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

There are riches to be found simply by capturing the value released through others' disruptive breakthroughs. — Jay Samit

As counterintuitive as it sounds, 'speed to fail' should be every entrepreneur's motto. Success isn't born wholly-formed like Venus from a clamshell; it's developed through relentless trial and error. — 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

You have a choice: pursue your dreams, or be hired by someone else to help them fulfill their dreams. — Jay Samit

The answers to all a startup's challenges are out there. By setting up the right mechanisms for gathering feedback, the road to success can be a less bumpy ride. — 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

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

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

The very first thing I tell every intern on the first day is that their internship exists solely on their resume. As far as I am concerned, they are a full-time member of my team. For all the negative stereotypes about millennials, you would be astounded by how hard they work when they believe their contribution matters. — 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

Our world's future is far more malleable and controllable than most people realize. — 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

Betting all your funds on the belief that you know what consumers want and are willing to pay for is like jumping into a river to test its depth - you'll need a lot of luck to stay afloat. To have a truly successful product launch, the conversations with your customers must start long before you write your first line of code. — Jay Samit

Design is how you make your first impression with your consumers. Make sure it is a lasting one. — 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

No matter how much we tweet, blog and post, nothing in business is as powerful as actual face time with prospective business partners and customers. — 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

Companies with significant revenue (more than $100 million) have, by definition, significant traction. They have proven out their thesis and can scale up or down as investment capital becomes available. — 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

Plan for ways to get more enjoyment into your life and you will get more joy out of it. — 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

I'd been on the Internet since the 1970s when it was just for nerds. I started saying, 'Who would benefit from this?' I started imagining a world where young people could have their own email address, back in the days of family AOL accounts. — Jay Samit

Some incubators, like Y Combinator and TechStars, were started by successful entrepreneurs wishing to help the next generation learn from their experiences. Other programs, such as Viterbi Startup Garage and Austin Technology Incubator, were created by universities to help young entrepreneurs bridge the knowledge gap from student to funded company. — Jay Samit

Television programming is the number one topic on Twitter, and dozens of start-ups in the social space are linking second-screen experiences. People no longer need to sit on the same couch to enjoy a show together. — 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

While commercials interrupt consumers' enjoyment of a TV program, social media allows video to enter the conversation between friends in a non-intrusive way with an opt-in choice. — 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

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

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

Consumers value their personal time and are loyal to those companies that make their lives more productive. Brands gaining some of the biggest successes in social media are engaging with millions of consumers through value exchange. — Jay Samit

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

No first-time entrepreneur has the business network of contacts needed to succeed. An incubator should be well integrated into the local business community and have a steady source of contacts and introductions. — Jay Samit

Lifelong learning is no longer a luxury but a necessity for employment. — 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

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

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

Some of the most lasting contacts and friendships that I have developed began by just grabbing a drink or breaking bread with a stranger at an industry event. — Jay Samit

I never understood why women wanted equality in the workplace when in fact, that would be selling them short. — Jay Samit

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 2004, we had a great year, with Samit Patel, Liam Plunkett, Tim Bresnan, Luke Wright, Alistair Cook. Some groups are not quite as strong. — Andy Pick

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

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

As every entrepreneur and investor sifts through year-end data to predict the next trend or opportunity for financial success, there is a much easier way to accurately predict the future: hang out with those who are creating it. — Jay Samit

For a startup to overcome obstacles and succeed, it must foster limitless thinking. By hiring students into their first career job, you get to set their framework for how a company functions and instill them with your values for your company's culture. — 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

Networking is all about connecting with people. But then again, isn't that what life is about? The more time you can find to get out of the office and build true friendships, the farther your startup will go. Entrepreneurs need to remember to spend as much time working on their business as they do in their business. — 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

In order to protect against being disrupted, startups also need to recruit employees that are committed to life-long learning. The skills that made your team members valuable may not be the skills needed to take your company to the next level or to compete in emerging markets. — 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

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

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

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

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

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

New ideas for innovation grow out of the minds of each new generation. Having an institution of higher learning that can help young people put those ideas into action is critical. — Jay Samit

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

From the very first inkling of a concept, founders need to gather a target group of five to ten potential users to begin the feedback loop. We all think we know how the market will react to new ideas, but actual users live with the pros and cons of the existing market conditions every day. They are the market experts. — Jay Samit

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

By maintaining an active feedback system at every stage of a startup, founders can reduce their burn rate, increase their virality coefficient, and retain key hires. — Jay Samit

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

YouTube began as a failed video-dating site. Twitter was a failed music service. In each case, the founders continued to try new concepts when their big ideas failed. They often worked around the clock to try to overcome their failure before all their capital was spent. Speed to fail gives a startup more runway to pivot and ultimately succeed. — 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

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