Andrew Yan Quotes
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Non-profits should be looking to enlist and retain the best people to aggressively solve problems, not to perform adequately and persist. We should expect people to innovate and do the highest-quality work and then reward them accordingly.
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There is a common and persistent belief out there that entrepreneurship is about creativity - that it's about having a great idea. But it's not, really. Entrepreneurship isn't about creativity. It's about organization-building - which, in turn, is about people.
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Starting a business is similar to an athletic endeavor, like serving a tennis ball. Telling you how to do it is useless. You actually get better through a combination of practice, coaching, and repetitions with money on the line.
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After graduating from Brown, I went to law school and became a corporate lawyer in New York City.
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FOMO (fear of missing out) is the enemy of valuing your own time.
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What was a profitable business in one era can become a public utility and a recognized public good in the next.
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Income taxes are very poor at generating income from automation because the gains are realized by technology companies that are experts at not paying taxes.
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The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is push my dog off of me. He likes to sleep on top of me. I think it's because I'm warm and breathing.
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It's easy to see how non-profits become engrossed in catering to donors, which may or may not be the best thing at all times, while if a company is ultra-engaged with its customers, it's universally positive and helpful.
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One reason why entrepreneurs are admired is that they often take on a degree of risk in launching a new business.
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I meet young people all the time who say something like, 'I want to work in venture capital.' And I can see why. Who wouldn't want to be smart, well-paid, dispense large sums of money, and tell people what to do?
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The professors at Harvard are smarter and more world-renowned, and so your child will learn from a pre-eminent scholar who is a leader in his or her field. Some of Harvard's professors are even famous.
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I've always taken pride in relating to the underdog or little guy or gal.
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I'm a capitalist, and I believe that universal basic income is necessary for capitalism to continue.
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Intellectual capital drives financial capital and growth.
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Before Starbucks, there wasn't as much of a coffeehouse routine; we generally drank really cruddy diner coffee.
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Mistakes are acceptable if they're the result of moving forward.
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People generally think of technology simply as a spur to start new businesses. But the Internet has also made it possible for more businesses to compete for any given opportunity.
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When I was first thinking about what would become Venture for America, I was trying to figure out how to solve a problem - that our top young people were being driven to roles that did not, to me, address the needs of our time. That VFA would be a non-profit just seemed like the most efficient way to solve the problem.
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You will almost always leave a professional services environment with a few noteworthy friends and relationships. These contacts can prove to be extremely valuable both personally and professionally.
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Money often moves around like a high school kid with no personality - it goes with the crowd.
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The best policymakers know that in start-ups, as in politics, not everything works out exactly as planned.
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Every entrepreneur doesn't need to be technical - there are plenty of opportunities out there for people who aren't coders.
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Silicon Valley is like Wall Street in that it will fill and pursue market opportunities to their logical extremes.