# Focus, focus, focus. Don’t chase every good idea that comes along, focus on a core product or service and, iterate around it. Simon Olson
# Don’t hire in anticipation of growth. Wait until you can’t stand it anymore and then hire people. Tie hiring to the meeting of revenue goals, etc. Simon Olson
# If you improve what others did before – you created a feature. If you developed something others think is impossible – you created a product. Axel Schultze
# Things take longer than you expect. Plan 2-3 times longer than your estimates. Aaron Franklin
# Iterate. Keep improving on team dynamics / the code / the business model / the user development strategy / the way the product gets communicated / the value build from relevant parties including board members and investors. Twain Liu
# Everything takes four times as long as you predict. Everything costs four times as much as you budget. Everything yields one-fourth the results you project. John Greathouse
# Build a reputation for being easy to work with. There is plenty of time to negotiate tight business deals, but at the start, leave a little extra on the table. You will close more deals and make a better reputation. Mark-Sigal
# Get a mentor! someone you can call on at mid-night or on Sunday morning. Be close to the market listen to the customers – iterate around their needs, not their wants! ‘cos most times, clients don’t know they need but what they want. Temitope Ola
# I will divide my experience into two: first was the hard operational reality, which is all about 3Cs: Cash, Customers, Comrades (I used comrades to represent employees and co-founders, and to highlight the importance of community, communion, joint risk taking, sharing of good and bad etc.); the second was the leadership challenge – the need to steer the ship and take care of the house. Balancing the two as a young entrepreneur was not always easy. Temitope Ola
# Assimilate best practice from peers, clients, mentor-champions, collaborators, competitors, detractors alike because somewhere in this confluence is informed decision-making. Twain Liu
