On Start-Ups
- Start-ups are time and emotion vampires.
- Cash is a proxy for time; time is a proxy for opportunity.
- Being a Founder is a fact; not a job description.
- Miracles still happen; but not often enough to include them in a business plan.
On Negotiations
- Always leave them laughing.
- I'd rather have some percentage of something, than 100% of nothing.
- Propinquity counts.
- Deals, like the universe, tend toward entropy.
- Time is the invisible but palpable enemy.
- Pandering and groveling are underrated virtues.
On Investment
- When people are paying tulip bulb prices, and you own tulip bulbs, you should sell them.
- You can only spend the same dollar one time. And you can only spend the same hour one time.
- Sophisticated investors want the entrepreneur to be hungry, but never starving.
- Success has many fathers; only failure is an orphan.
On Management
- An expectation unarticulated is a disappointment guaranteed.
- Great management knows that power is obligation; not privilege.
- If you put your head in the lion's mouth often enough, eventually the lion wins.
- Works flows to the competent.
- Good management doesn't tell you what you want to hear; they tell you what you need to know.
On Capital
- What matters isn't the price; what matters is the availability.
On Life
- Never break a promise to your kid.
- Eventually time and gravity win.