Jeff Bezos on pain and invention

“We are willing to plant seeds that take five to seven years to grow into reasonable things,” he said in an interview. “You can’t do big, clean-sheet invention unless you are willing to invest for long periods of time.”

- Jeff Bezos, “Amid the gloom an e-commerce war“, New York Times.


Sunk cost fallacy

For every brand and for every person, yesterday is irretrievably gone and tomorrow is worth a great deal.

- Seth Godin, on sunk cost and your personal brand.

Entrepreneurs are good at keeping their dream when everything about them is changing.


Build up the Entrepreneurial drive

Happy New Year, I wish you a great 2008!

These pieces of art work are driving several out there to become Entrepreneurs.

Pink Floyd – the album Dark Side of the Moon.

Jerry Maguire the movie.

Anyone else would have left you by now, but I’m sticking with you. And if I have to ride your ass like Zorro, you’re gonna show me the money. – Rod Tidwell

The Key to this (any) business is personal relationships. – Dicky Fox

I’m finished, I’m f**ked. Twenty four hours ago, man, I was hot! Now… I’m a cautionary tale. You see this jacket I’m wearing, you like it? Because I don’t really need it. Because I’m cloaked in failure! I lost the number one draft picked the night before the draft! Why? Let’s recap: Because a hockey player’s kid made me feel like a superficial jerk. I ate two slices of bad pizza, went to bed and grew a concience! – Jerry Maguire

Railroad Tycoon II – a game by Gathering of Developers.

What are your influences?


Quotes to begin the Hindu New Year

While scanning the papers today, I came across some excellent quotes from the current generation of Indian entrepreneurs.

One needs to be “obsessively passionate”, as passion can vary, but obsession can’t. It’s the distinguishing factor. One must be restless all the time to do what one wants to do.

Dilip Chhabria, Promoter – Dilip Chhabria Design. Dilip turned down a lucrative offer from GM, USA to satisfy his desire to design cars. He has worked relentlessly for an entire decade to establish his design studio. I remember seeing his early concepts in auto-shows back in the late ’90′s.

How can one confirm that spark of passion in entrepreneurs? Last night at a family get-together, a close relative of mine explained in the following inexact words,

I want to see if he is passionate about his immediate family. Experience teaches me that a deep sense of passion and attachment towards family is a very positive indicator of passion, commitment and therefore success in other areas of life, including business.

Unlike academics, where you know you have a fixed time window to acheive success in the form of a degree – life offers you a misleadingly long window; you have only your own lifetime to succeed. Indeed, commitment is crucial.

Finally, better believe it – your TIME is now! Doesn’t matter who or where you are.


Quotes for this week

Don’t let the method distract you from your message.” – A mentor in the past, he may have been talking about e-mail ;-) . But I heard what I wanted to hear.

No one told the young guys it couldn’t be done, so they went ahead and did it anyway.” – Another mentor, at an Udupi restaurant, before I left for Pune.

Don’t let the competition or difficulty bother you, stay focused on solving one problem and solve it well.” – Founder of 2 respected startups and also in a mentorship role.


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