Innovation is hard because solving problems people didn’t know they had & building something no one needs look identical at first.
AARON LEVIEWe’re going from a world of customized software to standardized platforms.
More Aaron Levie Quotes
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Sometimes things are the way they are and can’t be changed, other times it’s because no one ever tried. Your job is to find the latter.
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Entrepreneurship: 10% coach, 20% player, 30% cheerleader, 40% waterboy.
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Modularize, don’t customize. Build a platform as opposed to building all of the custom technology and custom vertical experiences.
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Execute like there’s no tomorrow, strategize like there will be.
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We didn’t really start the company to go build an enterprise software company.
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Start with the assumption that the best way to do something is not the way it’s being done right now.
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We’re enamored with the concept that there’s always a price. But sometimes, your goal is to build a great company, not sell it.
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If there could’ve ever been a magical time to build an enterprise software company, now is absolutely that time.
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Better to be right about the trend and wrong about the implementation, than the other way around.
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Always look for these changing technology factors- any market that has a significant change in the underlying raw materials …or enabling factors, is an environment that is about to change in a very significant way.
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Uber is a $3.5 billion lesson in building for how the world *should* work instead of optimizing for how the world *does* work
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I’m obsessed with speed. I’m always asking myself, ‘Why can’t we do things faster? Why can’t it happen more efficiently? Why is this requiring three meetings instead of one?’
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The most customer-centric organizations can answer any question by deciding what’s best for the customer, without ever having to ask.
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All we’re really doing is repeating technologies that were tried 10, 20, 30 years ago… it’s just that it was too expensive, too unusable, and we didn’t have the enabling technologies to make it possible.
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In an IT lead world, incumbents generally win because they have the existing relationship with the IT organization.
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That’s already been tried before only means the first attempt got it wrong.
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Look for new enabling technologies that create a wide gap between how things have been done and how they can be done.
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You intentionally start small, because you will not be able to compete with an incumbent… because the incumbent is always going to go for the full solution.
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I think bad politics are incredibly dangerous, so it’s important to make sure that people are communicating well. Culture and morale are super important. It’s best to not force it, but let it happen organically and genuinely.
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If you’re waiting for encouragement from others, you’re doing it wrong. By the time people think an idea is good, it’s probably too late.
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Too little process and you can’t get good work done. Too much process and you can’t get any work done. Most companies never find the middle.
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The best technology is aimed far enough in the future that it stands out, but close enough to the present that it blends in.
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Do things that incumbents can’t or won’t do because it’s economically or technically infeasible.
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You can look at the cost structure of an incumbent company and discover: where are they not going to be able to drop their prices… because that business model is fundamental to the existence of the company.
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Your product should sell itself, but that does not mean you don’t need salespeople.
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The 10% between 90% done to 100% done takes most of the time, causes most of the stress, but is all of the value.
AARON LEVIE