“Uber is a $3.5 billion lesson in building for how the world *should* work instead of optimizing for how the world *does* work”

Do things that incumbents can’t or won’t do because it’s economically or technically infeasible.

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.

If every customer is using your product “correctly”, you’ll never learn anything interesting about what to do next.

The only barrier to entry you can create is to consistently build a great product.

My workday begins around 11 A.M., with a cup of black coffee in each hand. If I had more hands, there would be more coffee.

When you’re doing something you’re passionate about, stress becomes a featurenot a bug.

Entrepreneurship: 10% coach, 20% player, 30% cheerleader, 40% waterboy.

I think I’m the kind of person who would be very difficult to employ – I’m pretty annoying, but driven.

The best technology is aimed far enough in the future that it stands out, but close enough to the present that it blends in.

I don’t use many apps. I use naps.

Better to be too early and have to try again, than be too late and have to catch up.

Your product should sell itself, but that does not mean you don’t need salespeople.

Companies have never won. You’re always either fighting for survival, or fighting for relevance.

Startups live at the intersection of existential crisis and everything going perfectly great.

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?’

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.

Where are the one billion people who lived and breathed in the year 1800, only two short centuries ago?

I look at the newspapers, and I cannot believe most of the stories I read. Bernie Madoff, who actually screwed millions of people for billions of dollars.

We have a combined population of half a billion people; peaceful trade-friendly borders that are the envy of the world.

As we’re on the verge of a major $1 billion boost in our annual cash flows that we expect to come from three major projects Geismar, Gulfstar and the Keathley Canyon Connector all of which have reached the commissioning stage here in the fourth quarter.

Iran is going to get between $50 to $55 billion in oil revenue, which is unheard of in the history of the revolution.

The 2.5 billion adults [around the world] without access to financial services are disproportionately women and young people.

They are simply not capable of promoting the indigenous economy. Many billions of dollars flooded into Afghanistan, but without any significant effect.

At the end of the day, it’s hard to win against the NFL. It’s a billion-dollar business, it’s hard to win against it.