Jacqueline Novogratz Quotes

I think my constant fiddling and meddling with the status quo may have been one of my biggest contributions to the later success of Wal-Mart.

Even when early innovations start to succeed, it is not uncommon to see growing businesses sabotaged for threatening the status quo.

If you want to bring change to any field, beat away at a problem until you solve it.

Innovation never comes from the established institutions.

I also know, as an entrepreneur myself, you face new obstacles every day and you need to have the perseverance to see them through.

Five years after I started CD Baby, when it was a big success, the media said I had revolutionized the music business. But 'revolution' is a term that people use only when you're successful. Before that, you're just a quirky person who does things differently.

I am really not interested or excited by repeating former successes.

Entrepreneurs almost always have to step out of existing institutions that embody old ways of doing things to build their vision.

Answers are not enough, students should be encouraged to ask questions and explore alternatives to the norm. Entrepreneurship and invention are the backbone of the new economy, yet I doubt they get more than a nod in economics courses.

Many have built their careers buttressing the status quo, reinforcing what they've already accomplished, and resisting the radical thinking that can topple their legacy - not exactly the attitude you want when trying to drive innovation forward.

Innovation makes the world go round. It brings prosperity and freedom.

An entrepreneur is someone who brings a pattern change.

I look at every business and ask, How long can this last? How can I identify the status quo and change it?

The height of success is when you break your business, that is what I say! Just when you think things are really, really going well, that's the time to change.

When we started Skype, if you look at analyst reports, no one forecasted it as a big business. Also when Google started, it was not fashionable to be in search. It's not trying to do the obvious - that's the hard part.

I've never been one who enjoys maintaining the status quo. I'm always pushing for new ideas, whether it's in business or philanthropy.

Any business today that embraces the status quo as an operating principle is going to be on a death march.

Sometimes, we need an obstacle to challenge us and push us further than we would if things were always status quo. I'd say one example is the market crashing. It's like, just when we started to get into a rhythm, everything changed! But, it taught us a great deal about how we do business and how we can improve.

News organisations that have been around a while have a lot of traditions and ways of doing things that may have served them for many years but perhaps make them less flexible in the digital era. As an entrepreneur, it just makes more sense to start something new.

When you innovate, you've got to be prepared for everyone telling you you're nuts.

If the idea is really new and unique and big, other people will all think it is bad and is going to fail.

If you want to do something different, you're going to come up against a lot of naysayers.

Great companies start because the founders want to change the world... not make a fast buck.

To be successful, you don't have to have all this crazy start-up capital or a ton of knowledge. I think it's actually helpful sometimes to not know all the rules because that way it's easier to break them.

We started Fox when everyone said it couldn't be done.