Technology
31 Quotes on How to Launch a Startup
Startup culture has captured our collective imaginations, and today there are more people dabbling in entrepreneurship than ever before.
The fast pace, the pivots, and the setbacks involved in a new venture all make for an exciting day-to-day where anything can happen. And at the end of the road, with a little luck and some hard work, there is even potential to make a significant return on investment: a take-out offer, or an IPO can be a life changing event for one’s career and financial security.
But the startup life is also grueling and unforgiving. To achieve success, an entrepreneur needs have an incredible amount of perseverance and resolve – the fact is that there is no shortage of obstacles that can threaten to instantly bankrupt or disempower any new venture.
How to Launch a Startup, in Quotes
Today’s infographic from Wrike serves as a guide to help those aspiring entrepreneurs that aim to go down this challenging but potentially rewarding path.
See all 31 quotes on how to launch a startup, from notable founders and financiers, in the infographic below:
The experts make clear that to launch a startup requires deep thought and action in the following areas:
Courage and Confidence
Taking a chance can be scary, but don’t be afraid to take the leap of faith on a good idea.
Solve a Problem
Don’t start a company just to be an entrepreneur – but instead solve a real problem. If your product helps to improve other people’s lives, you will always have a market.
Build Your Product
Anyone can come up with an idea to launch a startup, but when it comes to building a product it is all about the execution. The aptitude for translating a mere concept to a physical reality is paramount. Put more succinctly, as Michael Dell says: “Ideas are a commodity. Execution of them is not.”
The Customer is Right
Henry Ford and Steve Jobs have shown us that the average customer cannot always envision the future, whether it is the automobile or the iPhone. However, once you have a product solidified, testing it with customers will give you a wealth of feedback that could change the entire course of product development. Be responsive to this feedback.
Iterate
Make sure everything that can be measured is properly tracked. Update your approach based on this data until it’s clear that the product is a winner.
The Merits of Bootstrapping
Bootstrapping is often underrated. Smart bootstrapping allows you to address big problems without the distractions or opinions of investors.
AI
Charted: What are Retail Investors Interested in Buying in 2023?
What key themes and strategies are retail investors looking at for the rest of 2023? Preview: AI is a popular choice.
Charted: Retail Investors’ Top Picks for 2023
U.S. retail investors, enticed by a brief pause in the interest rate cycle, came roaring back in the early summer. But what are their investment priorities for the second half of 2023?
We visualized the data from Public’s 2023 Retail Investor Report, which surveyed 1,005 retail investors on their platform, asking “which investment strategy or themes are you interested in as part of your overall investment strategy?”
Survey respondents ticked all the options that applied to them, thus their response percentages do not sum to 100%.
Where Are Retail Investors Putting Their Money?
By far the most popular strategy for retail investors is dividend investing with 50% of the respondents selecting it as something they’re interested in.
Dividends can help supplement incomes and come with tax benefits (especially for lower income investors or if the dividend is paid out into a tax-deferred account), and can be a popular choice during more inflationary times.
| Investment Strategy | Percent of Respondents |
|---|---|
| Dividend Investing | 50% |
| Artificial Intelligence | 36% |
| Total Stock Market Index | 36% |
| Renewable Energy | 33% |
| Big Tech | 31% |
| Treasuries (T-Bills) | 31% |
| Electric Vehicles | 27% |
| Large Cap | 26% |
| Small Cap | 24% |
| Emerging Markets | 23% |
| Real Estate | 23% |
| Gold & Precious Metals | 23% |
| Mid Cap | 19% |
| Inflation Protection | 13% |
| Commodities | 12% |
Meanwhile, the hype around AI hasn’t faded, with 36% of the respondents saying they’d be interested in investing in the theme—including juggernaut chipmaker Nvidia. This is tied for second place with Total Stock Market Index investing.
Treasury Bills (30%) represent the safety anchoring of the portfolio but the ongoing climate crisis is also on investors’ minds with Renewable Energy (33%) and EVs (27%) scoring fairly high on the interest list.
Commodities and Inflation-Protection stocks on the other hand have fallen out of favor.
Come on Barbie, Let’s Go Party…
Another interesting takeaway pulled from the survey is how conversations about prevailing companies—or the buzz around them—are influencing trades. The platform found that public investors in Mattel increased 6.6 times after the success of the ‘Barbie’ movie.
Bud Light also saw a 1.5x increase in retail investors, despite receiving negative attention from their fans after the company did a beer promotion campaign with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Given the origin story of a large chunk of American retail investors revolves around GameStop and AMC, these insights aren’t new, but they do reveal a persisting trend.
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