Entrepreneurs

"We Googled everything and found out how to do things,” “I feel like so many times people make things more complicated than they should be. Like, it’s not that complicated. People were asking us for the micheladas. We’ve been serving the micheladas since we opened. People would come in and ask if they could buy the mix from us so we would fill up empty tequila bottles and sell them and they would come back every weekend. By then, we had opened our online store where we shipped our mole so we started thinking about what else we could sell in our store."

"It’s such an important subject for any age,Everyone in life experiences failure, and this book is about how to strategize getting unstuck. Some people may even view Drive.ai being acquired by Apple last year as a failure instead of it becoming the next stand-alone billion- dollar company. I see it as an opportunity for my next company to get there.”"

"It’s crazy that we’re so immune to those deaths,I thought self-driving cars would be a way to save lives proactively, and I also see self-driving cars as the world’s first mass-scale robot, and that’s going to come with a lot of challenges."

"I enriched my experience with learning other languages, singing in a rock band, learning how to dance salsa, picking up energy crystals, being in touch with new technologies, traveling the world with my camera, basically—I learned how to capture the world with the words, with moving images and with the never-been-told before multimedia narratives—I learned how to expand my own narrative."

"Look, this is-- I think it's an American, very old saying that suggests that wolves have teeth, but not all animals with teeth are wolves. You cannot judge a person based on appearance."

"At the start of the war, we knew that about a third of our graduates lived and worked abroad, about two-thirds were in Russia. Many of them worked at Yandex. For the most part these were graduates of older years who were already adults. Newcomers did not get abroad so quickly. That was the picture at the beginning of 2022."

"That's a great question to ask here in America. Because there were times when people didn't believe that women are capable to be leaders at all."

"I’m interested in taking challenging projects, that spark imagination. What definitely sets me apart from other creators is that I love figuring out how to make the best out of absolutely any budget."

"I am exactly the type of person Putin had in mind when he launched his speech last night. He wants to frame people like me as traitors, the fifth column,”"

"When you are in the middle of running a business nobody is interested whether you are a man or a woman. I am, however, convinced that in order to be a success, a woman needs to be head and shoulders above her male partners and competitors."

"I live a good life, post pretty pictures online about food. They now want to portray me as the face of the ‘decadent west’.”"

"So if you are somebody who is not afraid of risk and you love the creative process, it's great," she said. "Why would you not do it?"

"My 15-year career in finance gave me unique skills: looking at cash flow, balance sheet, inventory, and understanding as an operator. I would argue that cash flow is the most critical thing for staying in business and for all entrepreneurs. Having invested 15 years as a CEO and in companies, I have this unique perspective. I probably understand financials better because of my background. We are much more careful with money because I personally sign every single check for everything we do. We have to be scrappy as I don't have the company pocketbook like some of these conglomerates that can waste money on things and see how it works. We have to be incredibly thoughtful and extremely methodical about everything we do. We don't have any benefit when we make mistakes."

"I made multiple leaps where there were no guarantees that I was going to be successful, By the way, I was not always successful. But I think if you go into something new with an open mind, and you let people around you know what you don't know, for the most part they're going to link arms with you."

"To find out I was the first one to be charged was both amusing and shocking. I joked that I was officially declared a decent person"

"Thinking outside the box. Any box, of any shape, really. A box is a box. There is the whole world outside it. I definitely invest in this area. People struggle to look outside their own industry, but for me, it is an essential part of being in touch with reality and create new realities for the people I work with."

"Originally I hired a tiny little car and drove around. I just drove through Italy knocking on doors. Then we grew up and suppliers came recommended to us, which was a nice moment in time. Even then I was going back and forth to Italy every other week. I got to a point where most Italian immigration officers didn't even check my passport anymore, just ‘Oh, you’re back again’ and I strolled on through.”"

"What I always found so amazing about fashion is just this idea that you could kind of create whatever persona you wanted to be. It feels amazing to put on a business suit. I love that you could put on high heels and feel like a different person, or you could put on whatever you choose and nobody knows where you came from. They just know who you are in that, what you're projecting.”"

"Italian manufacturers are very specialised and so we get recommendations for new craftsmen from our current factories. Nurturing this relationship is one of the most vital parts of our business. We work with partners - you spend a lot of time with these people and you're heavily dependent on them. It’s important to me that they're nice people, that you can consider them your family. Trust is key.”"

"I don't see myself as a fashion person, and it's not something I really identify with because I've just never thought of myself as one of those girls. Growing up on a farm, among the plants and the horses, nobody cares what you look like. What kind of work you're gonna put in. Are you a nice person? Are you responsible? Do the horses trust you? OK, great.”"

"I believe it is important for people who have enjoyed success and achievement to give back and think about who’s coming next," she says. "How do we help them? This has been a cornerstone of my life all along and throughout my career, and it still is."

"My key to success is endurance. My day is like a marathon. I spend tons of time going from restaurants to meetings with the beverage directors, customers or distributors. I think we have had success because we have spent tons of time with excellent partners in the market, building relationships one by one. It really sells the product in each venue. It is not the most scalable business because it's essential that you have a personal connection with each person and that they buy into the story, that they understand and want to get behind you. After all, without the people who matter in each venue, a brand can't succeed."

"Nobody retires from these jobs. You will be fired at some point."

"Because it's one of the great jobs," in a recent interview for Business Insider's podcast, "Success! How I Did It."

"I see many, many young women now — and that's part of what excites me about the startup world — who have left great jobs and said, 'I think I can build something,'" "Eighty percent of them will probably fail at it, but they'll learn a ton, and they'll either be much better when they go back into a corporate job or they'll start a second company and they'll succeed. That's the way that we learn. We learn by making mistakes."

"If you genuinely want to have a multifaceted career that takes you into multiple industries, then I think you have to be willing to fail."

"In one way or another I have always been engaged in production. I was among one of the first entrepreneurs to start building their own private enterprise when Perestroika began in Russia and the state initiated its first market-oriented reforms."

"To be frank, sometimes I was quite glad businessmen didn't take me seriously enough. Occasionally I even found it amusing when some businessmen would be more relaxed during negotiations, which I think served as an advantage. In such cases I of course did my best to make the most of the situation."

"“The Russian people will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and simply spit them out like a fly that accidentally flew into their mouth"

"As CEO I had to hand over the right to sign and wait after the resignation letter when it went into effect in a month, nothing else. I handed things over as HR director — that was the main role — and as director of educational projects. And so the international part of the educational service Practicum moved with me. And I left the bigger Russian educational part in Russia, it was the most expensive and painful parting with it."

"The next time we did a survey was after the mobilization in the fall of 2022. This time only one-third stayed in Russia, two-thirds work abroad. That’s the rate of the first year of the war about adult professionals."

"Teachers will be killed” is the State Duma. Teachers are their peers. The deputies sit there and think, “Why should we release these people?” And the students are their children. The authorities, deputies, ministers, generals have children. You can’t tell everyone from the mobilization; it’s easier to tell all the students."

"But this is exactly the same. How can one judge me and say what, I was too smart for my age? I think that is what is praised in America. When a young person takes his or her destiny in his own hands and fights."

"How do we transcend human limitations but always have the human making the decisions and in control?” I feel like on the surface, there are many different applications of robots, but essential to every project I’ve worked on has been helping people.”"

"Hopkins has an altruistic focus that pervades all through the university, In a time where AI and computer science can impact so many different fields, it was really interesting to realize that a lot of startups didn’t care about ethics or the customer in a human way—it was more about earning money or selling your company. It made me realize that everything at Hopkins is very human-centric, and people were very front and center. It was mission-focused."

"Out of all my projects, this is the research area that’s resonated the most with people, I think everyone is interested in the arts and creativity, and how AI and technology will impact it for the future. Like how the computer enhances the way people work, I’m hoping AI technology can enhance how artists work, freeing them up to be more creative."

"I'm not a city person but I like the convenience of it. I lived in London for seven or eight years, which was amazing. London has quite a good balance of life; there's lots of greenery. Everybody enjoys work and enjoys taking time off. They enjoy patience, and food - it’s a very European mindset.”"

"Trends are quite organic - everyone seems to migrate together. If we’ve done a pointed toe for three seasons, I just want something fresh. Then you look at everybody else's line and you're like, “Oh”. I guess everyone's brain tries to do the opposite at the same time. Everyone's trying to be different and I'm the same.”"

"Our commitment to reduce energy consumption is another fundamental element of the strategy. Putting these two together just requires an alignment across product groups and a good management system for staying on track, from revenue goals and top management reviews to regular interlocks between development and business strategy, which is a part of my team's mission"

"It is about the glory of life which always wins. But how many difficult moments we could have escaped if someone told us how to live in a different society or how to respect people from a different world."

"A poll will give you the most popular answer but not the answer that optimizes the preference of a group."

"You have the sense of touch because you need it."

"The reason that fish form schools, birds form flocks, and bees form swarms is that they are smarter together than they would be apart. They don't take a vote; they don't take a poll: they form a system. They are all interactive and make a decision together in real time."

"How does nature amplify the intelligence of groups? It forms swarms."

"“I would rather know where the cow came from, that we raised it, that it has one bad day. Just as I would rather grow my own vegetables than buy them from a store. Same goes with manufacturing. We work with incredible artisans so I know where the shoes come from. We are very hands on with the materials, I spend a lot of time looking into alternative fabrics - there is no waste. I'm really weird and geeky about this.”"

"I love what I do and I’m a workaholic, so for sure men who don’t like alpha women will not be very attracted to this side of my personality. I don’t think I will ever be a housewife type of girl, I feel that I will want to work, achieve and create value for others even when I’m 80 years old. Not everyone likes that, and it’s totally fine with me"

"Someone who wants to grow with me, that doesn’t just live but wants to learn and progress in every area of his life. A life lover. Someone honest and most importantly someone with a big heart and a pure soul."

"But isn’t that life too? I’m an incredible life lover, that’s why I do and create so much. I love every single bit of my job…and this is just the beginning. Wait and see."

"I believe strongly in public education from grade school on, including my time at Krannert,” she says. "The strength of this country has a lot to do with accessible high-quality education, and it has served me well in my career."

"“I think for mothers, the number one thing is to understand that it’s okay to ask for help,” Latinas, especially moms, feel like because their moms raised four kids as immigrants with nothing and they cooked every day. I honestly don’t know how they did it. We feel like we have to do the same thing, we can’t complain, we can’t have these issues, and we can’t feel pain or ask for help because we have to be able to do everything by ourselves, which is not true. We need to remember that our moms who were able to do all that have a community around them of primas, of support."