I think the hallmark of a really good entrepreneur is that you're not really going to build one specific company. The goal - at least the way I think about entrepreneurship - is you realize one day that you can't really work for anyone else. You have to start your own thing. It almost doesn't matter what that thing is.

Max Levchin

Categorized in : Thinking Goal Entrepreneur

The very first company I started failed with a great bang. The second one failed a little bit less, but still failed. The third one, you know, proper failed, but it was kind of okay. I recovered quickly. Number four almost didn't fail. It still didn't really feel great, but it did okay. Number five was PayPal.

Max Levchin

success inspiring inspirational

Ignore your mistakes. The number one thing to worry about is -Am I doing what I'm good at?

Max Levchin

mistake worry numbers

We're all put on Earth for a limited amount of time. Am I using in a way that is great, or good enough, or wasteful?

Max Levchin

good-enough earth way

You can have successful teams where people hate but deeply respect each other; the opposite (love but not respect among team members) is a recipe for disaster.

Max Levchin

team hate successful

Having a highly homogeneous background, education, values, preferences, etc, in the very early team is better than not - cuts down on time-wasting arguments.

Max Levchin

etc cutting team

The single most important top-level trend is the shift to mobile.

Max Levchin

trends levels important

Being an entrepreneur is not about being in love with an idea, it's about being in love with running a company.

Max Levchin

being-in-love running ideas

The notion that diversity in an early team is important or good

Max Levchin

diversity team important

As I was getting interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, or some big pub guy, all I remember was that he went off to the bathroom for a second, and they brought out my omelet. The next thing I remember, I woke up, and I was on the side of my own omelet, and there was no one at Buck's. Everyone was gone. They just let me sleep.

Max Levchin

wall guy sleep

I have this massive notebook called IDEAS and another one called PERSONAL IDEAS and another one called CRAZY IDEAS.

Max Levchin

notebook crazy ideas

Facebook is so ubiquitous now that it's like another manifestation of the web itself.

Max Levchin

manifestation

You can't get married to any one particular plan. That is the biggest lesson I learned at PayPal.

Max Levchin

paypal married lessons

I've been developing mobile for years before anybody else really thought it was that important.

Max Levchin

mobile important years

A classic engineering mistake and one I've made is confusing what is hard and what is valuable.

Max Levchin

engineering confusing mistake

Technology has come a long way since PayPal.

Max Levchin

technology long way

Think of Slide as a giant media network for people to transmit information. The content that's in there now has been provided by users - it's whatever they want it to be.

Max Levchin

media people thinking

Media is very different from financial services. People are very fickle and very vocal. They believe that things should be one way and not the other. It's still very rewarding to build products for huge audiences. It feels like you're making an impact.

Max Levchin

impact media believe

If you can work a brand successfully into the narrative of your product, then it's really cool. Then people actually take the brand up and say, 'My positive experience in your product is directly connected and influenced by this brand and that worked great.

Max Levchin

positive-experiences narrative people

If we compare the two, Facebook is currently a superior place to market a product like Slide. Twitter is more like a general distribution agent. It's like broadcast radio.

Max Levchin

agents radio two

Mobile is the perfect example of what is enabling economic growth in the technology sector.

Max Levchin

growth technology perfect