Startup Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old startup quotes, startup sayings, and startup proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

The best Startups don't create noise. They create a gravitational pull. Wayne Chang
Most startups actually start down and only go up if they catch the winds of market demand. Ryan Lilly
Startups are based in faith, and the ones that succeed have no fear. Micah Baldwin
Startups live at the intersection of existential crisis and everything going perfectly great. Aaron Levie
When you're in a startup, the first ten people will determine whether the company succeeds or not. Steve Jobs
A startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Steve Blank
In the startup work environment, you get to have a relationship with your boss, the investors, and the key members of the team. Startups are like families - you see the good, the bad and the ugly, but in the end, you've got each other's back. Clay Clark
Most startup failures result from entrepreneurs who are better at making excuses than products. Jay Samit
In a startup, both the problem and solution are unknown. Eric Ries
In a startup no facts exist inside the building, only opinions. Steve Blank
A startup can focus on only one metric. So you have to decide what that is and ignore everything else. Noah Kagan
For a startup, you need to stay small so the others don't attack, or you aim to be one of the big guys. If you don't do it right, you might lose everything. Hamdi Ulukaya
Every startup has a chance to change the world, by bringing not just a new product, but an entirely new institution into existence. Eric Ries
Startups, by their nature, are entrepreneurial - testing new things, launching new products, and disrupting themselves. That's why you join a startup in the first place - to create, to stretch beyond your current capabilities, and to make an outsized impact. Jennifer Hyman
Building a startup community is not a zero-sum game in which there are winners and losers: if everyone engages, they and the entire community can all be winners. Brad Feld
By definition, startups are not constrained by the limits of established company culture. And so they push boundaries and develop new technologies and ways of doing things. J. B. Pritzker
A startup is the largest endeavor over which you can have definite mastery. You can have agency not just over your own life, but over a small and important part of the world. It begins by rejecting the unjust tyranny of Chance. You are not a lottery ticket. Peter Thiel
Starting a startup is a process of trial and error. What guided the founders through this process was their empathy for the users. They never lost sight of making things that people would want. Jessica Livingston
Working on a startup is a balancing act: being crazy enough to believe your idea can take off but not crazy enough to miss the signs when it's clearly not going to. Mike Krieger
Founding a successful startup is no different than forming a rock band. Jay Samit
A startup is literally just a series of unfortunate events where you failed, failed, failed, and failed until you succeed. Adam Draper
Startups often have to do dubious things. Paul Graham
Good startups usually take 10 years. Sam Altman
Doing startups is all about making mistakes. Biz Stone
The only way to train for a startup is by starting. Chris Campbell
The lean startup method is not about cost, it is about speed. Eric Ries
In a startup, absolutely nothing happens unless you make it happen. Marc Andreessen
The best startups generally come from somebody needing to scratch an itch. Michael Arrington
We can never have enough startups that are pursuing unique solutions to important problems. Chris Yeh
Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality. Sam Altman