Top 66 Andrew Yang Quotes

People generally think of technology simply as a spur to start new businesses. But the Internet has also made it possible for more businesses to compete for any given opportunity.

In most every business, you learn by doing. The apprenticeship model is much more effective than the classroom for cultivating entrepreneurs.

Building a successful business requires a combination of human capital, financial resources, market opportunity, persistence, community support, and even luck.

All of us, and particularly young people, have a tendency to view ourselves and our natures as static: you’ll choose to do something for a few years, and you’ll still be the same you.

Overnight successes are generally years in the making. And most progress is made in isolation, far from the public eye.

A company can set off in one direction, figures out that it’s not the right way to go, and then go in an entirely new direction. Over time, the product or service improves, and the company gets better at executing and delivering.

Intellectual capital drives financial capital and growth.

Finding initial funds is the primary barrier most entrepreneurs face. Many people don’t have three or six months’ worth of savings to free themselves up to do months of unpaid legwork.

When I graduated from Brown, I had a very limited conception of jobs, careers, and what I wanted to do. Basically, I figured I should do some kind of thought work that paid well, but I wasn’t sure what.

Most Americans agree that technology is going to eliminate many more jobs than it is going to create.

It’s hard to get started as a young entrepreneur – often much harder than one would ever realize.

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.

Professional services industries like finance, consulting, and legal services are, by definition, meta-industries. That is, they serve to help large companies raise money, buy and sell each other, reorganize, implement new systems, conduct complex transactions, and so forth.

If we create enough new companies, there will be additional opportunities for people at every rung of the educational ladder.

People can grow from adversity as much as they do from prosperity.

The technologists and entrepreneurs I know are generally good people. If they were given a choice, ‘Do your job and eliminate normal jobs’ or ‘Do your job and create abundant opportunities,’ they would choose the latter. Most of them would happily even take a small hit to do so. But this isn’t a choice they’re given.

Mistakes are acceptable if they’re the result of moving forward.

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.

After graduating from Brown, I went to law school and became a corporate lawyer in New York City.

We need people building companies all over the country to innovate in aviation, consumer products, education, health, cybersecurity, biotech, manufacturing, and everything in between.

Freelancers generally want as friction-free an engagement as possible.

The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is push my dog off of me. He likes to sleep on top of me. I think it’s because I’m warm and breathing.

The monetary market is going to value people’s time less and less as time goes on, so you need another way to structure their day that rewards them.

Asking the government to fix our economy is like asking an editor to fix a movie, but in this case, the editor’s not even of one mind.

What was a profitable business in one era can become a public utility and a recognized public good in the next.

In 2011, I started a nonprofit organization, Venture for America, to help bring talented young entrepreneurs to create thousands of jobs in Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Birmingham, Baltimore and other cities around the country.

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 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.

I can’t sit by and do nothing as our country disintegrates.

All you need is self-driving cars to destabilize society.

The problems that you see startups tackling are dramatically different in different cities. Silicon Valley is unlikely to produce the same set of companies as New York or Cleveland because the region has a different set of strengths and defining institutions.

If you can’t pay your bills, it has a really tough effect on your mental state.

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.

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.

I would not outlaw or eliminate private health insurance. But if we do a good enough job, with a robust public option, there really should not be as much of a need for private insurance in the market.

One could argue that our national university system has become a de facto talent drain for much of the country. Many states and communities send their top students away to great schools, never to hear from them again.

The best organizations are filled with people who have a wealth of choices as to what work they choose to do. We need to give them every reason possible to solve the world’s problems.

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.

If a new company is formed, it hires people and creates jobs in its community. As it grows, people’s opportunities multiply and wages rise. Inequality diminishes as more people get pulled into good jobs.

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.

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.

The impending destruction of jobs due to automation and AI technologies is definitely increasing the need for – and speed at which – we have to implement big solutions, such as a universal basic income.

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.

Silicon Valley is like Wall Street in that it will fill and pursue market opportunities to their logical extremes.

Our young people desperately want the chance to participate in and lead our nation’s economic and cultural revival. They’re up for the challenges that they’re going to inherit. It only remains for us to present the path to address them.

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.

If a company is growing, then people’s roles often grow and change, and opportunities abound.

The benefits of a universal basic income overall are huge.

I try not to bring my phone to the gym – it’s too tempting to play with it.

Non-profits should be looking to enlist and retain the best people to aggressively solve problems, not to perform adequately and persist. We should expect people to innovate and do the highest-quality work and then reward them accordingly.

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.

Retail businesses have narrow margins. If you cut off a flow of young consumers, it’s only a matter of time before the businesses struggle and fail.

I have started or run several companies and spent time with dozens of entrepreneurs over the years. Virtually none of them, in my experience, made meaningful personnel or resource-allocation decisions based on incentives or policies.

I sometimes compare starting a business to having a child. You have a moment of profound inspiration, followed by months of thankless hard work and waking up in the middle of the night.

I’ve always taken pride in relating to the underdog or little guy or gal.