25 Eric Ries Quotes for You to Enjoy

Eric Ries

American Businessman

Born: Sep 22, 1979

Companies People Success Time Work You

Related authors: Bill Gates Henry Ford Jim Rohn Les Brown Peter Drucker Stephen Covey Steve Jobs Warren Buffett

Start-up success is not a consequence of good genes or being in the right place at the right time. Success can be engineered by following the right process, which means it can be learned, which means it can be taught. Eric Ries

Success Time Good Right Place Right Time Following Genes Learned Taught Being Process Place Which Success Is Means Engineered Right Start-Up Consequence

In my first start-up, I had an initial advertising budget of $5 per day total. That would buy us 100 clicks per day. At $5 per day, marketing people scoffed and said that is too small to matter. But if you think about it, to an engineer, 100 real humans everyday giving your product a try means you can really start improving. Eric Ries

Buy Day You People Matter Try Engineer Giving First Think Too Everyday Marketing Would Total Per About Small Had Budget Advertising Clicks Said Real Improving Us Really Means Product Your Initial Start Start-Up Humans

I would say, as an entrepreneur everything you do - every action you take in product development, in marketing, every conversation you have, everything you do - is an experiment. If you can conceptualize your work not as building features, not as launching campaigns, but as running experiments, you can get radically more done with less effort. Eric Ries

Work You Conversation Entrepreneur Building Experiment Action Every Everything Marketing Say Launching Would Running More Features Take Development Campaigns Effort Get Done Experiments Product Your Less Radically

The Lean Startup has evolved into a movement that is having a significant impact on how companies are built, funded and scaled. Eric Ries

Startup Significant Evolved Impact Having Lean Built How Movement Companies

It's a really paradoxical thing. We want to think big, but start small. And then scale fast. People think about trying to build the next Facebook as trying to start where Facebook is today, as a major global presence. Eric Ries

Our educational system is not preparing people for the 21st Century. Failure is an essential part of entrepreneurship. If you work hard, you can get an 'A' pretty much guaranteed, but in entrepreneurship, that's not how it works. Eric Ries

I bet the people who are in the auto industry right now have more than 10,000 good ideas about what might work and what we need to do is not come up with more good ideas. We need to go and test as many of those good ideas as possible. Eric Ries

Work Good People Good Ideas Those Possible Bet About More Come Ideas Industry Test Go Up Than Auto Auto Industry Might Who Many Now Right Need

Entrepreneurs always pitch their idea as 'the X of Y', so this is going to be 'the Microsoft of food.' And yet disruptive innovations usually don't have that character. Most of the time, if something seems like a good idea, it probably isn't. Eric Ries

Time Good Food Character Innovations Seems Something Entrepreneurs Idea Like Most Always Pitch Going Microsoft Disruptive Good Idea

As an entrepreneur, I knew that if my company failed, I could always try again. So I often felt that the only real risk of true financial ruin came from the possibility of a serious illness that either exceeded my insurance plans lifetime limits, or was not covered due to rescission. Eric Ries

Financial Entrepreneur Try Ruin Possibility Risk Only Exceeded Could Lifetime Knew True Failed Felt Insurance Always Real Limits Due Came Covered Often Either Again Plans Company Illness Serious

Most start-up companies fail and it is smart public policy to help entrepreneurs increase their odds of succeeding. But, the biggest loss to our economy is not all the start-ups that didn't make it: It's the ones that might have been created but weren't. Eric Ries

Famous pivot stories are often failures but you don't need to fail before you pivot. All a pivot is is a change is strategy without a change in vision. Whenever entrepreneurs see a new way to achieve their vision - a way to be more successful - they have to remain nimble enough to take it. Eric Ries

You Change Vision Achieve Before Strategy Enough Nimble Way See More Remain Entrepreneurs Take Fail Failures New Without New Way Often Whenever Famous Stories Successful Need

Nowadays people talk about PayPal's founders as prescient geniuses who would inevitably change the world. It was, however, not so obvious that PayPal would taste its first major success by helping people sell Beanie Babies on eBay. But they had a vision, a hope, and the perseverance to try multiple iterations until they got it right. Eric Ries

Success Hope Change Perseverance People World Vision Try First Nowadays Change The World Babies Would About Had Major Talk Until Geniuses Obvious Got Inevitably However Sell Taste PayPal Who Helping Helping People Multiple Founders Right

You get a culture of entrepreneurship after you have successfully changed the accountability system so that people can use a better process. Process drives culture, not the other way around, so you can't just change the culture, you have to change the system. Eric Ries

You Change Culture People Better Accountability Changed Other Way System Entrepreneurship Drives Around Get Just After Process Successfully Use

I believe for the first time in history, entrepreneurship is now a viable career. Eric Ries

Time History First Believe Entrepreneurship First Time Viable Now Career

Except in very narrow cases, where there's breakthrough science that needs patent production, worrying about competitors is a waste of time. If you can't out iterate someone who is trying to copy you, you're toast anyway. Eric Ries

Time Needs You Science Worrying Out About Someone Cases Except Narrow Very Patent Trying Where Anyway Breakthrough Toast Production Who Waste Waste Of Time Copy Competitors

You know how people always talk about how vision is the key to entrepreneurship and perseverance and really seeing what other people don't see? We can actually redeem a fair amount of that folk wisdom. Eric Ries

If your goal is to make money, becoming an entrepreneur is a sucker's bet. Sure, some entrepreneurs make a lot of money, but if you calculate the amount of stress-inducing work and time it takes and multiply that by the low likelihood of success and eventual payoff, it is not a great way to get rich. Eric Ries

Success Work Time Great You Money Entrepreneur Rich Way Some Bet Entrepreneurs Takes Calculate Likelihood Make Great Way Sure Becoming Goal Lot Get Low Your Payoff Sucker Multiply Eventual Amount

I actually believed if you work hard enough it was inevitable you'd succeed. Then I lived the 'Social Network' movie, but only the first half. The hardest part is the grueling work of constantly being wrong. Eric Ries

Work You Work Hard First Half Inevitable Enough Constantly Network Only Part Wrong Being Movie Social Succeed Then Hard Lived Believed Hardest Hardest Part Actually Grueling

I can't say I'm not grateful to have journalists writing about me as a genius. But I know it's not true. I'm not confused. I understand that success comes through a lot of failure and a lot of very embarrassing failure. People want to create the next Facebook, but they are too afraid to create the next Facemash. Eric Ries

Success Me Failure Grateful Facebook People Writing Genius Confused Too Say Embarrassing About Through True Journalists Know Understand Lot Very Afraid Want Create Next

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