“What do you need to start a business? Three simple things: know your product better than anyone, know your customer, and have a burning desire to succeed.”
Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s

Let’s consider those simple things – product, customer, desire. For each, I’ll share three quotes of insightful advice from successful entrepreneurs.

PRODUCT

“Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you.”

- Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos

A founder’s vision begins with a product or service. “Chase the vision” means you should not only conceive great products and services but develop and market them “better than anyone.” To achieve that, what ideals should inspire and guide you?

“Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that.”

- Anthony Volodkin, founder Hype Machine

“Always deliver more than expected.”

- Larry Page, co-founder of Google

CUSTOMER

The customer may not always be right, but it’s always right to listen to the customer. Founders are more sophisticated now about customer research and customer-centric planning but acting on data alone is inadequate. These three insights explain why:  

"No matter how many customers you have, each is an individual. The day you start thinking of them as this amorphous ‘collection’ and stop thinking of them as people is the day you start going out of business."

- Dharmesh Shah, Co-Founder of HubSpot

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

- Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft

"Selling is not a pushy, winner-takes-all, macho act. It is an empathy-led, process-driven, and knowledge-intensive discipline. Because, in the end, people buy from people."

- Subroto Bagchi, Co-founder of Mindtree

DESIRE

Strong motivation is vital for the founder of a new venture. It’s easy to say, “I will start from scratch,” but difficult to carry out. Hurdles appear, doubts nag, criticism emerges, fear grows... But here are some insights that inspire committed entrepreneurs:

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
Steve Jobs, Co-founder, CEO, Chairman, Apple Inc.

“If you push through that feeling of being scared, that feeling of taking risk, really amazing things can happen.”

Marissa Mayer, co-founder of Sunshine Contact

“In the journey of entrepreneurship, tenacity of purpose is supreme.”

Aliko Dangote, founder of Dangote Group

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