I’m not trying to be anyone’s savior. I’m just trying to think about the future and not be sad.
“[The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy] taught me that the tough thing is figuring out what questions to ask, but that once you do that, the rest is really easy. I came to the conclusion that we should aspire to increase the scope and scale of human consciousness in order to better understand what questions to ask. Really, the only thing that makes sense is to strive for greater collective enlightenment.”
“I’ve actually not read any books on time management.”
“I’m interested in things that change the world or that affect the future and wondrous, new technology where you see it, and you’re like, ‘Wow, how did that even happen? How is that possible?'”
“Really pay attention to negative feedback and solicit it, particularly from friends. … Hardly anyone does that, and it’s incredibly helpful.”
“If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it’s not.”
“What makes innovative thinking happen?… I think it’s really a mindset. You have to decide.”
“People should pursue what they’re passionate about. That will make them happier than pretty much anything else.”
“Being an entrepreneur is like eating glass and staring into the abyss of death.”

“I wouldn’t say I have a lack of fear. In fact, I’d like my fear emotion to be less because it’s very distracting and fries my nervous system.”
“If you’re trying to create a company, it’s like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.”
“I think the best way to attract venture capital is to try and come up with a demonstration of whatever product or service it is and ideally take that as far as you can. Just see if you can sell that to real customers and start generating some momentum. The further along you can get with that, the more likely you are to get funding.”
“Disruptive technology where you really have a big technology discontinuity… tends to come from new companies.”
“As much as possible, avoid hiring MBAs. MBA programs don’t teach people how to create companies.”
“Don’t delude yourself into thinking something’s working when it’s not, or you’re gonna get fixated on a bad solution.”
“If something has to be designed and invented, and you have to figure out how to ensure that the value of the thing you create is greater than the cost of the inputs, then that is probably my core skill.”
“I care a lot about the truth of things and trying to understand the truth of things. I think that’s important. If you’re going to come up with some solution, then the truth is really, really important.”
“It’s better to approach this [building a company] from the standpoint of saying–rather than you want to be an entrepreneur or you want to make money–what are some useful things that you do that you wish existed in the world?”
“Fundamentally, if you don’t have a compelling product at a compelling price, you don’t have a great company.”
“You’re not going to create revolutionary cars or rockets on 40 hours a week. It just won’t work. Colonizing Mars isn’t going to happen on 40 hours a week.”
“I don’t create companies for the sake of creating companies, but to get things done.”

“A small group of very technically strong people will always beat a large group of moderately strong people.”
“Always solicit critical feedback, particularly from friends. Because, generally, they will be thinking it, but they won’t tell you.”
“Start somewhere and then really be prepared to question your assumptions, fix what you did wrong, and adapt to reality.”
“I think AI is going to be incredibly sophisticated in 20 years. It seems to be accelerating. The tricky thing about predicting things when there is an exponential is that an exponential looks linear close-up. But actually, it’s not linear. And AI appears to be accelerating, as far as I can see.”
“Creating a neural lace is the thing that really matters for humanity to achieve symbiosis with machines.”
“Hope we’re not just the biological boot loader for digital superintelligence. Unfortunately, that is increasingly probable.”

• When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.
• Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.
• Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.
• Optimism, pessimism, f*ck that – we’re going to make it happen.
• It’s OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.
• You want to have a future where you’re expecting things to be better, not one where you’re expecting things to be worse.
• Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time.
• Great companies are built on great products.
• Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.
• Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. [This] improves the odds of success.

As much as possible, avoid hiring MBAs. MBA programs don’t teach people how to create companies.

Really pay attention to negative feedback and solicit it, particularly from friends. … Hardly anyone does that, and it’s incredibly helpful.

Being an entrepreneur is like eating glass and staring into the abyss of death.

People work better when they know what the goal is and why.

I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.

I think you should always bear in mind that entropy is not on your side.

I think most of the important stuff on the Internet has been built.

If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it’s not.

“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.”

“I don’t believe in process. In fact, when I interview a potential employee and he or she says that ‘it’s all about the process,’ I see that as a bad sign. The problem is that at a lot of big companies, process becomes a substitute for thinking. You’re encouraged to behave like a little gear in a complex machine. Frankly, it allows you to keep people who aren’t that smart, who aren’t that creative.”

“I’m interested in things that change the world or that affect the future and wondrous, new technology where you see it, and you’re like, ‘Wow, how did that even happen? How is that possible?’”

“There are really two things that have to occur in order for a new technology to be affordable to the mass market. One is you need economies of scale. The other is you need to iterate on the design. You need to go through a few versions.”

“Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. [This] improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40 hour workweeks and you’re putting in 100 hour workweeks, then even if you’re doing the same thing, you know that you will achieve in four months what it takes them a year to achieve.”