you are this thing unless you be
this thing yourself
[Music]
to be successful you have to be focused
on the wife and I think both of these
people mentions because this is really
important to be successful you have to
be focused on why you are what why would
achieve what we want to achieve
if I was to ask you you know you wanna
make money the question is why
what is money by itself isn’t going to
make you happy is it going to give you
contented I don’t think it is by itself
one of the great contentment there are
many people in the world who have so
much money I want to do is a movie but
yet they might overdose on drugs or you
know a little so that they might commit
suicide or this or that because what do
by itself simply does not bring in
happiness and contentment so you have to
focus on why you need just goals why you
want to achieve that goal whether the
financial goals with a location well
whatever it is wired our hotel right now
why am I here
[Music]
how many people have you met in your
life who have said things like I had
that idea I knew about that or I I was
so close but I gave up I think sometimes
a difference between success and failure
winning and losing is a very fine line
between those people who will continue
to move forward
[Music]
[Music]
often I just want to ask or I want to
find out it drives people some people
are really driven by money and I don’t
think that’s a bad thing it’s just like
not usually a fit here some people are
really driven by like wanting to make
the world a better place some people are
really driven by wanting to learn like
what drives people like what gets them
up in the morning what like where does
the fire come from because like the best
people in the world just have a fire
about something not about everything but
about something
[Music]
[Music]
this is my time I own my life I had to
start thinking I had the ability to do
this and I had the mindset that I’m
unstoppable
there is something in you that can
transcend your circumstances that can
transcend the nulls and rejections that
can transcend anything that you’re going
[Music]
most startups that fail do it ultimately
because they did not make something that
people wanted they made something that
you know that they thought people would
want but they were either in denial
about it about you know whether it was
actually any good or somebody else came
along and made something that people
wanted even more
[Music]
rediff other people are putting in
40-hour work weeks and you’re putting in
100 hour work weeks then even if you’re
doing the same thing you know that you
will achieve in four months what it
takes them a year to achieve
[Music]
[Music]
when you start with a your company
you’re gonna have a lot of anxiety and
stress and fear and your job is to
transform that into self-confidence and
to give you kind of that you know the
ability to say I have clarity I trust
myself I have a feeling for my vision I
can see that happening I work with
entrepreneurs all the time that kind of
shift from you know anxiety to trust
that’s the most important thing that
they can go through
[Music]
but what we really need to do is think
about what is the smallest possible test
that I can run for this idea for this
concept for this theory get it out there
and get customers views because your
customers are going to be the ones to
tell you if it’s really working or not
[Music]
what this all comes down to is doing
something exceptional for users whether
it’s in community whether it’s in
connection or whether it’s in design
this is our big advantage is that we can
actually get away with you it we can
make this the core part of why we’re
doing business
[Music]
about this two sides of things and I
don’t think a lot of people really
understand right there’s there’s one
side of pain that’s the suffering and
the discomfort side of thing because
that hurt you remember what that feels
like
within there’s another side of pain
that’s cold effort
it’s called glory it’s called if you can
find a way to push through pain there’s
something breathing on the other side of
it
I do believe that organizations human
organization turn apparently unstable
they will fall over and you have to work
to keep them up life but they fall
slowly most people don’t notice it they
let their success
I hear they blind them they don’t see it
falling over the following takes place
love at the flats is quick you have to
do constant assessments you have to look
for the hard crews
[Music]
we are generally a little bit forward
leaning when it comes to trying to make
progress happen for me it’s about
problem-solving and loving to solve
problems and so if you are passionate
about solving problems is um sometimes I
just like to describe this as like
imagine a really great math professor
with no problems right the great a great
math professor somebody who who wants
the hardest problems who wants to solve
them and love solving that’s kind of how
I feel about my work and so it’s not
about a man in a hurry it’s more about
really interesting problems in the world
and how you lean into them and solve
things that people maybe thought weren’t
even possible to solve and that’s fine
[Music]
I always want to better myself I don’t
consider myself I don’t surround
consider other designers competition you
know for me my competition is me from
the season before I’m very ambitious I
always want to better myself I never sit
back and say well
[Music]
I knew that I wanted to change my life I
knew that I didn’t want to go down the
path that I was going down because I got
scared and fear of the great motivator
I think that success in business is a
very difficult thing to achieve and it’s
more difficult today probably than any
other time despite the vast number of
opportunities and as it relates to
finding your calling in terms of what
the opportunity or the entrepreneurial
adventure is going to be it has to be
linked to something that you are so
passionate and crazed about that you’re
willing to knock down walls and climb
out and do the things that are going to
put yourself in a position of
sacrificing so many other things for its
success and you can only do that when
there’s a compelling underlying feeling
that you have that this is something I’m
going to fight to the death and without
that I think it’s going to be a
commodity based experience not only for
the customer but for you and I think you
can’t really succeed at the levels that
you want to unless you find that thing
that you’re so passionate excited and in
love with and I think because you’ve got
it along the way you’re going to have to
convince so many other people to believe
in you and the idea any opportunity and
the struggle and the obstacles that are
going to come can over only be overcome
by this passion that you have in which
you’re going to be able to get people to
follow you over the over those hurdles I
know it sounds a little bit sophomoric
but it’s so true
[Music]
hey first of all I’d say starting a
business is not for everyone
yeah so I generally starting a business
I say number one is have a high pain
threshold so the friend of mine has got
a good thing which is that starting a
company is like eating glasses during
service okay that’s that’s generally
what happens because when you first
start a company there’s lots of optimism
and things of things are great and then
so happiness at first is high then you
encounter all sorts of issues and
Happiness will steadily decline and then
you’ll go through a whole world of hurt
and then eventually you’ll if you
succeed and in most cases you will not
succeed and and tears almost came very
close to failure then if you succeed
then after a long time you will finally
get back to happiness
failures you know but the main thing is
you might have a lot of little small
steps every one of those steps seem to
not take you anywhere and money it
didn’t get you much more money didn’t
get any money but you know you’re kind
of proud you show them off to friends
even your mind was increasing your
methods of coming up with better
solutions was increasing you not only
have to now read a book on how things
are done you can write the book and
that’s called creativity you create new
things yourself success with the
progressive realisation of a worthy
ideal anyone that has a goal and they’re
moving towards it they’re successful and
so you want to begin to take some
chances you want to begin to challenge
yourself and they could okay to fail and
learn from your failure
[Music]
I wake up to have a chance to meet new
people and learn things it’s a people
game right like the people you surround
yourself with over time or the people
that kind of influence what you end up
doing further on and I just I saw so
many people starting companies that was
like seems like a lot of fun I want to
try that too
[Music]
anybody can do this crap I’ve spent 20
years trying to tell people like pick up
a camera it doesn’t take much sometimes
you just need somebody to be like it’s
this simple dude and give you three
steps and suddenly you’re like that’s it
I can take it the rest of the way
getting started is always the hardest
part
yeah the best business models in the
world are the ones where you like ask
people what they want and they tell you
and you go and you build it like every
now and then you have to read between
the lines because no one at the
beginning of Instagram was like I want a
photo sharing app no one in fact very
few people but when we built it they
were like oh it no I don’t want a photo
sharing app that just does what I know
photo-sharing apps do I do want a photo
sharing app that makes my photos look
cool some of the greatest work comes
from pain or some great word comes from
and love from loss it’s like wanting to
be the best at whatever you do never
stop it to you the best like I don’t
believe in doing anything halfway I
believe in going all the way so never
stop
[Music]
you know you can’t change the way you
are wired much but you can change a lot
of what you do with that wiring when you
write down the qualities of that person
that you’d like to buy to ten percent of
look at that list and ask yourself is
there anything on that list I couldn’t
do the answer is there aren’t there will
won’t be and when you look to the person
yourself short and you look at those
qualities that you don’t like if you see
any of those in yourself he get tells
them whatever it may be selfishness you
can get rid of that I mean that is not
ordained and if you follow that and Ben
Franklin did this and my old boss Ben
Graham did this of early ages and their
young teens they just then grant looked
around and he said who do I admire you
know and we want to be admired himself
and he said you know why do I buy these
other people and he said if I admire
them for these reasons maybe other
people admire me if I behave in a
similar manner and he decided what kind
of a person they wanted to be and if you
follow that at the end you’ll be the
person you want to buy ten percent off I
mean that’s the goal in the end and it’s
it’s something that’s achievable by by
everybody in this room
[Music]
[Music]
we all go through hard times we all go
through depression we all do go through
doubt trust me everybody has a hard road
that is what makes you a person and
those difficult moments are what build
your character sometimes you just got to
get up and get done because sometimes we
have to pull yourself up and you have to
push forward even if you want to stay in
bed
[Music]
they constantly seek criticism a well a
well thought-out critique of whatever
you’re doing is as valuable as gold and
you should seek that from everyone you
can but particularly your friend
[Music]
my thing is this I keep my eyes on the
prize
I never focus on things outside the ring
my focus is the guy that’s in front of
me I always had a dream and my dream was
to be the best no matter what happens
[Music]
see we can’t control the thoughts that
come in our minds but we can control the
thoughts that we dwell on
[Music]
now why did I say that entrepreneurship
is the solution to all problems because
entrepreneurship in my view is not about
business it’s about the willingness to
take responsibility for your own life so
anybody can be an entrepreneur in any
situation whatsoever you don’t have to
be a business owner for that you are an
entrepreneur as long as you stand up and
say I am responsible for what happens to
me and I am taking ownership of my life
and I will do what is necessary to make
the results that I want to happen
[Music]
[Music]
I had the privilege of going to a Marine
base once and talking to Marines about
how they plan their next move there’s
this phrase called bias towards action
the idea that you can spend all of your
time thinking about what the perfect
next move is trying to plan am I going
to work at Google am I going to work at
Microsoft like which one Kinsey or Bain
like the next perfect move and spending
a tremendous amount of time trying to
figure that out
the Marines say you can spend all the
time you want but by the time you
figured it out you’re dead so like
sometimes you need to make a trade-off
of what is the action I can take with
the appropriate amount of information
and risk to move because moving and
progress is what gets us to the next
step by moving and learning it all adds
up that summation of your experience
over the last 10 years is what makes you
into the thing tomorrow that will be
successful all the other jobs that I had
offered there were like two or three a
couple of startup one at Microsoft one
of Google I took the lowest salary of
anyone any of the offers that I had
because I wanted to work in a specific
job at Google I didn’t care what job it
was actually I just cared that it was at
Google and I would surround myself by
amazing people that was the first lesson
that I learned just like go to where the
people are short term long term trade
offs just go to where the people are of
course we look for disconfirming a
little
one of the directors said very simply we
should make a list of everything that
irritates a customer and we should
eliminate those defects one by one and
of course that is the way to compete on
a service business involves continuing
fanaticism and so forth one of the
reasons we walk the little company and
Logan Utah is that we like the service
at ethos of the place and their
recruitment methods
[Music]
well isn’t to be the best every day the
goal isn’t out to outdo your competition
every day
that’s a finite construction finite
players play to be bet to beat the
people around them infinite players play
to be better than themselves to wake up
every single day and say how can we make
our company a better version of itself
today than it was yesterday
how can we create a product this week
that’s better than the product we
created last week we also have to play
the instant game it’s not about being
ranked number one it’s not about having
more followers on Twitter than your
friends it’s not about outdoing anyone
it’s about how to outdo yourself it’s
not about selling more books or getting
more Ted views than somebody else it’s
about how to make sure that the work
that you’re producing is better than
your work you’ve produced before you are
your competition and that is what
ensures you stay in the game the longest
and that is what ensures you find joy
because the joy comes not from
comparison but from advancement
[Music]
I just didn’t spend money on myself I
just dumped all the profit back in the
business and we were buying vintage
stuff you know four years that it costs
five ten and fifteen fifty dollars and
you’re selling it for you know one
hundred two hundred thousand I mean I
bought things for $8.00 that I’ve sold
for a thousand and that’s like that’s
really good cash flow right I didn’t
know what that word even meant you know
but it was just like it looked really
good just like building in the bank
[Music]
[Music]
the separation of talent and skill is
one of the the the greatest
misunderstood concepts for people who
are trying to excel who have dreams that
want to do things talent you have
naturally skill is only developed by
hours and hours and hours of beating on
your craft
[Music]
I think that’s actually a really
interesting part of this for me is and I
mean being in a place like this we’re
obviously a lot of you guys are thinking
about starting these starting companies
and you know for me so much of the
lesson that that I feel like I’ve
learned is I feel like it’s really hard
to decide to start a company right you
know Facebook I didn’t started to start
a company I started it because I really
wanted this thing personally and I
believe that it should exist globally
although I wasn’t quite sure that we
would be able to play a role in doing
that it was mostly just through kind of
like wanting to build it and having it
be this hobby and getting people around
me excited that it eventually kind of
evolved into and got the momentum to
become a company but I never really
understood the psychology of deciding
that you want to start a company before
you understand what you want to do and
this gets back to the question of why
did we why did we first open it at
colleges that had competitors I have
this big fear I think of getting locked
into doing things that aren’t actually
the most impactful things and to me this
is like the trait that entrepreneurs
have is they just have this like
laser-like ability to go find where they
can have the most impact and you know
when you take on a new project
especially if you hire people or start a
company you’re doing that project and I
mean there are ways they’re obviously
different ways that it can exit and all
that but I think having the flexibility
to explore a lot of different things
which you can do when you’re in college
which is one of the amazing things about
being in college is you can work on all
these hobbies and encode a lot of stuff
and try a lot of different things it’s
this amazing flexibility that I think
most people take for granted and once
you decide okay I’m going to start a
company I’m going to do it with someone
else you immediately now need to
convince someone else if you want to
change your mind on something and I
think people really undervalued the
option value and flexibility I think
explore what you want to do before
committing is really like the key thing
and keep yourself flexible and know I
think that that’s yeah I agree yeah but
I think in it you can definitely do that
within the framework of a company but I
think you have to be wary about starting
a company too rigidly because you’re
going to change what you do I mean
people talk about pivot all the time as
if it’s like it doesn’t didn’t your
thing did
works – pivoted Facebook pivoted many
times i’ma just that you know we kind of
we work college and then we were not
college and then we were just a website
and then we were a platform right and um
you’re going to change what you do so
the first step before even thinking
about investing is getting out of debt
once person gets out of debt now you
want to think about money building money
creation right and money savings like
how to save on taxes and so on and so
forth and that’s what I really like like
the focus of people is getting their
beliefs straight and then building up
wealth right and then once they build up
well there’s this idea of you know
letting the best for the future and so
on and you know what are you investing
for the future for and usually they’ll
say well retirement and that’s only
going to be like let’s say you know for
some people they might not even reach
there other people might be like three
years five years maybe it’s going to be
ten years maybe maybe longer something
like that but why would you leave your
whole life and miss out on all your
younger years because you want to have
some money and if you live a frugal life
in your younger years believe me when
you get older what are you in a volume
in you’re more like these are going to
go on vacation or something like that
easy like I think there’s issues over
emphasis on the retirement people can
focus better on getting financially
independent and financially free and
enjoying their life while they’re young
and also doing good things and they have
that energy and time and and really
bring the happiness that everybody is
looking for hundred thousand lives Oh
[Music]
but understand that naturally nobody
would teachers to the world could care
less you have to persuade them and you
have to show that you’re the one person
out there that can do it and so it’s not
just about doing focus groups it’s not
just about you know double-checking your
vision it really is about integrating
the concept of testing our ideas
rigorously throughout the product
development process out the marketing
process even as a scalar
[Music]
[Music]
and I think the reality is just you know
not quite so glamorous they’re sort of
there’s no glee side to being an
entrepreneur and also just more
importantly with wood you’re actually
spending your time on is just a lot of
hard work say I mentioned this but
you’re basically just sitting at your
desk heads down focused answering
customers customer support emails doing
sales figuring out hard engineering
problems so it’s really important that
you kind of like go in with with eyes
wide open
[Music]
I think serious you got to make sure
that that you whatever you’re doing is a
great product or service but it has to
be really great and I go back to what I
say earlier where if you’re a new
company I mean this it’s like some new
industry or new market that if it’s an
untapped market or then then you have
more ability to you this is the standard
is lower for your product or service but
if you’re entering anything where
there’s an existing marketplace against
large entrenched competitors then your
product or service needs to be much
better than that it can’t be a little
bit better because then you put yourself
in the shoes of a consumer and they say
why would you buy it as continuing or is
going to buy the trusted brand unless
there’s a big difference so a lot of
times you know entrepreneur will come up
with something which is only slightly
better and it’s can’t just be slightly
better set of you a lot better
[Music]
if anybody ever knocks you down in life
guy who tells you you can’t do something
or you know just put the downer on what
you’re trying to do in general don’t
don’t take don’t let these things get
you don’t let what these people say have
any effect on you whatsoever you have
the control of your future the control
of you is all in your mind your mind and
your hands trust me if you want
something you you can go out there and
get it and and it might take a bit
longer than you first thought doesn’t
matter you keep going you will get there
in the end if you want it that bad you
will
don’t let anybody take control of your
future
other than
[Music]
so I have like more friends that are
billionaires and I’ve won one mention
with conventions that are billionaires
and I’ve always wanted to be a
billionaire state 7 so I’m almost
halfway there and I think can you
surround yourself with the people who
are actually you’re trying to go we get
there a whole lot faster cause we tend
to be half the mistake you know you’ve
kind of marginalized the risk and so you
know if I give you a really good advice
so you don’t need to read the next book
it’s not going to unlock your books
educate you but don’t make you apply
anything and it you know if you want to
attend a course courses are great two
events are great because you know you
learn a lot but the application and the
execution is still up you a mentor on
the other hand will hold you accountable
you know he’ll make you responsible and
he’ll challenge you to really execute on
for the stuff that you’re learning so if
give me an idea the dime-a-dozen if you
can’t execute on it it’s worth nothing
you have a most brilliant idea in the
world all the town of the world and if
you know
[Music]
I’ve never really viewed myself as
particularly talented where I excel is
ridiculous sickening work ethic you know
while the other guys sleeping I’m
working what other guys eaten I’m
working there’s no easy way around it no
matter how talented you are your talent
is going to fail you if you’re not
skilled you know if you don’t study if
you don’t work really hard and dedicate
yourself to being better every single
day you’ll never be able to communicate
with with people with your artistry the
way that you want so the only thing
[Music]
[Music]
let’s say you’re the leader in a
particular arena if your competitor
focused and you’re already the leader
then where does your energy come from
whereas if your customer focused and
you’re already the leader customers are
never satisfied so you always if your
customer focused you’re always waking up
how can we make that customer say wow
how can we you know our energy our
patches we want to impress our customers
we wanted to say wow it’s that kind of
divine discontent that comes from
observing customers and noticing that
you know things can always be better
[Music]
being honorable team you got to figure
out what that balance is for yourself
you can’t take on too much but at the
same time you don’t want to just do one
thing I like to spend a lot of plates
because you put all your eggs in one
basket don’t work out you’re bored and
wasted all that time but the fact of the
matter is back in the day we used to
make a movie and then work on just the
movie and wait till the movie was out
and then figure out what to do next and
now you know it would lead sometimes to
like let’s say you made your zero
you make the movie over the course of a
while it comes out and as I said it’s
over like in a week or two weeks so I
like to spit as many plates as possible
that way like this thing in panning out
or this thing is too far off in the
distance or this ain’t going to happen
to where I want it boom we could shift
over to something else so that’s why I
do it but when you do it be careful you
got to find the right balance I wish
there’s a formula to give you there’s
not it’s all up to you that’s inside of
you just do as much as you can before
you get to the foot we’re like a day
game work
[Music]
[Music]
to express oneself honestly not lying to
oneself and to express myself honestly
no fact my friend is very hard to do
it’s not difficult to learn and speak
the word the hard thing the difficulty
me
it’s behind what is the meaning what’s
all on the expression and feelings
behind those words now I think the
successful ingredient in it was because
I was being really well myself life and
did that part just express myself like I
say honestly express myself
[Music]
boys you must strive to find your own
voice because the longer you wait to
begin the less likely you are to find it
at all
Thoreau said most men lead lives of
quiet desperation
don’t be resigned to that break out
[Music]
if you want a thing bad enough to glide
and fight to work day and night to give
up your time your peace and your sleep
and if you gladly sweat water and prep
for it and plan for it and lose all your
terror of the opposition for it and if
you simply go up to that thing that you
want with all of your capacity if
neither cold poverty famine or ghost
sickness the pain of body and brain can
keep you away from the thing that you
want you’ll get
[Music]
reflecting now back in my career like my
dedication is what made me successful
because I’ll be honest I wasn’t the most
genetically blessed guy on stage I just
had a lot of dedication commitment I was
relentless
it all begins kind of with you so you
know that’s about belief you can’t
expect a bunch of people out there to
believe you are this thing unless you be
this thing yourself
[Music]
to be successful you have to be focused
on the wife and I think both of these
people mentions because this is really
important to be successful you have to
be focused on why you are what why would
achieve what we want to achieve
if I was to ask you you know you wanna
make money the question is why
what is money by itself isn’t going to
make you happy is it going to give you
contented I don’t think it is by itself
one of the great contentment there are
many people in the world who have so
much money I want to do is a movie but
yet they might overdose on drugs or you
know a little so that they might commit
suicide or this or that because what do
by itself simply does not bring in
happiness and contentment so you have to
focus on why you need just goals why you
want to achieve that goal whether the
financial goals with a location well
whatever it is wired our hotel right now
why am I here
[Music]
how many people have you met in your
life who have said things like I had
that idea I knew about that or I I was
so close but I gave up I think sometimes
a difference between success and failure
winning and losing is a very fine line
between those people who will continue
to move forward
[Music]
[Music]
often I just want to ask or I want to
find out it drives people some people
are really driven by money and I don’t
think that’s a bad thing it’s just like
not usually a fit here some people are
really driven by like wanting to make
the world a better place some people are
really driven by wanting to learn like
what drives people like what gets them
up in the morning what like where does
the fire come from because like the best
people in the world just have a fire
about something not about everything but
about something
[Music]
[Music]
this is my time I own my life I had to
start thinking I had the ability to do
this and I had the mindset that I’m
unstoppable
there is something in you that can
transcend your circumstances that can
transcend the nulls and rejections that
can transcend anything that you’re going
[Music]
most startups that fail do it ultimately
because they did not make something that
people wanted they made something that
you know that they thought people would
want but they were either in denial
about it about you know whether it was
actually any good or somebody else came
along and made something that people
wanted even more
[Music]
rediff other people are putting in
40-hour work weeks and you’re putting in
100 hour work weeks then even if you’re
doing the same thing you know that you
will achieve in four months what it
takes them a year to achieve
[Music]
[Music]
when you start with a your company
you’re gonna have a lot of anxiety and
stress and fear and your job is to
transform that into self-confidence and
to give you kind of that you know the
ability to say I have clarity I trust
myself I have a feeling for my vision I
can see that happening I work with
entrepreneurs all the time that kind of
shift from you know anxiety to trust
that’s the most important thing that
they can go through
[Music]
but what we really need to do is think
about what is the smallest possible test
that I can run for this idea for this
concept for this theory get it out there
and get customers views because your
customers are going to be the ones to
tell you if it’s really working or not
[Music]
what this all comes down to is doing
something exceptional for users whether
it’s in community whether it’s in
connection or whether it’s in design
this is our big advantage is that we can
actually get away with you it we can
make this the core part of why we’re
doing business
[Music]
about this two sides of things and I
don’t think a lot of people really
understand right there’s there’s one
side of pain that’s the suffering and
the discomfort side of thing because
that hurt you remember what that feels
like
within there’s another side of pain
that’s cold effort
it’s called glory it’s called if you can
find a way to push through pain there’s
something breathing on the other side of
it
I do believe that organizations human
organization turn apparently unstable
they will fall over and you have to work
to keep them up life but they fall
slowly most people don’t notice it they
let their success
I hear they blind them they don’t see it
falling over the following takes place
love at the flats is quick you have to
do constant assessments you have to look
for the hard crews
[Music]
we are generally a little bit forward
leaning when it comes to trying to make
progress happen for me it’s about
problem-solving and loving to solve
problems and so if you are passionate
about solving problems is um sometimes I
just like to describe this as like
imagine a really great math professor
with no problems right the great a great
math professor somebody who who wants
the hardest problems who wants to solve
them and love solving that’s kind of how
I feel about my work and so it’s not
about a man in a hurry it’s more about
really interesting problems in the world
and how you lean into them and solve
things that people maybe thought weren’t
even possible to solve and that’s fine
[Music]
I always want to better myself I don’t
consider myself I don’t surround
consider other designers competition you
know for me my competition is me from
the season before I’m very ambitious I
always want to better myself I never sit
back and say well
[Music]
I knew that I wanted to change my life I
knew that I didn’t want to go down the
path that I was going down because I got
scared and fear of the great motivator
I think that success in business is a
very difficult thing to achieve and it’s
more difficult today probably than any
other time despite the vast number of
opportunities and as it relates to
finding your calling in terms of what
the opportunity or the entrepreneurial
adventure is going to be it has to be
linked to something that you are so
passionate and crazed about that you’re
willing to knock down walls and climb
out and do the things that are going to
put yourself in a position of
sacrificing so many other things for its
success and you can only do that when
there’s a compelling underlying feeling
that you have that this is something I’m
going to fight to the death and without
that I think it’s going to be a
commodity based experience not only for
the customer but for you and I think you
can’t really succeed at the levels that
you want to unless you find that thing
that you’re so passionate excited and in
love with and I think because you’ve got
it along the way you’re going to have to
convince so many other people to believe
in you and the idea any opportunity and
the struggle and the obstacles that are
going to come can over only be overcome
by this passion that you have in which
you’re going to be able to get people to
follow you over the over those hurdles I
know it sounds a little bit sophomoric
but it’s so true
[Music]
hey first of all I’d say starting a
business is not for everyone
yeah so I generally starting a business
I say number one is have a high pain
threshold so the friend of mine has got
a good thing which is that starting a
company is like eating glasses during
service okay that’s that’s generally
what happens because when you first
start a company there’s lots of optimism
and things of things are great and then
so happiness at first is high then you
encounter all sorts of issues and
Happiness will steadily decline and then
you’ll go through a whole world of hurt
and then eventually you’ll if you
succeed and in most cases you will not
succeed and and tears almost came very
close to failure then if you succeed
then after a long time you will finally
get back to happiness
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