I would say that the lesson learned for
me to anybody else out there interested
in starting a business is please find
something you’re passionate about
because it’s so much work it’s so much
time it’s so much effort but if the
subject matter is something that you you
genuinely love to be involved with it’s
it’s not gonna be that big of a drag and
it’s not gonna be that bit much work
it’s gonna be incredibly exciting and
rewarding because to your point you’ll
feel like you’re living your the life
that you’re meant to live a company is
simply a group of people and as a leader
of people you have to be a great
listener you have to be a great
motivator
you have to be very good at praising and
looking for the best in people you know
people are no different from pliers if
you water flowers they flourish if you
praise people they flourish and and
that’s a critical attribute of a leader
your actions you should always feel in
life hanging in your jobs your actions
are somehow have a good purpose behind
them they better the world in some way
don’t ever do something just because
it’s an assignment you better believe
that it’s there is some end end goal
that is good for the world almost every
new invention and computer and all came
about from those ideals I mean I really
want to help the world communicate so
much you know other people inspired me
into a revolution I want to be a part of
changing things want to be a part of
better education what the apart of the
young person having so much mastery over
technology to be able to do things they
never could before
those were the goods that were pushing
me it is almost almost without those
Goods I wouldn’t even design the
computer if you’re gonna start your own
thing you know maybe you have a grand
grand vision of like all the different
features it’s gonna have and all the
different you know revenue lines you’re
gonna do and you know keep keep that
vision but do one piece of that first
and do it really really really well it’s
so much better to do a few things well
then many things poorly
you can’t you can’t fulfill your full
passion whether it’s through music or
art or dance if you’ve lost sight of the
things that make you a real person
and I had to like refine myself almost
like wow what is it that makes me me and
once I refined that it’s like everything
else came together again I was able to
write again I was able to create but
without those things then you lose sight
of everything the definition of values
is there the behaviors or principles
that you religiously adhere to within
your company annoy say religious I mean
that no amount of data will sway you and
it from from those principles and the
degree to which that you have the
courage to maintain your conviction
around those ideas is the degree to
which you’re going to be successful over
the long term
so many things go wrong when you’re
starting a company and often I think
people ask you know what mistakes should
you avoid making and you know my answer
the question is don’t even bother trying
to avoid mistakes because you’re gonna
make tons of mistakes right and the the
important thing is actually learning
quickly from whatever mistakes you make
and not giving up right and I mean there
are things every single year of
Facebook’s existence that could have
killed us or made it so that it just
seemed like moving forward and making a
lot of progress just seemed intractable
but you just want to bounce back and you
learn and nothing is impossible you just
have to kind of keep running through the
walls
basically the theory is we’re all born
thinking like entrepreneurs you know
like when we crawl and we thought and we
fall you know we’re trying to walk we
figure it out entrepreneurs always
figure out you’re born thinking like an
entrepreneur that you know what I’m
gonna figure this out regardless and I’m
gonna keep going now often the challenge
is families and friends convince you not
to be an entrepreneur because when you
say I’m gonna change the world moving
the most famous person I’m gonna save
the seals they say don’t do that you it
didn’t happen before yeah it’s never
happy you’re gonna you’re gonna you’re
gonna fail you can embarrass us they put
the limiters on it they put the limiters
they put the blinders on you but true
entrepreneurs will just keep figuring it
out if you’ve got a movie fan you’ve got
a movie maker like there’s I’ve never
met a filmmaker that wasn’t a movie buff
first I don’t care who it is whether
it’s like me or great directors like
Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino they’re
hardcore movie fans who still imbibe so
I don’t think it’s possible to be a
filmmaker unless you’re a film fan so I
always encourage everyone in those q and
A’s where I’m like if you’re here
listening to me talk about this stuff
you are not a film fan your filmmaker
you just have made a film yet go out and
make your film because who knows better
how to do this stuff than the pretty
people that consume it on a regular
basis
we’re not different I was you i sat
there watching other people’s stuff and
I just got to a place where I was like
why then why not me
like if this counts as a movie why can’t
I make a movie and stuff which is funny
because that’s what my movies make
people do that like you know Gosar’s
counts I’m making a movie and that’s
that’s a good call to arms on I’m not
even insulted by that I’m like good
whatever makes you step forward and try
yourself expressions the only reason
anyone knows my name or my work and I’ve
been doing this for 22 years I haven’t
had to get a real job is because it
started with the first step have gone
like why can’t I do that you know like I
see people do it and that’s interesting
and I like their stories but never saw
my world represented up on the screen
and that’s where I looked for myself I
never found myself in a classroom never
found myself in a church man closest
moments I’ve ever had to finding out who
I am they’ve been in art sitting in a
movie theater watching a movie man it’s
the dark mirror you see yourself
reflected in a weird way in reading and
listening to music watching TV these
were the closest moments where I was
like oh I think this is who I am stiffly
good so that’s that’s within everybody
the people I talk to you thought I was
crazy and like it’s very possible in an
alternate universe I might have been
wrong but just the fact that people were
taking more photos and that each and
every person had a camera in their
pocket meant that there was no way that
there was going to be something around
photos that would happen in in the
valley and people starting companies
around it
the question would be can you compete
against the big guys and we were just
unique enough and we positioned herself
in such a way that we were
differentiated and people wanted to use
it and not just like kind of started the
flywheel
and you know what everybody wants to
hear what they already believe to be
true and so the last thing they want to
hear is an original idea that
contradicts their belief system so it’s
very hard to even bring that kind of
stuff up but those are the things those
are the only things things that you
believe that everybody around you
doesn’t believe when you’re right that
create real value in the world
everything else people already know
there’s no value created it’s just
business as usual so it’s so important
to think for yourself
[Music]
don’t solicit feedback on your product
your idea or your business just for
validation purposes be really careful
about that you want to tell the people
that can help move your idea forward but
if you’re just looking to your friend
coworker husband wife for validation be
careful because out of love and concern
a lot of people will express some
concerns and it can stop a lot of
multi-million dollar ideas right in
their tracks in the beginning and if
you’re really trying to achieve
something then so to say hey here’s my
vision and I’d like to say be obstinate
about your vision but be really flexible
about your tactics what does that mean
it’s sort of like think big act small
what that means is it’s important to
have a vision of where you’re trying to
go how you get there is a series of
experiments now you can call them excel
yrs when they don’t work but they’re
learning experiments where you try
things see what works try the next thing
but I think that’s what people always
have to ask themselves do you believe in
the concept of what you’re doing do you
believe that there’s really they’re
there because I can figure out the right
you know product package or the right
way to reach users if you believe that
then you know keep keep scrapping
because usually there’s a way
[Music]
your online limitations are those which
you set up in your own mind or permit
others to set up for you but it’s things
like knowing who you are inside who you
are and believe it in that person and
remember the through life and say them
today it’s a good person I am and I have
some good honest and a good hand on my
shoulders and I don’t want to be
corrupted by the successes I’m gonna
have in life and in business I don’t
want to be corrupted and going different
ways if I make a lot of money I still
want to be that good you’re human who
thinks well like I said don’t don’t set
yourself up for those frowns you know
and you don’t always have to win every
single argument you can think your way
and believe in your thoughts are good in
your own brain and somebody else doesn’t
agree with you it’s okay they just think
a different way there’s no need to look
at the world of oh we’ve all got to be
in competition it’s my way everyone has
to be just like me or they’re no good
they have to use my computer then to go
to my school they have to be my country
you know they have to do things my way
that’s not the way to think be very open
to a lot of different people have
differences and we can all still see
each other as good and we get along a
lot better and have a lot more peace
that way acceptance of others is the key
what we really want to do is raise our
level of awareness so the expectation
becomes a natural state for our mind to
be in and we’ve already mentioned that
expectation is a mindset it’s a mental
state and you’re going to find that that
state comes to you with an increase of
awareness
I never give up and never give up I go
my own way risk my life so this way I
always tell that the people not because
one one things fall down you just give
up never give up never give up one day
you will succeed
I think it’s really to be true to
yourself and listen as much as one is
able to other people whose opinions you
respect and look up to but in the end it
has to come from from you and you you
can’t really worry too much by looking
to the left or the right about what the
competition might be doing or other
people in your field might be doing it
has to be true vision
[Music]
and there are a lot of people from whom
we can learn a lot and I think like you
know the one piece of advice is like
don’t underestimate anyone you come
across a Brent like whether they’re you
know a blue collar worker waiting for
the bus or they’re you know helping you
at you’re there the server bartender at
the restaurant or they’re a
lower-ranking employee I mean the
smartest leaders I’ve ever seen have
always gone around the room and asked
for everybody’s opinion and oftentimes
the best methodology is to start with
the perfect experience of just one
person get that right and then forget
how to scale something great instead of
scaling something not so great and then
trying to improve it that’s really hard
to do
you’re really trying to solve a new
problem in a different way you have to
come to problems with beginner’s mind
right not knowing something can be a
very powerful tool in to accomplishing
it because you don’t know that it’s not
possible that’s what doing a startup is
not realizing that something is
impossible in doing it anyway
we get to create any company we want
right we get to create the reason for
its existence we get to create the rules
of the game and who we hire and how we
hire them and who can stay and who can’t
stay right it’s beautiful and so I just
would encourage everyone that as we all
contemplate life to try to question the
assumptions that we live by and the
default options are given to us and
expand our thinking to wonder what we
really can do with our lives
your job is to make sure that you stay
as agile as possible so that you can
find what will be your company as you
grow and it comes down to the fact you
need to iterate as quickly as possible
to find fit
a lot of people don’t want to try things
that might not work you know what I’m
saying everyone wants to try the short
thing and there is no such thing as the
short thing and if you’re looking at
somebody else’s work to try to gauge
your own as I have for years you will
constantly feel like a failure instead
concentrate on telling your story like
this is the thing I’m real big on your
voice is your only currency that’s it
that’s all you got the things you see
and perceive the prism through which you
process all the information that you
take in and sing of the most unique
supercomputer on the planet unique from
everybody else that perspective is
valuable insanely valuable because
nobody else could give it but you and
that’s why it’s always better to shoot
weird or shoot different or shoot
original as opposed to shoot what works
like or go for a successful model or as
I’ve tried to do try to be John Hughes
or something like that you’ll never
succeed that way if you try using your
own voice you try expressing your own
thoughts that nobody else can do that’s
your best shot at success because that’s
the thing that you bring to the table
that nobody else could bring and if your
timing is fantastic you say the right
thing at the right time you could have a
career so when you get into this
business they tend to like tell you to
shape it up and like take off the edges
and make it look like this hey that work
do that but always shoot for that thing
that you want to do
[Music]
a wealth 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
friends performing under pressure
whether it’s me or anybody else is the
same
you know I have the same pressures as
anyone else there’s time there’s
performance there’s financial I mean
there you know there’s deadlines my
pressures are not unique the situations
may be different or you know but but
everybody has the same kinds of
pressures but what I found or what I
find fascinating is the interpretation
of the stimuli if let me let me explain
so I was watching the Olympics this last
Summer Olympics and I was amazed at how
bad the questions were that the
reporters would ask all the athletes and
almost always they asked the same
question whether they were about to
compete or after they competed were you
nervous right and to a tee all the
athletes went no right and what I
realized is it’s not that they’re not
nervous it’s their interpretation of
what’s happening in their bodies I mean
what it what happens when you’re nervous
right your heart rate starts to go
you’re you know you sort of get a little
tense you get a little sweaty right you
have expectation of what’s coming and we
interpreted that is I’m nervous now
what’s the interpretation of excited
your heart rate starts to go you become
you’re anticipating what’s coming right
you get a little sort of like tense it’s
all the same thing it’s the same stimuli
except these athletes these these
Olympic quality athletes have learned to
interpret the stimuli that the rest of
us would say as nervous as excited they
also the same thing no I’m not nervous
I’m excited and so I’ve actually
practiced it just to tell myself when I
start to get nervous that this is
excitement you know and so where when
you I used to feed speaking for the
large audience and somebody’d say how do
you feel it’s a little nervous now when
somebody says how do you feel like
really excited actually and it it came
from just sort of telling myself
no no this is excitement and it becomes
a little bit automatic later on but it’s
kind of a remarkable thing to deal with
pressure by interpreting what your body
is experiencing as excitement rather
than nerves and it’s really kind of
effective it makes you want to rush for
is rather than pull back and yet it’s
the same experience
the hardest thing to do is start you
have all these ideas and everyone has an
idea but it’s really about executing the
idea and building the idea and
attracting other people to help you work
on the idea that is the biggest
challenge but the way to begin is to get
the idea out of your head draw it out
you know talk about it program it if
you’re a programmer or make it if you’re
building something
[Music]
you are going to encourage incur a lot
of disappointment a lot of failure a lot
of pain a lot of setbacks a lot of
defeats but in the process of doing that
you will discover some things about
yourself that you don’t know right now
what you will realize is that you have
greatness within you what you’ll realize
is that you’re more powerful than you
can ever begin to imagine what you will
realize is that you’re greater than your
circumstances that you don’t have to go
through life being a victim
[Music]
the road to success is through
commitment and through the strength to
drive through that commitment when it
gets hard and it is going to get hard
and you’re gonna want to quit sometimes
but it’ll be colored by who you are and
more who you want to be
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 the 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]
now when I decided to leave the gym and
go independent this was already a goal
of mine I read out I’ve written out all
of my goals writing goals are very
important it was very important
I wrote my goals out and I think it was
like ten of them and then a year later
maybe two years later I went back to
that book and I swear to you everything
I’ve written now I hate it without even
thinking about it something powerful
about writing your goals
we’re not gonna always make the right
steps and sometimes you have to back up
and try again and if you’re in a
position where you can’t back up and try
again you’ve trapped yourself and the
system will set out honey pots for
people to get trapped in the system will
set out the ideas of retirement the
ideas of the golden years providing you
benefits providing you a healthy work
environment why well because they want
people to work for them they don’t want
people to realize their own dreams and
escape in the ass you gotta hire more
people and train them and they want to
set it up so that you stick around stick
around some sort of an unsatisfying
world it’s up to you to see that video
game problem to see that issue as it
comes up on the map known I think this
is a right turn to see all the problems
that could potentially lay in front of
you and calculate your your future and
then also look around all the people
that didn’t do it and look at the misery
that they’re in and learn that you don’t
want to be like them and then look at
the people that have kind of taken
chances and navigated their way what did
they do differently than you what would
objectivity do they have that maybe you
lack what insight into their own
mistakes are they willing to delve into
that you’re not that you step back and
go you know I don’t just don’t I just
don’t want to look at myself that
closely but the person who’s able to
look at themselves the closest it’s
gonna get the more rational results
[Music]
you will already know who you are and
that piece that piece that we’re after
lies somewhere beyond personality your
need for acceptance can make you
invisible in this world don’t let
anything stand in the way of the light
that shines through this form risk being
seen in all of your glory
[Music]
[Music]
and it’s a it’s okay to have a sense of
self-awareness and identity but it’s not
okay to have an ego because what an ego
does is the ego is a funny it’s a funny
it’s a funny entity within the human
brain it is on your side when you are
doing great
but have you ever noticed when you when
you think you’ve failed it’s the ego in
your mind that tells you it’s so bad
everyone’s looking at you you start to
sweat across your forehead and you’re
like oh my god I can’t believe this is
happening the whole entire world is
watching and none of it is true when
you’re doing great you shouldn’t listen
to that voice when you’re not doing as
great you should have listened to that
voice because it’s not good when you’re
doing great it’s gonna get you hooked on
that feeling so that when you come down
and and you because we our life is a
rollercoaster there’s valleys and peaks
when you hit that valley if you can’t
deal then you won’t make it
[Music]
I feel guilty at 10 to 5 if I’m not in
the office I know that might sound
strange to you but that’s a it’s there’s
a work ethic that I have to be half-dead
not to not go to work
when you give somebody your word your
word is so important once I gave her my
word I had to come even I I got the
million other things I got to do is say
well I gave up my word and that’s gonna
go a long way with you in business once
you give somebody your word it’s good to
get it in right everything that you need
to get done but when you give somebody
your word you gotta stand by because
what you start standing by your word
you’ll be able to build more
relationships and resources
[Music]
[Music]
but if you don’t you’re not done the
passion and love and your student for
money it’s dumb the emotional outcomes
will be disastrous that’s for my
experience this is really well know so I
don’t have to be up just for pure
passion and the love for what I’m doing
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 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
a bunch of people that will say yeah
well I’ve a family show you know it’s a
great idea for you to just go out there
and go crazy I have people to support
you need to listen
stop saying that stop saying any of
those things every single person who has
ever done anything worthwhile or
exceptional or difficult or
extraordinary anyone whether it’s great
artists or authors or mathematicians or
whatever the it is everyone encounters
difficulties there is no easy road it
does not exist it is impossible
everyone has issues if you have time to
pursue a hobby if you have time to do
anything in your life you can better
yourself and here’s one way you never
better yourself when you come up with
excuses for why other people are
successful you’re not that is dangerous
when you give yourself an escape yeah
well that’s easy for you to say you know
you do dude you need to trust me
everybody has a hard road I wanted to
jump out of windows several times during
my young life I wanted to jump in front
of a train just ended because too much
pressure not really but you know I’m
saying theoretically we all go through
hard times we all go through depression
we all do go through doubt and then
moments in your life where it’s relief
it difficult and you’re trying to figure
out what the your path is gonna be it’s
hardest but stefan and i we’re talking
about this before the podcast starts
that hay is what makes you a person and
those difficult moments are what build
your character show me a great man who’s
the son of a great man
it’s it’s very easy to be seduced by
doing things efficiently trying to do a
lot of things well I don’t believe
that’s the most important thing the most
important thing is picking the right
things to do in the first place and
that’s being effective versus just being
efficient so within a start-up its
success I don’t think is measured by how
many things you can do at once it’s
measured by how effectively you’re able
to pick the one or two things into the
highest priority and there’s always
going to be a seduction to get
distracted and focus on 20 things at
once and the most effective
entrepreneurs I know are very good at
focusing on one or two things and either
eliminating the rest delegating to other
people or outsourcing it so it’s not
done within the team but it’s actually
two third parties
one of the things that I do do before I
go to bed at night is I make a quick
list of the things that I know I have to
deal with of the next day and I try to
get those knocked out before noon
because from noon on it’s kind of like
the wild wild west I don’t know what’s
gonna happen I don’t know what new
issues gonna come up and so you want to
really be smart about your time to knock
out the things that you have – who do I
have to talk to what do I have to review
what do I have to do with a bank or an
employee or one of the businesses you
want to get out what I would call the
housekeeping you get the housekeeping
done in the morning and then you get to
kind of go farm the fields for the rest
of the day and part of the challenge or
part of the challenge for me at least is
that that lines get very blurry of when
the day actually shuts off and that can
present a real challenge to you know
your personal life and your friends and
in kind of that balance so it’s it’s
hard but the first part of my day is the
focus
and on this particular day when we got
to the end of the run there were some
free bagels and they had picnic tables
set up and on one side was a group of
volunteers on the table were boxes of
bagels and on the other side was a long
line of runners waiting to get their
free bagel so I said to my friend let’s
let’s get a bagel and he looked at me
and said that lines too long and I said
free bagel and he said I don’t want to
wait in line and I was like free bagel
and he says nah that’s it’s too long and
that’s when I realized that there’s two
ways to see the world some people see
the thing that they want and some people
see the thing that prevents them from
getting the thing that they want I could
only see the bagels
he could only see the line and so I
walked up to the line I leaned in
between two people put my hand in the
box and pulled out two bagels and no one
got mad at me because the rule is you
can go after whatever you want
you just cannot deny anyone else to go
after whatever they want
now I had to sacrifice choice I didn’t
get to choose which bagel I got I got
whatever I pulled out but I didn’t have
to wait in line
so the point is is you don’t have to
wait in line you don’t have to do it the
way everybody else has done it you can
do it your way you can break the rules
you just can’t get in the way of
somebody else getting what they want
[Music]
the other thing is is that you got to
work your butt off if you think that
you’re gonna go and accomplish something
really special and be the best in
anything in the world
and you think you can do it without
working you make a big mistake because
no matter what I did if it was a
bodybuilding or an acting or if it isn’t
in the political arena it always took a
lot a lot of work and you gotta put out
and you got the you know something like
a lot of sacrifices notice if you’re not
willing to work hard forget about it so
this is another vote that is very
important
[Music]
when you wake up in the morning and your
life means something to somebody other
than you that you have a purpose if you
don’t go do the things that you’re going
to do people’s lives will suffer and I
think that that kind of purpose that
like to live in service not to you but
to live in service to humanity to live
in service to your family to live in
service to your church to your city to
your country to the world living in
service is that I feel like that is the
purest form of joy
sometimes your life will be in a slump
just like sports some of the best
shooters can’t hit baskets different
times and games they get in a slump do
they sit on the sidelines and say you
know I adjusted hit a basket today
no they continue to execute I suggest to
you that if you are facing a challenge
don’t stop stay busy work your plan
continue to do those things that you
know that work for you after you have
evaluated yourself in the situation
continue to move stay busy stay busy
stay busy
[Music]
just have to have a total and complete
passion because there’s gonna be so many
dark moments you know I think the dark
moments are true for any entrepreneur or
any startup company I’m sure that you
talked to Steve Jobs and Apple you’d see
many many dark dark moments ours
happened to last a little longer than
most of them but you really emotionally
have to be prepared for those dark
moments mm-hmm I think every
entrepreneur I’ve ever spoken to which
would echo that yeah everything’s on the
line that’s the life of an entrepreneur
and so you’re gonna be into it you
better be prepared for that you know you
have two choices in life basically it’s
it’s basically to succeed or to fail you
know I’m saying and I’ve been the
negative Road and I’ve been the positive
Road and I would never give up the
positive road never I would never even
if you know I’m saying if I was the
biggest flop in the world
I only invest in things that I
understand and things that I use or
would use myself this is really really
really important
anytime I step outside of that is
usually when the universe kicks me in
the nuts really hard and I lose my money
I think it’s it’s critical to as an
entrepreneur scratch your own itch it
increases the odds of success or the
probability of success and then it’s as
an investor I look for people who are
scratching their own ass
passion is not an actionable word it’s
correct you know that those who do the
things that they’re passionate about do
better but it’s not helpful advice and
so the question is where does passion
come from passion is a result passion is
an energy
passion is the feeling you have when
you’re engaged in something that you
love passion is the feeling you have
that you would probably do this for free
you know and you can’t believe somebody
pays you to do it you know and I think
we mistake that passion is something we
do in our private lives but it shouldn’t
be done you know in our careers for
example and I’m a firm believer that you
are who you are and anybody who says I’m
different at home than I am at work and
one of those two places you’re lying and
the goal is to make everything you do in
home and it works something that you
have excitement to do so how do you find
the things that you’re excited to do
well it’s actually easier than you think
what are the things that you love to do
what are the things that you would do
for free 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 in
money it didn’t get you much more money
it 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 was 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 make it okay to
fail and learn from your failures
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 I
was like seems like a lot of fun I want
to try that too
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 and 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 wait 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
from 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 you
never stop
[Music]
[Music]
you know you 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 answers there aren’t
there won’t be and when you look at the
person just sell 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 yeah and then Franklin did
this and my old boss Ben Graham did this
early ages and their young teens they
just been grant looked around and he
said who do I admire you know and he
wanted to be admired himself and he said
you know why do I admire these other
people and he said if I admire them for
these reasons maybe other people will
admire me if I behave in a similar
manner and he and he decided what kind
of a person he 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
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 there’s some times
we have to pull yourself up and you have
to push forward even if you want to stay
in bed
it 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 friends
[Music]
[Music]
my thing is this I keep my eyes on the
prize I never focus on things outside
the rain
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
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]
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 gonna
work at Google am I gonna work at
Microsoft like which one McKinsey are
bein 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 out of startup one
at Microsoft one at 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 evidence 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’s
the way to compete in our service
business involves continuing fanaticism
and so forth
one of the reasons we bought the local
company in Logan Utah is that we like
the service that ethos of a place and
their recruitment methods
well is it 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 infinite 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 the work
you 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]
[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 for 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
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
and 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 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 start it to start
a company I started it because I really
wanted this thing personally and I
believed that it should exist globally
although I wasn’t quite sure that 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 this
gets back to the question of why did we
why did we first open it at colleges
that had competitors all right I have
this big fear I think of getting locked
into doing things that aren’t actually
the most impactful things I’m 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 and encode a lot of
stuff and try a lot of different things
if this amazing flexibility that I think
most people take for granted and once
you decide okay I’m gonna start a
company and I’m gonna 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 in 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
gonna change what you do I mean people
talk about pivots all the time as if
it’s like it didn’t didn’t your thing
didn’t work so you pivoted Facebook
pivoted many times
that you know we kind of we’d 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
gonna change what you do
so the first step before even thinking
about investing is getting out of debt
once the person gets out of debt now you
want to think about money building money
creation right and money savings like
how to save on tags and so on and so
forth
and that’s what I really like like the
focus of people is getting their belief
straight and then building up wealth all
right and then once they build up wealth
there’s this idea of you know let’s
invest 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 gonna 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 gonna 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 gonna buy them in your home right
you just gonna go on vacation or
something like that it’d be like I think
there’s this 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 when they have that energy and
time and and really bring the happiness
that everybody is looking for I mean
that’s
but understand that naturally nobody was
interested the world could care less you
have to persuade them and you have to
show that you’re the one person out
there
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 this concept of
testing our ideas rigorously throughout
the product development process out the
marketing process even as we scale up
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 what you’re actually
spending your time on is just a lot of
hard work today I mention this but
you’re basically just sitting at your
desk heads down focused answering
customers some 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 two is you could have make sure
that that you that whatever you’re doing
is a great product or service it has to
be really great and I go back to what I
was saying earlier where if you’re a new
company I mean unless it’s like some new
industry or new market that if it’s an
untapped market or then then you have
more ability to give this this the
standard is lower for your park service
but if you’re entering anything where
there’s an existing market place against
lodge and trenched 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 consumer you
always gonna 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 it’s not you can’t just
be slightly better it’s got to be a lot
better
[Music]
[Music]
if anybody ever knocks you down in life
guys or tells you you can’t do something
or you know just puts a downer on what
you’re trying to do in general don’t
don’t take don’t let these things get to
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 if 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
so I have like four friends that are
billionaires I have one one mentor those
two mentors that are billionaires I’ve
always wanted to be a billionaire since
87 so I’m almost halfway there and I
think if you surround yourself with the
people who are actually you’re trying to
go you get there a whole lot faster you
tend to make half the mistakes you know
you kind of marginalize the risk and so
it’s you know if I give you some really
good advice you know you don’t need to
read the next book it’s not gonna unlock
you my gender because books educate you
but they don’t make you apply anything
and it you know if you want to attend a
course courses are great too events are
great because you know you learn a lot
but the application and the execution is
still up to 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
idea is a dime a dozen if you can’t
execute on it it’s worth nothing
brilliant idea of the world all the town
in the world in the Phaedo
[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 a lot of other guys eating 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
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 customers say wow
how can we you know our energy are
passionate we want to impress our
customers we want them to say wow it’s
that kind of divine discontent it comes
from observing customers and noticing
that you know things can always be
better
if you don’t have a team you got to
figure out what that balances it for
yourself you can’t take on too much but
at the same time you don’t want it just
do one thing I like to spin a lot of
plates because you put all your eggs in
one basket don’t work out you’re bored
you’ve 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 Jersey girl
you make the movie over the course of a
while it comes out and then Foom that’s
it it’s over like in a week or two weeks
so I like to spin 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 gonna
happen the way I wanted 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 point
where like okay add a game or
[Music]
to express oneself honestly not lying to
oneself and to express myself honestly
know that my friend is tell me how to do
and it’s not difficult to learn and
speak the word the hard thing the
difficult thing it’s behind what is the
meaning what fall on the expression and
feelings behind those word now I think
the successful ingredient in it was
because I was being loosely yourself a
myself right and did that part just
express myself like I say honestly
express myself
[Music]
[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
if you want a thing bad enough to go out
and fight for to work day and night to
give up your time your peace and your
sleep flow and if you gladly sweat water
and fretboard and plan for it and lose
all your terror of the opposition for it
and if you simply go after that thing
that you want with all of your capacity
if neither cold poverty families your
gold sickness the pain of body and brain
can keep you away for the thing that you
want you’ll get
[Music]
reflecting now back on 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
to be successful you have to be focused
I think to be successful you have to be
focused
[Music]
there are many people in the world does
not bring you happiness and contentment
so you have to focus on why you need
just goes why do we achieve goals what
where’s the fibers will go with this and
location growth whatever it is why auto
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
often I just want to ask or I want to
find out what 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]
this is my time I own my life I had to
start thinking I have 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
through
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]
[Music]
I mean if 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
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
that they can go through
[Music]
but what you 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 using it because your
customers are going to be the ones to
tell you if it’s really working or not
what this all comes down to is doing
something exceptional for your 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 doing this we can
make this the core part of why we’re
doing business
[Music]
about this two sides of pain 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 hurts you
remember what that felt like
but then there’s another side of pain
let’s go effort
it’s called glory it’s called if you can
find a way to push through pain there’s
something great on the other side of it
I do believe that organizations human
organizations are inherently unstable
they will fall over and you have to work
to keep them upright but they fall
slowly most people don’t notice it they
let their success they blind them they
don’t see it falling over the following
takes place low but the collapse is
quick you have to do constant assessment
you have to look for the hard truths
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 I end sometimes I
just like to describe this as like
imagine a really great math professor
with no problems to solve right the
great a great math professor somebody
who who wants the hardest problems who
wants to solve them and love solving
them 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 do you
lean into them and solve things that
people maybe thought weren’t even
possible to solve and that’s fun
I always want to better myself I don’t
consider myself I don’t sorry I don’t
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 wow look
[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 is a 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
mountains 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
gonna fight to the death field and
without that I think it’s gonna 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 gonna have to
convince so many other people to believe
in you and the idea and the 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 though over
those hurdles I know it sounds a little
bit sophomoric but it’s so true
hey first of all I’d say starting a
business is not for everyone yeah yeah
so generally starting a business I’d say
number one is have a high pain threshold
for the friend of mine who’s got a good
saying which is that signing a company
is like eating glass the staring into
the abyss 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 Tesla almost didn’t
succeed came very close to failure then
if you succeed then after a long time
you were finally get back to happiness
me to anybody else out there interested
in starting a business is please find
something you’re passionate about
because it’s so much work it’s so much
time it’s so much effort but if the
subject matter is something that you you
genuinely love to be involved with it’s
it’s not gonna be that big of a drag and
it’s not gonna be that bit much work
it’s gonna be incredibly exciting and
rewarding because to your point you’ll
feel like you’re living your the life
that you’re meant to live a company is
simply a group of people and as a leader
of people you have to be a great
listener you have to be a great
motivator
you have to be very good at praising and
looking for the best in people you know
people are no different from pliers if
you water flowers they flourish if you
praise people they flourish and and
that’s a critical attribute of a leader
your actions you should always feel in
life hanging in your jobs your actions
are somehow have a good purpose behind
them they better the world in some way
don’t ever do something just because
it’s an assignment you better believe
that it’s there is some end end goal
that is good for the world almost every
new invention and computer and all came
about from those ideals I mean I really
want to help the world communicate so
much you know other people inspired me
into a revolution I want to be a part of
changing things want to be a part of
better education what the apart of the
young person having so much mastery over
technology to be able to do things they
never could before
those were the goods that were pushing
me it is almost almost without those
Goods I wouldn’t even design the
computer if you’re gonna start your own
thing you know maybe you have a grand
grand vision of like all the different
features it’s gonna have and all the
different you know revenue lines you’re
gonna do and you know keep keep that
vision but do one piece of that first
and do it really really really well it’s
so much better to do a few things well
then many things poorly
you can’t you can’t fulfill your full
passion whether it’s through music or
art or dance if you’ve lost sight of the
things that make you a real person
and I had to like refine myself almost
like wow what is it that makes me me and
once I refined that it’s like everything
else came together again I was able to
write again I was able to create but
without those things then you lose sight
of everything the definition of values
is there the behaviors or principles
that you religiously adhere to within
your company annoy say religious I mean
that no amount of data will sway you and
it from from those principles and the
degree to which that you have the
courage to maintain your conviction
around those ideas is the degree to
which you’re going to be successful over
the long term
so many things go wrong when you’re
starting a company and often I think
people ask you know what mistakes should
you avoid making and you know my answer
the question is don’t even bother trying
to avoid mistakes because you’re gonna
make tons of mistakes right and the the
important thing is actually learning
quickly from whatever mistakes you make
and not giving up right and I mean there
are things every single year of
Facebook’s existence that could have
killed us or made it so that it just
seemed like moving forward and making a
lot of progress just seemed intractable
but you just want to bounce back and you
learn and nothing is impossible you just
have to kind of keep running through the
walls
basically the theory is we’re all born
thinking like entrepreneurs you know
like when we crawl and we thought and we
fall you know we’re trying to walk we
figure it out entrepreneurs always
figure out you’re born thinking like an
entrepreneur that you know what I’m
gonna figure this out regardless and I’m
gonna keep going now often the challenge
is families and friends convince you not
to be an entrepreneur because when you
say I’m gonna change the world moving
the most famous person I’m gonna save
the seals they say don’t do that you it
didn’t happen before yeah it’s never
happy you’re gonna you’re gonna you’re
gonna fail you can embarrass us they put
the limiters on it they put the limiters
they put the blinders on you but true
entrepreneurs will just keep figuring it
out if you’ve got a movie fan you’ve got
a movie maker like there’s I’ve never
met a filmmaker that wasn’t a movie buff
first I don’t care who it is whether
it’s like me or great directors like
Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino they’re
hardcore movie fans who still imbibe so
I don’t think it’s possible to be a
filmmaker unless you’re a film fan so I
always encourage everyone in those q and
A’s where I’m like if you’re here
listening to me talk about this stuff
you are not a film fan your filmmaker
you just have made a film yet go out and
make your film because who knows better
how to do this stuff than the pretty
people that consume it on a regular
basis
we’re not different I was you i sat
there watching other people’s stuff and
I just got to a place where I was like
why then why not me
like if this counts as a movie why can’t
I make a movie and stuff which is funny
because that’s what my movies make
people do that like you know Gosar’s
counts I’m making a movie and that’s
that’s a good call to arms on I’m not
even insulted by that I’m like good
whatever makes you step forward and try
yourself expressions the only reason
anyone knows my name or my work and I’ve
been doing this for 22 years I haven’t
had to get a real job is because it
started with the first step have gone
like why can’t I do that you know like I
see people do it and that’s interesting
and I like their stories but never saw
my world represented up on the screen
and that’s where I looked for myself I
never found myself in a classroom never
found myself in a church man closest
moments I’ve ever had to finding out who
I am they’ve been in art sitting in a
movie theater watching a movie man it’s
the dark mirror you see yourself
reflected in a weird way in reading and
listening to music watching TV these
were the closest moments where I was
like oh I think this is who I am stiffly
good so that’s that’s within everybody
the people I talk to you thought I was
crazy and like it’s very possible in an
alternate universe I might have been
wrong but just the fact that people were
taking more photos and that each and
every person had a camera in their
pocket meant that there was no way that
there was going to be something around
photos that would happen in in the
valley and people starting companies
around it
the question would be can you compete
against the big guys and we were just
unique enough and we positioned herself
in such a way that we were
differentiated and people wanted to use
it and not just like kind of started the
flywheel
and you know what everybody wants to
hear what they already believe to be
true and so the last thing they want to
hear is an original idea that
contradicts their belief system so it’s
very hard to even bring that kind of
stuff up but those are the things those
are the only things things that you
believe that everybody around you
doesn’t believe when you’re right that
create real value in the world
everything else people already know
there’s no value created it’s just
business as usual so it’s so important
to think for yourself
[Music]
don’t solicit feedback on your product
your idea or your business just for
validation purposes be really careful
about that you want to tell the people
that can help move your idea forward but
if you’re just looking to your friend
coworker husband wife for validation be
careful because out of love and concern
a lot of people will express some
concerns and it can stop a lot of
multi-million dollar ideas right in
their tracks in the beginning and if
you’re really trying to achieve
something then so to say hey here’s my
vision and I’d like to say be obstinate
about your vision but be really flexible
about your tactics what does that mean
it’s sort of like think big act small
what that means is it’s important to
have a vision of where you’re trying to
go how you get there is a series of
experiments now you can call them excel
yrs when they don’t work but they’re
learning experiments where you try
things see what works try the next thing
but I think that’s what people always
have to ask themselves do you believe in
the concept of what you’re doing do you
believe that there’s really they’re
there because I can figure out the right
you know product package or the right
way to reach users if you believe that
then you know keep keep scrapping
because usually there’s a way
[Music]
your online limitations are those which
you set up in your own mind or permit
others to set up for you but it’s things
like knowing who you are inside who you
are and believe it in that person and
remember the through life and say them
today it’s a good person I am and I have
some good honest and a good hand on my
shoulders and I don’t want to be
corrupted by the successes I’m gonna
have in life and in business I don’t
want to be corrupted and going different
ways if I make a lot of money I still
want to be that good you’re human who
thinks well like I said don’t don’t set
yourself up for those frowns you know
and you don’t always have to win every
single argument you can think your way
and believe in your thoughts are good in
your own brain and somebody else doesn’t
agree with you it’s okay they just think
a different way there’s no need to look
at the world of oh we’ve all got to be
in competition it’s my way everyone has
to be just like me or they’re no good
they have to use my computer then to go
to my school they have to be my country
you know they have to do things my way
that’s not the way to think be very open
to a lot of different people have
differences and we can all still see
each other as good and we get along a
lot better and have a lot more peace
that way acceptance of others is the key
what we really want to do is raise our
level of awareness so the expectation
becomes a natural state for our mind to
be in and we’ve already mentioned that
expectation is a mindset it’s a mental
state and you’re going to find that that
state comes to you with an increase of
awareness
I never give up and never give up I go
my own way risk my life so this way I
always tell that the people not because
one one things fall down you just give
up never give up never give up one day
you will succeed
I think it’s really to be true to
yourself and listen as much as one is
able to other people whose opinions you
respect and look up to but in the end it
has to come from from you and you you
can’t really worry too much by looking
to the left or the right about what the
competition might be doing or other
people in your field might be doing it
has to be true vision
[Music]
and there are a lot of people from whom
we can learn a lot and I think like you
know the one piece of advice is like
don’t underestimate anyone you come
across a Brent like whether they’re you
know a blue collar worker waiting for
the bus or they’re you know helping you
at you’re there the server bartender at
the restaurant or they’re a
lower-ranking employee I mean the
smartest leaders I’ve ever seen have
always gone around the room and asked
for everybody’s opinion and oftentimes
the best methodology is to start with
the perfect experience of just one
person get that right and then forget
how to scale something great instead of
scaling something not so great and then
trying to improve it that’s really hard
to do
you’re really trying to solve a new
problem in a different way you have to
come to problems with beginner’s mind
right not knowing something can be a
very powerful tool in to accomplishing
it because you don’t know that it’s not
possible that’s what doing a startup is
not realizing that something is
impossible in doing it anyway
we get to create any company we want
right we get to create the reason for
its existence we get to create the rules
of the game and who we hire and how we
hire them and who can stay and who can’t
stay right it’s beautiful and so I just
would encourage everyone that as we all
contemplate life to try to question the
assumptions that we live by and the
default options are given to us and
expand our thinking to wonder what we
really can do with our lives
your job is to make sure that you stay
as agile as possible so that you can
find what will be your company as you
grow and it comes down to the fact you
need to iterate as quickly as possible
to find fit
a lot of people don’t want to try things
that might not work you know what I’m
saying everyone wants to try the short
thing and there is no such thing as the
short thing and if you’re looking at
somebody else’s work to try to gauge
your own as I have for years you will
constantly feel like a failure instead
concentrate on telling your story like
this is the thing I’m real big on your
voice is your only currency that’s it
that’s all you got the things you see
and perceive the prism through which you
process all the information that you
take in and sing of the most unique
supercomputer on the planet unique from
everybody else that perspective is
valuable insanely valuable because
nobody else could give it but you and
that’s why it’s always better to shoot
weird or shoot different or shoot
original as opposed to shoot what works
like or go for a successful model or as
I’ve tried to do try to be John Hughes
or something like that you’ll never
succeed that way if you try using your
own voice you try expressing your own
thoughts that nobody else can do that’s
your best shot at success because that’s
the thing that you bring to the table
that nobody else could bring and if your
timing is fantastic you say the right
thing at the right time you could have a
career so when you get into this
business they tend to like tell you to
shape it up and like take off the edges
and make it look like this hey that work
do that but always shoot for that thing
that you want to do
[Music]
a wealth 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
friends performing under pressure
whether it’s me or anybody else is the
same
you know I have the same pressures as
anyone else there’s time there’s
performance there’s financial I mean
there you know there’s deadlines my
pressures are not unique the situations
may be different or you know but but
everybody has the same kinds of
pressures but what I found or what I
find fascinating is the interpretation
of the stimuli if let me let me explain
so I was watching the Olympics this last
Summer Olympics and I was amazed at how
bad the questions were that the
reporters would ask all the athletes and
almost always they asked the same
question whether they were about to
compete or after they competed were you
nervous right and to a tee all the
athletes went no right and what I
realized is it’s not that they’re not
nervous it’s their interpretation of
what’s happening in their bodies I mean
what it what happens when you’re nervous
right your heart rate starts to go
you’re you know you sort of get a little
tense you get a little sweaty right you
have expectation of what’s coming and we
interpreted that is I’m nervous now
what’s the interpretation of excited
your heart rate starts to go you become
you’re anticipating what’s coming right
you get a little sort of like tense it’s
all the same thing it’s the same stimuli
except these athletes these these
Olympic quality athletes have learned to
interpret the stimuli that the rest of
us would say as nervous as excited they
also the same thing no I’m not nervous
I’m excited and so I’ve actually
practiced it just to tell myself when I
start to get nervous that this is
excitement you know and so where when
you I used to feed speaking for the
large audience and somebody’d say how do
you feel it’s a little nervous now when
somebody says how do you feel like
really excited actually and it it came
from just sort of telling myself
no no this is excitement and it becomes
a little bit automatic later on but it’s
kind of a remarkable thing to deal with
pressure by interpreting what your body
is experiencing as excitement rather
than nerves and it’s really kind of
effective it makes you want to rush for
is rather than pull back and yet it’s
the same experience
the hardest thing to do is start you
have all these ideas and everyone has an
idea but it’s really about executing the
idea and building the idea and
attracting other people to help you work
on the idea that is the biggest
challenge but the way to begin is to get
the idea out of your head draw it out
you know talk about it program it if
you’re a programmer or make it if you’re
building something
[Music]
you are going to encourage incur a lot
of disappointment a lot of failure a lot
of pain a lot of setbacks a lot of
defeats but in the process of doing that
you will discover some things about
yourself that you don’t know right now
what you will realize is that you have
greatness within you what you’ll realize
is that you’re more powerful than you
can ever begin to imagine what you will
realize is that you’re greater than your
circumstances that you don’t have to go
through life being a victim
[Music]
the road to success is through
commitment and through the strength to
drive through that commitment when it
gets hard and it is going to get hard
and you’re gonna want to quit sometimes
but it’ll be colored by who you are and
more who you want to be
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 the 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]
now when I decided to leave the gym and
go independent this was already a goal
of mine I read out I’ve written out all
of my goals writing goals are very
important it was very important
I wrote my goals out and I think it was
like ten of them and then a year later
maybe two years later I went back to
that book and I swear to you everything
I’ve written now I hate it without even
thinking about it something powerful
about writing your goals
we’re not gonna always make the right
steps and sometimes you have to back up
and try again and if you’re in a
position where you can’t back up and try
again you’ve trapped yourself and the
system will set out honey pots for
people to get trapped in the system will
set out the ideas of retirement the
ideas of the golden years providing you
benefits providing you a healthy work
environment why well because they want
people to work for them they don’t want
people to realize their own dreams and
escape in the ass you gotta hire more
people and train them and they want to
set it up so that you stick around stick
around some sort of an unsatisfying
world it’s up to you to see that video
game problem to see that issue as it
comes up on the map known I think this
is a right turn to see all the problems
that could potentially lay in front of
you and calculate your your future and
then also look around all the people
that didn’t do it and look at the misery
that they’re in and learn that you don’t
want to be like them and then look at
the people that have kind of taken
chances and navigated their way what did
they do differently than you what would
objectivity do they have that maybe you
lack what insight into their own
mistakes are they willing to delve into
that you’re not that you step back and
go you know I don’t just don’t I just
don’t want to look at myself that
closely but the person who’s able to
look at themselves the closest it’s
gonna get the more rational results
[Music]
you will already know who you are and
that piece that piece that we’re after
lies somewhere beyond personality your
need for acceptance can make you
invisible in this world don’t let
anything stand in the way of the light
that shines through this form risk being
seen in all of your glory
[Music]
[Music]
and it’s a it’s okay to have a sense of
self-awareness and identity but it’s not
okay to have an ego because what an ego
does is the ego is a funny it’s a funny
it’s a funny entity within the human
brain it is on your side when you are
doing great
but have you ever noticed when you when
you think you’ve failed it’s the ego in
your mind that tells you it’s so bad
everyone’s looking at you you start to
sweat across your forehead and you’re
like oh my god I can’t believe this is
happening the whole entire world is
watching and none of it is true when
you’re doing great you shouldn’t listen
to that voice when you’re not doing as
great you should have listened to that
voice because it’s not good when you’re
doing great it’s gonna get you hooked on
that feeling so that when you come down
and and you because we our life is a
rollercoaster there’s valleys and peaks
when you hit that valley if you can’t
deal then you won’t make it
[Music]
I feel guilty at 10 to 5 if I’m not in
the office I know that might sound
strange to you but that’s a it’s there’s
a work ethic that I have to be half-dead
not to not go to work
when you give somebody your word your
word is so important once I gave her my
word I had to come even I I got the
million other things I got to do is say
well I gave up my word and that’s gonna
go a long way with you in business once
you give somebody your word it’s good to
get it in right everything that you need
to get done but when you give somebody
your word you gotta stand by because
what you start standing by your word
you’ll be able to build more
relationships and resources
[Music]
[Music]
but if you don’t you’re not done the
passion and love and your student for
money it’s dumb the emotional outcomes
will be disastrous that’s for my
experience this is really well know so I
don’t have to be up just for pure
passion and the love for what I’m doing
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 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
a bunch of people that will say yeah
well I’ve a family show you know it’s a
great idea for you to just go out there
and go crazy I have people to support
you need to listen
stop saying that stop saying any of
those things every single person who has
ever done anything worthwhile or
exceptional or difficult or
extraordinary anyone whether it’s great
artists or authors or mathematicians or
whatever the it is everyone encounters
difficulties there is no easy road it
does not exist it is impossible
everyone has issues if you have time to
pursue a hobby if you have time to do
anything in your life you can better
yourself and here’s one way you never
better yourself when you come up with
excuses for why other people are
successful you’re not that is dangerous
when you give yourself an escape yeah
well that’s easy for you to say you know
you do dude you need to trust me
everybody has a hard road I wanted to
jump out of windows several times during
my young life I wanted to jump in front
of a train just ended because too much
pressure not really but you know I’m
saying theoretically we all go through
hard times we all go through depression
we all do go through doubt and then
moments in your life where it’s relief
it difficult and you’re trying to figure
out what the your path is gonna be it’s
hardest but stefan and i we’re talking
about this before the podcast starts
that hay is what makes you a person and
those difficult moments are what build
your character show me a great man who’s
the son of a great man
it’s it’s very easy to be seduced by
doing things efficiently trying to do a
lot of things well I don’t believe
that’s the most important thing the most
important thing is picking the right
things to do in the first place and
that’s being effective versus just being
efficient so within a start-up its
success I don’t think is measured by how
many things you can do at once it’s
measured by how effectively you’re able
to pick the one or two things into the
highest priority and there’s always
going to be a seduction to get
distracted and focus on 20 things at
once and the most effective
entrepreneurs I know are very good at
focusing on one or two things and either
eliminating the rest delegating to other
people or outsourcing it so it’s not
done within the team but it’s actually
two third parties
one of the things that I do do before I
go to bed at night is I make a quick
list of the things that I know I have to
deal with of the next day and I try to
get those knocked out before noon
because from noon on it’s kind of like
the wild wild west I don’t know what’s
gonna happen I don’t know what new
issues gonna come up and so you want to
really be smart about your time to knock
out the things that you have – who do I
have to talk to what do I have to review
what do I have to do with a bank or an
employee or one of the businesses you
want to get out what I would call the
housekeeping you get the housekeeping
done in the morning and then you get to
kind of go farm the fields for the rest
of the day and part of the challenge or
part of the challenge for me at least is
that that lines get very blurry of when
the day actually shuts off and that can
present a real challenge to you know
your personal life and your friends and
in kind of that balance so it’s it’s
hard but the first part of my day is the
focus
and on this particular day when we got
to the end of the run there were some
free bagels and they had picnic tables
set up and on one side was a group of
volunteers on the table were boxes of
bagels and on the other side was a long
line of runners waiting to get their
free bagel so I said to my friend let’s
let’s get a bagel and he looked at me
and said that lines too long and I said
free bagel and he said I don’t want to
wait in line and I was like free bagel
and he says nah that’s it’s too long and
that’s when I realized that there’s two
ways to see the world some people see
the thing that they want and some people
see the thing that prevents them from
getting the thing that they want I could
only see the bagels
he could only see the line and so I
walked up to the line I leaned in
between two people put my hand in the
box and pulled out two bagels and no one
got mad at me because the rule is you
can go after whatever you want
you just cannot deny anyone else to go
after whatever they want
now I had to sacrifice choice I didn’t
get to choose which bagel I got I got
whatever I pulled out but I didn’t have
to wait in line
so the point is is you don’t have to
wait in line you don’t have to do it the
way everybody else has done it you can
do it your way you can break the rules
you just can’t get in the way of
somebody else getting what they want
[Music]
the other thing is is that you got to
work your butt off if you think that
you’re gonna go and accomplish something
really special and be the best in
anything in the world
and you think you can do it without
working you make a big mistake because
no matter what I did if it was a
bodybuilding or an acting or if it isn’t
in the political arena it always took a
lot a lot of work and you gotta put out
and you got the you know something like
a lot of sacrifices notice if you’re not
willing to work hard forget about it so
this is another vote that is very
important
[Music]
when you wake up in the morning and your
life means something to somebody other
than you that you have a purpose if you
don’t go do the things that you’re going
to do people’s lives will suffer and I
think that that kind of purpose that
like to live in service not to you but
to live in service to humanity to live
in service to your family to live in
service to your church to your city to
your country to the world living in
service is that I feel like that is the
purest form of joy
sometimes your life will be in a slump
just like sports some of the best
shooters can’t hit baskets different
times and games they get in a slump do
they sit on the sidelines and say you
know I adjusted hit a basket today
no they continue to execute I suggest to
you that if you are facing a challenge
don’t stop stay busy work your plan
continue to do those things that you
know that work for you after you have
evaluated yourself in the situation
continue to move stay busy stay busy
stay busy
[Music]
just have to have a total and complete
passion because there’s gonna be so many
dark moments you know I think the dark
moments are true for any entrepreneur or
any startup company I’m sure that you
talked to Steve Jobs and Apple you’d see
many many dark dark moments ours
happened to last a little longer than
most of them but you really emotionally
have to be prepared for those dark
moments mm-hmm I think every
entrepreneur I’ve ever spoken to which
would echo that yeah everything’s on the
line that’s the life of an entrepreneur
and so you’re gonna be into it you
better be prepared for that you know you
have two choices in life basically it’s
it’s basically to succeed or to fail you
know I’m saying and I’ve been the
negative Road and I’ve been the positive
Road and I would never give up the
positive road never I would never even
if you know I’m saying if I was the
biggest flop in the world
I only invest in things that I
understand and things that I use or
would use myself this is really really
really important
anytime I step outside of that is
usually when the universe kicks me in
the nuts really hard and I lose my money
I think it’s it’s critical to as an
entrepreneur scratch your own itch it
increases the odds of success or the
probability of success and then it’s as
an investor I look for people who are
scratching their own ass
passion is not an actionable word it’s
correct you know that those who do the
things that they’re passionate about do
better but it’s not helpful advice and
so the question is where does passion
come from passion is a result passion is
an energy
passion is the feeling you have when
you’re engaged in something that you
love passion is the feeling you have
that you would probably do this for free
you know and you can’t believe somebody
pays you to do it you know and I think
we mistake that passion is something we
do in our private lives but it shouldn’t
be done you know in our careers for
example and I’m a firm believer that you
are who you are and anybody who says I’m
different at home than I am at work and
one of those two places you’re lying and
the goal is to make everything you do in
home and it works something that you
have excitement to do so how do you find
the things that you’re excited to do
well it’s actually easier than you think
what are the things that you love to do
what are the things that you would do
for free 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 in
money it didn’t get you much more money
it 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 was 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 make it okay to
fail and learn from your failures
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 I
was like seems like a lot of fun I want
to try that too
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 and 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 wait 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
from 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 you
never stop
[Music]
[Music]
you know you 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 answers there aren’t
there won’t be and when you look at the
person just sell 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 yeah and then Franklin did
this and my old boss Ben Graham did this
early ages and their young teens they
just been grant looked around and he
said who do I admire you know and he
wanted to be admired himself and he said
you know why do I admire these other
people and he said if I admire them for
these reasons maybe other people will
admire me if I behave in a similar
manner and he and he decided what kind
of a person he 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
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 there’s some times
we have to pull yourself up and you have
to push forward even if you want to stay
in bed
it 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 friends
[Music]
[Music]
my thing is this I keep my eyes on the
prize I never focus on things outside
the rain
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
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]
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 gonna
work at Google am I gonna work at
Microsoft like which one McKinsey are
bein 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 out of startup one
at Microsoft one at 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 evidence 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’s
the way to compete in our service
business involves continuing fanaticism
and so forth
one of the reasons we bought the local
company in Logan Utah is that we like
the service that ethos of a place and
their recruitment methods
well is it 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 infinite 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 the work
you 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]
[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 for 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
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
and 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 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 start it to start
a company I started it because I really
wanted this thing personally and I
believed that it should exist globally
although I wasn’t quite sure that 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 this
gets back to the question of why did we
why did we first open it at colleges
that had competitors all right I have
this big fear I think of getting locked
into doing things that aren’t actually
the most impactful things I’m 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 and encode a lot of
stuff and try a lot of different things
if this amazing flexibility that I think
most people take for granted and once
you decide okay I’m gonna start a
company and I’m gonna 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 in 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
gonna change what you do I mean people
talk about pivots all the time as if
it’s like it didn’t didn’t your thing
didn’t work so you pivoted Facebook
pivoted many times
that you know we kind of we’d 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
gonna change what you do
so the first step before even thinking
about investing is getting out of debt
once the person gets out of debt now you
want to think about money building money
creation right and money savings like
how to save on tags and so on and so
forth
and that’s what I really like like the
focus of people is getting their belief
straight and then building up wealth all
right and then once they build up wealth
there’s this idea of you know let’s
invest 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 gonna 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 gonna 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 gonna buy them in your home right
you just gonna go on vacation or
something like that it’d be like I think
there’s this 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 when they have that energy and
time and and really bring the happiness
that everybody is looking for I mean
that’s
but understand that naturally nobody was
interested the world could care less you
have to persuade them and you have to
show that you’re the one person out
there
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 this concept of
testing our ideas rigorously throughout
the product development process out the
marketing process even as we scale up
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 what you’re actually
spending your time on is just a lot of
hard work today I mention this but
you’re basically just sitting at your
desk heads down focused answering
customers some 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 two is you could have make sure
that that you that whatever you’re doing
is a great product or service it has to
be really great and I go back to what I
was saying earlier where if you’re a new
company I mean unless it’s like some new
industry or new market that if it’s an
untapped market or then then you have
more ability to give this this the
standard is lower for your park service
but if you’re entering anything where
there’s an existing market place against
lodge and trenched 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 consumer you
always gonna 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 it’s not you can’t just
be slightly better it’s got to be a lot
better
[Music]
[Music]
if anybody ever knocks you down in life
guys or tells you you can’t do something
or you know just puts a downer on what
you’re trying to do in general don’t
don’t take don’t let these things get to
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 if 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
so I have like four friends that are
billionaires I have one one mentor those
two mentors that are billionaires I’ve
always wanted to be a billionaire since
87 so I’m almost halfway there and I
think if you surround yourself with the
people who are actually you’re trying to
go you get there a whole lot faster you
tend to make half the mistakes you know
you kind of marginalize the risk and so
it’s you know if I give you some really
good advice you know you don’t need to
read the next book it’s not gonna unlock
you my gender because books educate you
but they don’t make you apply anything
and it you know if you want to attend a
course courses are great too events are
great because you know you learn a lot
but the application and the execution is
still up to 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
idea is a dime a dozen if you can’t
execute on it it’s worth nothing
brilliant idea of the world all the town
in the world in the Phaedo
[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 a lot of other guys eating 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
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 customers say wow
how can we you know our energy are
passionate we want to impress our
customers we want them to say wow it’s
that kind of divine discontent it comes
from observing customers and noticing
that you know things can always be
better
if you don’t have a team you got to
figure out what that balances it for
yourself you can’t take on too much but
at the same time you don’t want it just
do one thing I like to spin a lot of
plates because you put all your eggs in
one basket don’t work out you’re bored
you’ve 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 Jersey girl
you make the movie over the course of a
while it comes out and then Foom that’s
it it’s over like in a week or two weeks
so I like to spin 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 gonna
happen the way I wanted 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 point
where like okay add a game or
[Music]
to express oneself honestly not lying to
oneself and to express myself honestly
know that my friend is tell me how to do
and it’s not difficult to learn and
speak the word the hard thing the
difficult thing it’s behind what is the
meaning what fall on the expression and
feelings behind those word now I think
the successful ingredient in it was
because I was being loosely yourself a
myself right and did that part just
express myself like I say honestly
express myself
[Music]
[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
if you want a thing bad enough to go out
and fight for to work day and night to
give up your time your peace and your
sleep flow and if you gladly sweat water
and fretboard and plan for it and lose
all your terror of the opposition for it
and if you simply go after that thing
that you want with all of your capacity
if neither cold poverty families your
gold sickness the pain of body and brain
can keep you away for the thing that you
want you’ll get
[Music]
reflecting now back on 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
to be successful you have to be focused
I think to be successful you have to be
focused
[Music]
there are many people in the world does
not bring you happiness and contentment
so you have to focus on why you need
just goes why do we achieve goals what
where’s the fibers will go with this and
location growth whatever it is why auto
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
often I just want to ask or I want to
find out what 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]
this is my time I own my life I had to
start thinking I have 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
through
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]
[Music]
I mean if 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
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
that they can go through
[Music]
but what you 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 using it because your
customers are going to be the ones to
tell you if it’s really working or not
what this all comes down to is doing
something exceptional for your 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 doing this we can
make this the core part of why we’re
doing business
[Music]
about this two sides of pain 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 hurts you
remember what that felt like
but then there’s another side of pain
let’s go effort
it’s called glory it’s called if you can
find a way to push through pain there’s
something great on the other side of it
I do believe that organizations human
organizations are inherently unstable
they will fall over and you have to work
to keep them upright but they fall
slowly most people don’t notice it they
let their success they blind them they
don’t see it falling over the following
takes place low but the collapse is
quick you have to do constant assessment
you have to look for the hard truths
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 I end sometimes I
just like to describe this as like
imagine a really great math professor
with no problems to solve right the
great a great math professor somebody
who who wants the hardest problems who
wants to solve them and love solving
them 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 do you
lean into them and solve things that
people maybe thought weren’t even
possible to solve and that’s fun
I always want to better myself I don’t
consider myself I don’t sorry I don’t
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 wow look
[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 is a 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
mountains 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
gonna fight to the death field and
without that I think it’s gonna 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 gonna have to
convince so many other people to believe
in you and the idea and the 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 though over
those hurdles I know it sounds a little
bit sophomoric but it’s so true
hey first of all I’d say starting a
business is not for everyone yeah yeah
so generally starting a business I’d say
number one is have a high pain threshold
for the friend of mine who’s got a good
saying which is that signing a company
is like eating glass the staring into
the abyss 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 Tesla almost didn’t
succeed came very close to failure then
if you succeed then after a long time
you were finally get back to happiness
Please follow and like us: