If there could’ve ever been a magical time to build an enterprise software company, now is absolutely that time.
AARON LEVIEIn the enterprise you want to start intentionally small.
More Aaron Levie Quotes
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The only way to avoid disruption is to constantly do what you would if you were just starting out.
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Focus too much on the near-term and you won’t get tomorrow’s customers, focus too much on the long-term and you won’t get today’s.
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I think I’m the kind of person who would be very difficult to employ – I’m pretty annoying, but driven.
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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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Read these 3 books – Crossing the Chasm, Innovators Dilemma and Behind the Cloud.
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You want to find the really crazy but still somewhat reasonable outliers within the customer ecosystem.
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The IT model of the enterprise has become a lot more user lead.
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What happens to the Microsofts, Oracles and IBMs of the world is that when they get big enough, they don’t think they need to bring that same level of focus and energy to the end-user experience.
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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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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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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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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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Innovation in tech favors the naive and the stubborn. If you are too rational you won’t tackle problems that others once failed at.
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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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Jeff Bezos is opening a retail store and owns a newspaper. Turns out everything we thought about the Internet is wrong.
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You’ll learn more in a day talking to customers than a week of brainstorming, a month of watching competitors, or a year of market research.
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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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Listen to your customers, but don’t always build exactly what they’re telling you. This is a really key distinction around building enterprise software.
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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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Start with something simple and small, then expand over time. If people call it a ‘toy’ you’re definitely onto something.
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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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Modularize, don’t customize. Build a platform as opposed to building all of the custom technology and custom vertical experiences.
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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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I’m certainly not into money and prestige. For me there is simply nothing more exciting than people involved in the creation of great products. That is what drives me.
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Better to be too early and have to try again, than be too late and have to catch up.
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Everything about the enterprise, and then by definition the software the enterprise uses has changed – just in the last 5 years.
AARON LEVIE