Famous Quotes

"There was a study done in the early 20th century of all the entrepreneurs who entered the automobile industry around the same time as Henry Ford there were something like 500 automotive companies that got funded, had the internal combustion engine, had the technology, and had the vision. Sixty percent of them folded within a couple of years."

Eric Ries on Technology

More quotes about Technology

• "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity."

  Albert Einstein on Technology

• "The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more annoying than the piano when played by a sister or near relation."

  Oscar Wilde on Technology

• "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

  Arthur C. Clarke on Technology

• "The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life."

  John F. Kennedy on Technology

• "I am sorry to say that there is too much point to the wisecrack that life is extinct on other planets because their scientists were more advanced than ours."

  John F. Kennedy on Technology

More quotes by Eric Ries

• "Science and vision are not opposites or even at odds. They need each other. I sometimes hear other startup folks say something along the lines of: 'If entrepreneurship was a science, then anyone could do it.' I'd like to point out that even science is a science, and still very few people can do it, let alone do it well."

• "The attributes for entrepreneurs cut both ways. You need the ability to ignore inconvenient facts and see the world as it should be and not as it is. This inspires people to take huge leaps of faith. But this blindness to facts can be a liability, too. The characteristics that help entrepreneurs succeed can also lead to their failure."

• "I can't say I'm not grateful to have journalists writing about me as a genius. But I know it's not true. I'm not confused. I understand that success comes through a lot of failure and a lot of very embarrassing failure. People want to create the next Facebook, but they are too afraid to create the next Facemash."

• "Our educational system is not preparing people for the 21st Century. Failure is an essential part of entrepreneurship. If you work hard, you can get an 'A' pretty much guaranteed, but in entrepreneurship, that's not how it works."

• "Start-ups make so many mistakes that the challenge to identify the root cause of a failure is tough. But believing in your own plan is probably the worst."