To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence. —Mark Twain, author, humorist. Pete Kight has a success story that is simply amazing. The company he founded, CheckFree, was acquired in 2007 by Fiserve for approximately $4.4 billion in cash. In many ways, his story sounds like other millionaire success stories that include […]
View Post Bill Gates, CheckFree, College, Courage, Fiserve, Forbes, Forbes 400, George Soros, Jeff Bezos, Kevin Plank, Ohio, Pete Kight, Sara Blakely, Software, Spanx, Under Armour, Warren Buffet
Eventually, the nerds and the geeks will have their day. —Judd Apatow, film producer, comedy writer Chances are that when you think of the most successful and wealthy entrepreneurs, you don’t think of a group of weird people. Instead, you probably think of well-respected and brilliant people who exhibit all the admirable qualities of well-rounded, […]
View Post Cass Business School, Cisco, dyslexia, Geeks, John Chambers, Judd Apatow, Julie Login, Kinkos, Mark Zuckerberg, Nerds, Paul Orfalea, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, The Economist, Virgin Group
No business plan survives first contact with a customer. —Steve Blank, Silicon Valley–based retired serial entrepreneur. After conjuring up a brilliant business idea, I would immediately start writing a business plan. Like a skilled magician, I could make a marvelous business plan appear before your eyes in just a few days. It would be complete […]
View Post Arthur M. Blank, Babson College, Business Plan, Competitive Landscape, Customer Service, Entrepreneur Magazine, Feasibility Study, Frankenplans, Prototype, Strategy
I have always been afraid of banks. —Andrew Jackson, seventh president, United States of America. One of the worst things you can do as an entrepreneur is to open a business bank account at a bank where you have a personal bank account. Likewise, it is not a good idea to open a business credit […]
View Post American Express, Andrew Jackson, Banking, Business Credit, CapitalOne, Corporate Law, Credit, Credit Card, Credit Report, Debt Collection, Debt-to-Income Ratio, Discover, Finance, Loans, Overdraft Fees, Personal Finance, Right of Offset, Social Security Number, Tax Identification Number, Veil Piercing
A winning effort begins with preparation. —Joe Gibbs, former NFL coach, race team owner At a recent entrepreneurship conference where there was a panel with angel investors, an audience member asked the following questions, “Do you take cold calls? And if you do, what should I, as a business owner seeking capital, say?” One of […]
View Post Capital Growth, Daymond John, Forge Intellectual Capital, Joe Gibbs, Timothy Reese, Valerie Gaydos
Honesty is for the most part less profitable than dishonesty. —Plato, Greek philosopher If I had listened to my intuition, I could have saved myself some trouble. I would have heeded the many clues that the shoddy owners of the mom-and-pop business gave me. I would have run out of their dubious restaurant as fast […]
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Inspiration comes from all different places. —Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO, DreamWorks Animation. Oprah Winfrey is known for making guests on her show cry. However, this time, she was the one who would shed tears, overcome by the significance and serendipity of the moment. In 2007 I stumbled upon a television special titled Oprah’s Roots: An African […]
View Post Academy Award, Atlanta, Baltimore, Berklee College of Music, Boston, Charlotte Phelan, Courage, Family, Georgia, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Herbie Hancock, Los Angeles, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oprah Winfrey, The Help, United States, Wynton Marsalis
Two heads are better than one. —John Heywood, English playwright. One of my favorite events in the Summer Olympic Games is the 4×100 meter relay. In this event, a team runs 400 meters total, once around a regulation athletics track, with four teammates running 100 meters each. Currently, Jamaica holds the world record time of […]
View Post Bill Gates, Eduardo Saverin, Fear, Google, Greed, Jamaica, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Johnson, Olympic Games, Olympics, OmniPublisher, Paul Allen, Pride, Sergey Brin, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Track & Field, Usain Bolt, World Record, Yohan Blake
Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn’t music. —William Stafford, poet For the past two years, I have had the privilege of being an instructor for the Teenpreneur conference, a two-day program that has taught thousands of teens the vital concepts of entrepreneurship. Along with other instructors who are entrepreneurs, I […]
View Post Capri Investments Capital, Quintin E Primo III, Teenpreneur, William Stafford
Competition is very good. . . . It’s what makes one strive to be better. —Christine Lahti, actress, film director. Ninety-five percent of the time, arrogance leads entrepreneurs to believe that they have no competition in the marketplace. However, on rare occasions, arrogance isn’t the true cause of this belief. Instead, arrogance is an effect […]
View Post Back to the Future, Contrave, DeLorean, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, New York Times, Orexigen Therapeutics, Road and Track, Segway, Zipcar