Pierre Omidyar Quotes
A French-born Iranian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist/economist, and the founder/chairman of the eBay auction site.
(1967 - )
|
|
|
|
A lot of people don't just go ahead and try things. They'll have an idea and they'll say - they'll convince themselves or other people will convince them that it can't be done... the first is even more dangerous and serious. It's convincing yourself that it can't be done.
|
|
|
|
Be an enzyme - a catalyst for change. As a slogan, I don't know if that's ever going to be right up there with Ich Bin Ein Berliner, or 'I Have A Dream,' but there's a lot of truth to it.
|
|
|
|
Build a platform - prepare for the unexpected... you'll know you're successful when the platform you've built serves you in unexpected ways.
|
|
|
|
By building a simple system, with just a few guiding principles, eBay was open to organic growth - it could achieve a certain degree of self-organization.
|
|
|
|
Don't let people who you may respect and who you believe know what they're talking about, don't let them tell you it can't be done because often they will tell you it can't be done, and it's just because they don't have the courage to try.
|
|
|
|
Even after that, they come back and they say, 'Okay, well, we know you're doing your best. We're with you.' And so I've always had this unshakable faith that it's going to endure.
|
|
|
|
Fundamentally, everything we do in human activities is related to trade and there's something, I think, that's wired in human beings that drives us to commerce. But you know, so very, very quickly, I learned that it was actually the human element that was really driving it more than the commerce.
|
|
|
|
I founded the company on the notion that people were basically good and that if you give them the benefit of the doubt you're rarely disappointed.
|
|
|
|
I think failure of that magnitude, or a challenge of that magnitude, is really important and I'm glad that we faced it so early in our evolution.
|
|
|
|
I think those challenges are really critical and really important. What you learn from them is, of course, kind of what they say, 'If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger,' and it's true. And what you learn from those challenges and those failures are what will get you past the next ones.
|
|
|
|
I was just pursuing what I enjoyed doing. I mean, I was pursuing my passion. It is not really work if you are having fun... that was the case with me.
|
|
|
|
I was raised with the notion that you can do pretty much do anything you want. I always kind of just went ahead and tried things.
|
|
|
|
It's all about treating each other the way you want to be treated yourself so that you can do business with one another.
|
|
|
|
Like most software people, it is very much passion more than anything else. The ability to create software that could have a benefit or an impact on people that used it was what was driving me.
|
|
|
|
So as a software engineer, you learn to strive for a certain flexibility in design. You learn to avoid being locked in to a single solution - to build a platform that can be used for a number of purposes.
|
|
|
|
So the only thing you can do is have a certain set of values that you encourage people to adopt and the only way your customers are going to adopt those values is if they see that you're living those values as well.
|
|
|
|
The Internet is changing everything, and has changed the world in such a short period of time, and will continue to change things in very positive ways that we have yet to anticipate. I'm very excited by the prospect of what we haven't seen yet.
|
|
|
|
To truly prepare for the unexpected, you've got to position yourself to keep a couple of options open so when the door of opportunity opens, you're close enough to squeeze through.
|
|
|
|
We believe people are basically good; we believe everyone has something to contribute; we believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in people; we recognize and respect everyone as a unique individual; we encourage you to treat others the way you want to be treated.
|
|
|
|
Whatever future you're building, don't try to program everything. Five Year Plans never worked for the Soviet Union - in fact, if anything, central planning contributed to its fall. Chances are, central planning won't work any better for any of us.
|
|
|
|
|