Top 10 inspiring quotes from industry leaders

This week the co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, shared some inspiring nuggets of advice for budding businesspeople at the Festival of Marketing in London (via CNBC).

“When you start a company,” he said, “you better have good engineering or a good product and you should have a working model of it before you seek money.”

Sound guidance. Some of the most admired figures in popular culture have made similar comments for start-ups and entrepreneurs; here is a round-up of some of our favourites (via louder.online)

• “Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait, the grip of your hand. The irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.” – Henry Ford, Founder of the Ford Motor Company
• “What do you need to start a business? Three simple things: know your product better than anyone, know your customer, and have a burning desire to succeed.” – Dave Thomas, Founder of Wendy’s
• “There’s an entrepreneur right now, scared to death, making excuses, saying, ‘it’s not the right time just yet.’ There’s no such thing as a good time.” – Kevin Plank, CEO of Under Armour
• “You don’t need to be a genius or a visionary, or even a college graduate for that matter, to be successful. You just need framework and a dream.” – Michael Dell, CEO of Dell
• “If there’s something you want to build, but the tech isn’t there yet, just find the closest possible way to make it happen.” – Dennis Crowley, Co-Founder of Foursquare
• “Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be a more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” – Warren Buffett, Business Magnate
• “When you innovate, you must prepare yourself for everybody to tell you that you’re nuts.” – Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle
• “I always did something that I was a little not ready to do. I think that, that is how you grow. When there’s a moment of ‘Wow, I’m not so sure that I can do this,’ and you push through those moments, it’s then that you have a breakthrough.” – Marissa Mayer, President and CEO of Yahoo!
• “Every time you state what you want or believe, you’re the first to hear it. It’s a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don’t put a ceiling on yourself.” – Oprah Winfrey, Media Proprietor
• “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” – Steve Jobs, Co-Founder and former CEO of Apple

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