25+ Tips From Founders and CEOs To Launch a Successful Startup
How do you launch a successful startup? Check out the tips and advice of 25+ startup founders and CEOs about the process, failures, and team-building now:
Launching a successful startup is a terrifying, exhausting, exhilarating adventure.
The road is never smooth or easy; it’s littered with potholes, winding and seemingly never-ending detours, and red light setbacks.
And no two startups follow the same map to success or worldwide recognition.
Each founder builds on their own strengths and struggles with their unique weaknesses. Yet they must all find the motivation to face challenges and obstacles standing in the way of greatness.
Author Leo Tolstoy once wrote, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” You could just as easily replace the word “family” with “startup,” and the message would be the same.
The happiness and pride of launching a successful startup are universal. But getting there requires inner strength, inspiration, and desire to overcome your individual fears and hesitation.
So how do you do that?
Today we’re sharing over 25 tips and advice from founders and CEOs that may be just what you need to hear.
25+ Tips From Founders and CEOs To Launch a Successful Startup
What’s preventing you from launching the successful startup of your dreams?
Do people say your idea is crazy? Do you have a solid plan to work through roadblocks or poor customer feedback? Are you looking for people to take the leap with you?
No matter what your obstacles, we hand-selected the best tips and advice to inspire you to overcome them. No big deal; consider us the faithful cheerleaders in your corner.
10 Successful Startup Founders On Taking the Leap
Taking the plunge to launch a startup isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s a risk that has the potential to pay off big time and fail just as monumentally.
So here’s what the most successful founders and CEOs have to say on the subject of turning your ideas into gold:
Larry Ellison, Co-Founder of Oracle:
“When people start telling you that you’re crazy, you just might be on to the most important innovation in your life.”
Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote:
“There are lots of bad reasons to start a company. But there’s only one good, legitimate reason, and I think you know what it is: it’s to change the world.”
If you want to see this tip in action, check out these 10 UK Startups that are Changing the World next!
Brian Chesky, Co-Founder and CEO of Airbnb:
“Every day I would wake up and think, ‘Today is another missed opportunity to do something important.’ After enough days like this, you start feeling like you’re getting old, even when you’re relatively young. We’re all natural entrepreneurs, and being manacled to a desk job is not for us.”
Phil Knight, Co-Founder of Nike and former CEO:
“I wanted to build something that was my own, something I could point to and say: I made that. It was the only way I saw to make life meaningful.”
Kevin Plank, Under Armour Founder and CEO:
“There’s an entrepreneur right now, scared to death, making excuses, saying, ‘It’s not the right time just yet.’ There’s no such thing as a good time. I started an apparel-manufacturing business in the tech-boom years. I mean, come on. Get out of your garage and go take a chance and start your business.”
Tom Preston-Werner, Co-Founder of Github:
“When I’m old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say ‘Wow, that was an adventure,’ not ‘Wow, I sure felt safe.’”
We compared this dilemma in our guide on Working at a Startup vs. Big Company: What’s Better for You.
Paul Graham, Co-Founder of Y-Combinator:
“The very best startup ideas have three things in common: They’re something the founders themselves want, that they themselves can build, and that few others realize are worth doing. Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Google, and Facebook all began this way.”
Scott Belsky, co-Founder Behance:
“It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.”
Sara Blakely, Founder of Spanx:
“My revenue was $4 million my first year in business, off of one $20 item.”
Aaron Levie, Co-Founder of Box:
“The product that wins is the one that bridges customers to the future, not the one that requires a giant leap.”
Aaron Levie received an angel investment from entrepreneur billionaire Mark Cuban after just one cold email. Want to learn how to build a compelling pitch deck to secure startup success? Click that link later!
Failure, Perseverance, and Perfection According To 11 Successful Startup Founders and CEOs
In our guide on What To Expect When Working at a Startup, we highlighted all the blood, sweat, and tears that go into building and shipping new products. Founders and teammates have to wear multiple hats simultaneously every day.
But all that time and dedication makes less room for failure. And as you’ll see, successful founders and CEOs all agree: you have to keep pushing.
Steve Jobs, Co-Founder of Apple:
“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
Jack Dorsey, Co-Founder and CEO of Twitter; Founder and CEO of Square:
“Make every detail perfect, and limit the number of details to perfect.”
Ben Silbermann, Co-Founder and CEO of Pinterest:
“We just felt like if every day we were getting a little bit closer to something that we would be really proud of, we would never regret the time we’d invested.”
Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group:
“You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and falling over.”
Josiah Humphrey, Co-Founder of Appster:
“I can name dozens of failures that we had over the years. Yet, with all these failures, we still managed to build Appster into one of the largest, and best companies in our industry. So remember, every time you fail, remind yourself of these words: ‘Life won’t always go my way, but I will always find a way.’”
Drew Houston, CEO of Dropbox:
“Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once.”
Matt Mullenweg, WordPress Founder:
“If you’re not embarrassed when you ship your first version, you waited too long. Get the 1.0 out as soon as possible… even if it sucks.”
Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder and CEO of Chobani:
“Some days you’re smiling and thinking you’re going to make this thing rock. Then the next day, a pipe breaks and your costs look too high. You have to learn to keep your eyes on an ultimate goal. If you lose sight of that goal, you have to get out.”
Rob Kalin, Co-Founder of Etsy:
“The last 10% it takes to launch something takes as much energy as the first 90%.”
Steve Case, AOL Co-Founder:
“In the end, a vision without the ability to execute it is probably a hallucination.”
Caterina Fake, Flickr Co-Founder:
“So often people are working hard at the wrong thing. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard.”
6 Startup Founders Who Believe Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
Here at Unicorn Hunt — Europe’s magical beast of a startup job board — we believe in connecting passionate founders with their dream teams. That’s why we only list startup jobs.
The 10,000 unique visitors who land on Unicorn Hunt every month all share one thing in common: they want to be part of a new idea that disrupts industry standards and makes the world a better place.
Founders may have the idea, but their team helps materialize and monetize their vision.
These successful startup founders and CEOs say you can’t go at it alone:
Marc Benioff, Founder and CEO of Salesforce:
“The secret to successful hiring is this: look for the people who want to change the world.”
Larry Page, Google Co-Founder:
“You don’t need to have a 100-person company to develop that idea.”
Yvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia:
“How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.”
Company culture motivates employees and attracts more top talent your way. Use these tips to help build culture at your startup today!
Evan Williams, Twitter Co-Founder:
“User experience is everything. It always has been, but it’s undervalued and underinvested in. If you don’t know user-centered design, study it. Hire people who know it. Obsess over it. Live and breathe it. Get your whole company on board.”
Reid Hoffman, Co-Founder of LinkedIn:
“No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.”
Seth Bannon, Founder and CEO of Amicus:
“Don’t be a lone wolf. Lean on the experience and smarts of your teammates, investors, and mentors to help solve the tough problems and take advantage of the opportunities.”
If you need more qualified awesome on your team, make sure you know these five hiring tips for London-based startups!
Time To Put this Advice from Successful Startup Founders To Good Use
There you have it! Over 25 nuggets of wisdom from some of the most successful startup founders and CEOs on the planet.
We hope these quotes gave you the inspiration and motivation to launch your ideas and build your kick-butt team of disruptors.
Want more first-hand advice? Head over to our guide on The Top 3 Lean Startup Books To Inspire Your Business next!
Ready to hire more help? Don’t waste time on traditional job boards; post your startup job on the best startup job board: Unicorn Hunt. You’ll find dedicated, multi-skilled candidates to take your startup to the next level!
