Jay Samit Quotes & Sayings

The customer is always right ... even when they're wrong. — Jay Samit

Building a career or a company is about living a few years of your life like most people won't so that you can spend the rest of your life living at a level most people can't. — Jay Samit

You don't need to be an engineer or a tech person to benefit from technology. You can hire them. — Jay Samit

Venture-backed startups with billion dollar market caps are called 'unicorns' because they are supposed to be rare mythical creatures that few entrepreneurs will ever ride. — Jay Samit

For those that fear being taken advantage of by people working from home or on flexible schedules, I can say my experience is quite the opposite. Employees are so appreciative of these accommodations that they outperform their coworkers and are less likely to be poached by the competition. — Jay Samit

Whether you stay private or go public, after all is said and done, a CEO's job is to create lasting shareholder value. — Jay Samit

My job is to hire the best and brightest employees and empower them to do their best work. As a manager, I am not a mind reader nor an expert at every job function. Therefore, it is incumbent on all hires to feel empowered to tell me what resources they need to do their job. — Jay Samit

Your innovation can create new winners and losers; or at the very least, make existing companies look fresh and innovative by partnering with you. Everyone wants to align with market makers. — Jay Samit

It doesn't matter how good your product solution is if users don't enjoy or understand how to use it. — Jay Samit

As a serial investor who has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for startups, I know that the business plans coming out of incubators tend to be vetted and more thoroughly validated. The incubator's input into your business plan will make you look far more polished and experienced - even if you have never run a business before. — Jay Samit

Microsoft first entered the living room with Ultimate TV way back in 2000 - a year before Apple's first iPod was announced. Ultimate TV offered consumers a DVR and supporting online services, including 14 days of programming and the ability to record 35 hours of programming. Microsoft's reach was then thwarted when Echostar acquired DIRECTV. — Jay Samit

On average, it takes as much as $100 million in paid media for a brand to be a household name in America. Marketing partnerships are the best form of off-balance sheet financing one can ever find. Smart startups use this technique to scale their companies and build their brand equity. — Jay Samit

For all founders, going public is a momentous milestone that has to be experienced to be fully understood. It is the culmination of years of hard work and personal sacrifice. — Jay Samit

With less and less television being watched live, consumers are enjoying the freedom to record at home or in the cloud, watch locally or on the go, and binge watch entire series that they never had the time to enjoy. — Jay Samit

Pivoting is not the end of the disruption process, but the beginning of the next leg of your journey. — Jay Samit

In my experience, there are only two valid reasons to take a company public: access to growth capital and investor fatigue. — Jay Samit

Founders need sizable egos to believe that what they are creating is good enough to change the world. What makes for great co-founders is having those egos focused on complementary, not competing, skills. — Jay Samit

As good and as smart as you may be, no one knows everything. I truly wish I was as smart as I thought I was when I started my first company. — Jay Samit

Silicon Valley's long-running track record of creating globally disruptive startups is the envy of the world. — Jay Samit

Use your development time to brief analysts and industry press. Use these influencers as your eyes and ears to let you know what else is being developed by competitors so that you can be the first to market, and don't make the mistake of launching an also-ran product. — Jay Samit

Problems are just businesses waiting for the right entrepreneur to unlock the value. — Jay Samit

You need to begin to network with angels and VCs while you are still ideating. It is easier to ask someone you know for funding than a stranger. Build your financial network by attending as many industry functions and reaching out for advice from experts online. — Jay Samit

I have realized that businesses - whether they make dog food or software - don't sell products; they sell solutions. — Jay Samit

As great as you believe your new product or company is, the world got along just fine without you. The greatest competition every startup faces is convincing consumers that there is a better solution to the problems that vex them. — Jay Samit

Every product you have ever loved was a compromise from the ideal vision of its creators to the realities of shipping on time, on budget, and on price point. Anyone who has ever manufactured a physical product that had to be on the shelves for Christmas shopping knows how painful these choices can be. — Jay Samit

Never expect that your startup can cover every aspect of the market. The key is knowing what segment will respond to your unique offering. Who your product appeals to is just as important as the product itself. — Jay Samit

Too many startups get in the habit of continually raising more and more money, which has the deleterious effect of both pushing out profitability and limiting your exit options. The less rounds of capital you need to raise, the more of your company you get to own. — Jay Samit

The most important tool you have on a resume is language. — Jay Samit

Disruptors don't have to discover something new; they just have to discover a practical use for new discoveries. — Jay Samit

If you don't know where you want to be in five years, how do you ever expect to get there? — Jay Samit

The greatest challenge to most innovation centers around the world is many nations' punitive attitudes towards failure. In most of the world, if your first business fails, no one will work with you again. But, trial and error is the genesis of innovation. — Jay Samit

Every company, regardless of size, is competing for the same pool of talent, which is why top recruiters can even command equity for finding key hires. Internships give startups a chance to hire the best and brightest from our universities at a fraction of the cost that these same minds will command when they receive their degrees. — Jay Samit

To truly launch a great product, you need partners. Channel and marketing partners share in your success and share in the costs of reaching your target audience. — Jay Samit

I always say the more problems you have, the more opportunities you have. — Jay Samit

I tell people: walk around for one month and write down three problems in your life every day. At first it's easy - you got stuck in traffic, you missed your alarm - but by the end of the month you're looking really hard to get your 90 problems. The most common things on your list are now billion-dollar businesses. — Jay Samit

So many of the major decisions that affect the entire future of your enterprise happen during its first year in business. In fact, most don't make it because they don't know how to get the resources they need to survive. — Jay Samit

Whether by design or circumstance, every startup will eventually get disrupted. — Jay Samit

prestidigitator, — Jay Samit

Every threat to the status quo is an opportunity in disguise. — Jay Samit

Success doesn't teach as many lessons as failure — Jay Samit

All too often, new hires have a different expectation of their job and responsibilities than the organization does. Any miscommunication during the recruiting process needs to be cleared up ASAP. Whenever possible, give new employees a written plan of objectives and responsibilities. — Jay Samit

Most startup failures result from entrepreneurs who are better at making excuses than products. — Jay Samit

The power of crowd sourcing always remains with the crowd, not the technological implementation. — Jay Samit

Cable and satellite businesses are competing against fixed-line telephone companies and wireless companies. — Jay Samit

Whether driven by ambition or circumstance, every career gets disrupted. — Jay Samit

Every time a twenty-something CEO turns down a multibillion-dollar offer for a company that has little or no revenues, it hits a raw nerve in me. Unlike most professionals, I am not shocked by the seemingly bizarre behavior of those founders who pursue their vision beyond all rational thought or monetary reward. — Jay Samit

You will have more regrets for the things you didn't try than the ones you tried and didn't succeed at. — Jay Samit

Building a great team is the lifeblood of any startup, and finding great talent is one of the hardest and costliest tasks any CEO will ever face. — Jay Samit

Distributers don't need massive amounts of square feet to stock digital products. Retailers don't need brick-and-mortar stores to sell them. The entire supply chain for these select items has been permanently dematerialized. The marketplace has been blown to bits. — Jay Samit

A career is just a longer trip with a whole lot more baggage. — Jay Samit

A dream with a deadline is a goal. — Jay Samit

Would you rather work forty hours a week at a job you hate or eighty hours a week doing work you love? — Jay Samit

Instead of focusing the traditional planning cycles where companies benchmark their businesses against existing competition, teams need to be developed to foster internal change and disruption. Self-disruption is akin to undergoing major surgery, but you are the one holding the scalpel. — Jay Samit

Social media and personalization are providing both brand advertisers and end-users with hyper-targeted choices and opportunities for double-digit growth. — Jay Samit

Security doesn't rob ambition; the illusion of security robs ambition. — Jay Samit

To effectively reach consumers in the new social environment, brand managers need to learn how to translate their budgets into the digital realm, which also means understanding the advantages that digital can provide over television advertising. — Jay Samit

The possibilities of migrating from an economy based on owning to one based on sharing are limitless. — Jay Samit

State funds, private equity, venture capital, and institutional lending all have their role in the lifecycle of a high tech startup, but angel capital is crucial for first-time entrepreneurs. Angel investors provide more than just cash; they bring years of expertise as both founders of businesses and as seasoned investors. — Jay Samit

You will always need more capital than you think, because it will always take you longer to reach profitability than you can imagine. — Jay Samit

There is no better feeling than doing well while you are doing good. If you really want to meet the nicest, most caring people in your field, get involved with charity work. The thankless hours that go into planning charity dinners, running a carnival, and gathering donations for silent auctions are noticed and appreciated. — Jay Samit

Founding a successful startup is no different than forming a rock band. — Jay Samit

At the heart of all sales and marketing is the ability to create demand even in the absence of logic. — Jay Samit

Pick a co-founder that communicates in the same fashion that you do. If you are a screamer, then the only way you will ever listen to a conflicting point of view is to find someone who is passionate enough to yell back at you. — Jay Samit

Instagram, Swiffer, and Nest had to compete with consumer habits and perceptions. Breakout products face competition from the formidable inertia powering the status quo. — Jay Samit

Today's entrepreneur is creating opportunities for connections around the content without ever being tied to the cost of creating that content. — Jay Samit

There is a difference between failing and failure. Failing is trying something that you learn doesn't work. Failure is throwing in the towel and giving up. — Jay Samit

What most entrepreneurs don't understand is that it isn't the economy that bursts a bubble, but investor psychology. — Jay Samit

Many first-time founders fail to understand the difference between the potential of the Total Addressable Market (TAM) and the very finite subsection they can hope to capture. No company ever captures the entire market they pioneer. Innovation doesn't happen in a vacuum, and others will jump in from the moment you've identified the potential. — Jay Samit

Every new startup business creates new opportunities. It doesn't matter whether you have a new app for college students or a home medical device for senior citizens; there are other multibillion noncompetitive corporations that are spending millions of dollars trying to market their goods and services to your same audience. — Jay Samit

You'll never know how close you are to victory if you give up. — Jay Samit

To stay relevant, you must keep your career in permanent beta. That means committing to a lifetime of learning and professional growth, a lifetime of strategic — Jay Samit

To be successful, innovation is not just about value creation, but value capture. — Jay Samit

In life, you get what you believe you deserve. — Jay Samit

Disruption causes vast sums of money to flow from existing businesses and business models to new entrants. — Jay Samit

A successful entrepreneur is one who recognizes her blind spots. You may be the world's best engineer, but you probably have never run a 10-person sales force. You may be a brilliant marketer, but how do you structure a cap table? — Jay Samit

A free and open Internet is a despot's worst enemy. — Jay Samit

The majority of people are not willing to risk what they have built for the opportunity to have something better. — Jay Samit

Big ideas developed in a vacuum are doomed from the start. Feedback is the essential tool for building and growing a successful company. — Jay Samit

Valuations are actually quite simple to grasp. A company is only worth what two acquirers are willing to pay for it. Don't you just need to find that one buyer? If there is only one potential company interested in buying your startup, chances are you won't be hearing the word 'billion' in the offer. — Jay Samit

Digital products are, for the most part, services that empower consumers to achieve something that they couldn't do before. Every screen must reflect your value proposition. — Jay Samit

In an era of endless innovation and constant disruption, what is any company really worth? How does a startup determine its valuation? — Jay Samit

Starting each day with a positive mindset is the most important step of your journey to discovering opportunity. — Jay Samit

The best big idea is only going to be as good as its implementation. — Jay Samit

An average idea enthusiastically embraced will go farther than a genius idea no one gets. — Jay Samit

Numerous studies, and my own experience as a serial entrepreneur, have proven that companies with a diverse management team provide greater financial returns to investors. — Jay Samit

Entrepreneurs always begin the journey believing that they have the next big idea. They dream of the fame and fortune that awaits them if only they had the funding to pursue it. But the reality is that as the product is built and shared with customers, flaws in their concept are discovered that - if not overcome - will kill the business. — Jay Samit

When Thomas and John Knoll launched Photoshop 1.0 in 1990, the software couldn't even handle color images. But their offerings got the startup noticed by Apple and Adobe, both of whom became key to the fledgling company's later success. — Jay Samit

Most startup entrepreneurs unnecessarily spend half their time and give up half their equity in search of funding from angel investors and venture capitalists. Tens of millions of dollars are available to them for free from partners who not only don't want their equity, they don't even want to be paid back. — Jay Samit

Zuckerberg rejected $2 billion for Facebook and has successfully created a company worth nearly $200 billion. — Jay Samit

To thrive, all businesses must focus on the art of self-disruption. Rather than wait for the competition to steal your business, every founder and employee needs to be willing to cannibalize their existing revenue streams in order to create new ones. All disruption starts with introspection. — Jay Samit

Most discoveries come from the simple act of identifying life's problems. — Jay Samit

Get your product into users' hands as quickly as possible and incorporate the crowd's feedback to iterate. Your customers will provide the data you need to chart the best course for your company and bury any competitor that goes it alone. — Jay Samit

Accepting that the odds are against you is the same as accepting defeat before you begin. — Jay Samit

Be the best at what you do or the only one doing it. — Jay Samit

The real challenge is for each of us to determine where we feel we can make the most impact. — Jay Samit

Historically, more media has been consumed sitting in front of the television than any other device. Controlling this screen has been the goal of major technology, consumer electronic, and telecommunications companies. — Jay Samit

Targeted marketing delivers a lower customer acquisition cost and gets you to profitable growth faster. The goal is to quickly identify the costs associated with acquiring your most profitable segment of customers and the incremental value - if any - of going beyond your core. — Jay Samit

Your energy is a valuable resource, distribute it wisely. — Jay Samit

As a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and public company CEO, nothing irks me more than when a startup founder talks about wanting to cash in with an initial public offering. — Jay Samit

The secret to fundraising comes down to three magic words: before, more, and strategic. — Jay Samit