The 7 Best Quotes From Tech Leaders For Entrepreneurs

Every year Fortune publishes its list of top technology companies but what’s the secret to their success? Definitely, founders and CEOs play a significant role in the success of their companies. Their focused vision, result- driven characters and desire to innovate make their companies stand out. Here are the 7 Best Quotes from tech leaders that could motivate you to start something incredible!

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple

‘I learned that focus is key, not just in running a company, but in your personal life as well.’

Perhaps, every entrepreneur has faced or will face a time when there is so much noise that it will be impossible to focus on what drives one’s business. In this context, ‘noise’ doesn’t refer to its usual meaning but a combination of factors such as competition or advertising that hinders their business vision, goals, and values. Entrepreneurs have to develop the ability to filter out the noise in order to not become a slave to external and often irrelevant forces.

Another crucial aspect of the overall company’s success is its customer focus. It’s at the core of the operation of any company, as it’s important to make customers happy in order to retain them. To do so, you need to anticipate, identify and satisfy customers’ needs. Put the customers’ happiness first. Why? Because customers can bring other customers through Word-of-Mouth (WoM). Aiming to make customers happy with great service will encourage them to share their amazing experience with everyone they meet on their way. Happy customers will promote your service better than any other marketing channel. And it’s absolutely free!

What Tim Cook aimed to highlight the most was that apart from being focused in the workplace, you need to be focused in your personal life. Setting up a new business is like having a newborn baby- it is challenging, adventurous and without no doubts difficult. Most of the time young entrepreneurs work very long hours and tend to lose the important boundaries between work and personal life. Please, love yourself a bit more. It is essential to develop a work/life balance. A separation needs to be made in your mind and will allow you to be more productive and focused on your priorities at both work and personal life.

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon

“Life is too short to hang out with people who aren’t resourceful.”

Have you ever heard the phrase “I wish to have more than 24 hours a day”? Time is the most valuable asset in our lives. It can seem so slow when we are free and speeds by when we need it most.

When you are setting up your business, time is everything. There are so many things to consider such as a business idea, business plan, funding, a perfect place, the right target group for your product or service and advanced research about your competition. But wait. No one said you need to do it alone. You need to find people who will likely save you time and help you to move forward on the right track. It can be:

Personal Trainers
Right Hands
Advisors
Network Groups
Coaches
Partnership

It is very vital to surround yourself with people that will help you to grow both personally and businesswise. Don’t waste your time on someone who is not adding value to your life!

Bill Gates, Microsoft Founder

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

Do not be afraid to make a mistake, to be criticized or misunderstood by your audience. That is actually a good sign: you have a chance to improve! A customer complaint identifies a problem, whether that’s an issue with your product, employees or internal processes, and by understanding these problems straight away from your customers, you can investigate the issue and prevent further complaints. But be careful: customers can share their excellent experience with other people as well as share complaints. And to be honest, some enjoy sharing the second one more.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google

“Wear your failure as a badge of honor.”

Once you have decided to innovate, be ready for both outcomes: your innovation can succeed or can be misunderstood. Everyone has the potential to fail, this is especially true for startups. It is not a secret that approximately 90% of new businesses fail in their first two years. I am not saying this to scare you but to give a suggestion. Don’t be afraid of failure but understand the possible causes of these failures to avoid the same mistakes in the future.

In fact, one of the main causes of business’ failure is a lack of legal knowledge. Young entrepreneurs are usually very excited about launching their ideas as soon as possible and tend to forget about the legal protection for their businesses. In order to avoid legal troubles, it’s suggested you hire people with knowledge of the laws in place that could affect your business or at least get a legal consultation with a lawyer before starting up.

Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM

“You build your own strategy. You don’t define it by what another competitor is doing.”

You have your ‘own’ personality, startups should have their own too, so a unique strategy is needed for each. Of course, it is essential to know who your competitors are, and which products or services they are offering. But you have to use this knowledge to make your products or services stand out. Your USP is likely to help you to beat the competition, attract new customers, and retain existing ones.

David Packard, Co-Founder of Hewlett-Packard Company

“Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department.”

Marketing brings customers and customers are the core of the operation of any company. Marketing is a vital function of the business and its main aim is to produce an effective marketing strategy for a business in order to maximize conversions (or sales). But here is one tip: entrepreneurs have to connect the business and the marketing strategies together.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook

“Find that thing you are super passionate about.”

What are you passionate about? Cooking? Law? Or maybe programming, like Mark Zuckerberg? Passion allows people to do more than they think they are able to. It drives them to break stereotypes, push the limits and barriers that live in their minds, and it gives the opportunity to motivate others. However, as a startup founder, it is important to understand that passion alone is not enough, it’s also about your business idea and the execution of your business plan; you actually need to get things done and think long-term.

The success of any startup relies on more than being in the right place at the right time. In fact, most of the tech leaders agree that an efficient entrepreneur most follow a comprehensive learning process. Entrepreneurs need to know and understand the factors that affect the company but also the ones that affect his/her personal life. In order to ensure a fast-growing business, it is necessary to evaluate and take into consideration the circumstances that surround your company and you!

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Photo Credit: Photo by TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ on Visual Hunt / CC BY-SA