FOMO (fear of missing out) is the enemy of valuing your own time.
Andrew Yang
Automation is no longer just a problem for those working in manufacturing. Physical labor was replaced by robots; mental labor is going to be replaced by AI and software.
Universal basic income is not a solution in search of a problem - it is the obvious solution that has been in front of us for years. It only requires us to have the vision, empathy and courage to adopt it for the American people before it is too late.
As a society, we can't hide from the future; we have to build and own it.
Mistakes are acceptable if they're the result of moving forward.
In most every business, you learn by doing. The apprenticeship model is much more effective than the classroom for cultivating entrepreneurs.
Overnight successes are generally years in the making. And most progress is made in isolation, far from the public eye.
When I was growing up, I'd study for days trying to get good grades. When I'd get an 'A,' I'd feel elation for about 30 seconds, and then a feeling of emptiness.
Organizations relying upon young, idealistic, and mission-driven people to work at below-market compensation over the long-term will burn them out and find the best people leaving over time.
The vast majority of small business owners want nothing to do with figuring out a website. They are neck-deep in their business trying to keep it going.
If I need a pick-me-up, I pull up a memo file on my phone and type in three things I'm grateful for. The things I've typed on other days are still there. It's a long list. Always helps.
The reason Donald Trump was elected was that we automated away four million manufacturing jobs in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. If you look at the voter data, it shows that the higher the level of concentration of manufacturing robots in a district, the more that district voted for Trump.
I had very little going for me as a kid except for the fact that I had demanding parents and was very good at filling out bubbles on standardized tests. I went to the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University because I did well on the SAT. I went to Exeter because I did well on the SAT.
I'm a capitalist, and I believe that universal basic income is necessary for capitalism to continue.
A universal basic income funded by a value-added tax, which is a tax placed on a product whenever value is added at each stage of the supply chain, from production to the point of sale, would spread the benefits of automation to a much wider group of people.
We say success in America is about hard work and character. It's not really. Most of success today is about how good you are at certain tests and what kind of family background you have, with some exceptions sprinkled in to try and make it all seem fair.
At Manhattan GMAT, I had done my best to create a positive work environment and culture, and I further believed in rewarding people financially at or above the market rate for a job well done.
Just about any growth company is going to need smart salespeople, account and project managers, business development, marketing, operations, customer service, content creation, communications, analytics, and social media.
Online education and technology are doubtless going to change how we learn in the years ahead. Remote learning is inexpensive and brings down the cost of near-universal access.
Millennials get a bad rap sometimes about their grit and perseverance.
If you can't pay your bills, it has a really tough effect on your mental state.
Building a successful business requires a combination of human capital, financial resources, market opportunity, persistence, community support, and even luck.
Tell young girls they can be anything, including entrepreneurs and self-made billionaires. Encourage your friends/daughters/female students/yourself to take a shot.
The professors at Harvard are smarter and more world-renowned, and so your child will learn from a pre-eminent scholar who is a leader in his or her field. Some of Harvard's professors are even famous.
I never thought I'd run for president. My parents were immigrants to this country - and leader of the free world was not on the list of careers presented to me as a skinny Asian kid growing up in upstate New York.
Unfortunately, hardworking, academically gifted young people are kind of lazy when it comes to determining direction.
If your son graduates from Harvard, people will regard him as smart and highly qualified for the rest his life and give him access to opportunities. He'll be able to get any job he wants.
Silicon Valley is like Wall Street in that it will fill and pursue market opportunities to their logical extremes.
There is a common and persistent belief out there that entrepreneurship is about creativity - that it's about having a great idea. But it's not, really. Entrepreneurship isn't about creativity. It's about organization-building - which, in turn, is about people.
I grew up a skinny Asian kid who was often ignored or picked on. It stuck with me and branded my soul. As I grew up, I tried to stick up for whoever seemed excluded or marginalized.
Before Starbucks, there wasn't as much of a coffeehouse routine; we generally drank really cruddy diner coffee.
It's easy to see how non-profits become engrossed in catering to donors, which may or may not be the best thing at all times, while if a company is ultra-engaged with its customers, it's universally positive and helpful.
If you go deep into a problem, you'll find most all of the time that there are yet more problems to be solved from the ground up.
Back in 2001, my first start-up was mentioned in the 'New York Times' and 'USA Today.' I figured that would drive thousands of visitors to the site and tons of new business. Instead, only a handful of people visited our site, and not much business came of it at all.
Venture for America operates in communities that could generally use more innovation: Detroit, New Orleans, Baltimore, and other U.S. cities. So I'm obviously a big believer in innovation and progress as key drivers of economic growth and prosperity.
Freelancers generally want as friction-free an engagement as possible.
I've always taken pride in relating to the underdog or little guy or gal.
It might be a lot easier to take risks if you're part of a group who will look out for one another.
I meet young people all the time who say something like, 'I want to work in venture capital.' And I can see why. Who wouldn't want to be smart, well-paid, dispense large sums of money, and tell people what to do?
In my experience, entrepreneurship tends to be kind of cumulative, like a layer cake. Taking some time away can make it hard to rev up.
There is, happily, a non-redistributive approach to address income inequality - one that doesn't rely upon government. It's to grow the pie. That is, create more decent jobs that pay more.
One reason why entrepreneurs are admired is that they often take on a degree of risk in launching a new business.
Of course, women are free to start any kind of company they want. But women sometimes identify different problems than men do and start different sorts of companies as a result.
I like most of the venture capitalists I know; they're smart, well-intended guys who genuinely enjoy helping entrepreneurs succeed. And I love venture capital and investment capital of all categories - its economic impact is proven. The more of it the better.
We're conditioned to let businesses fail, regardless of how much we like them. We believe that if the market doesn't want that bookstore to exist, then it shouldn't exist.
If you're positioned to start your own organization, that's great - but rare.
When I was first thinking about what would become Venture for America, I was trying to figure out how to solve a problem - that our top young people were being driven to roles that did not, to me, address the needs of our time. That VFA would be a non-profit just seemed like the most efficient way to solve the problem.
We need more women solving different problems, starting companies, and creating jobs to drive our economy and society forward.
Technology can create needs even as it addresses them.
The best policymakers know that in start-ups, as in politics, not everything works out exactly as planned.
