Naval Ravikant on Business Quotes

"Accountability is how you build equity. If you take risks under your own name, society rewards you with responsibility, equity, and leverage."

"Arm yourself with specific knowledge, accountability, and leverage."

"Work as hard as you can. Even though who you work with and what you work on are more important than how hard you work."

"Escape competition through authenticity. Basically, when you are competing with people, it’s because you are copying them."

"Building specific knowledge will feel like play to you but will look like work to others."

"Technology democratizes consumption but consolidates production. The best person in the world at anything gets to do it for everyone."

"The internet allows any niche obsession to become a career."

"Value your time at an hourly rate and ruthlessly spend to save time at that rate. You will never be worth more than you think you are."

"If you can outsource something or not do it, do that. If you have to do it, do it with your total focus and attention."

"Specific knowledge cannot be taught, but it can be learned."

"Code and media are permissionless leverage. They're the leverage behind the newly rich. You can create software and media that works for you while you sleep."

"You want to be rich and anonymous, not poor and famous."

"Apply specific knowledge, with leverage, and eventually you will get what you deserve."

"Capital and labor are permissioned leverage. Everyone is chasing capital, but someone has to give it to you. Everyone is trying to lead, but someone has to follow you."

"Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable."

"Don’t partner with cynics and pessimists. Their beliefs are self-fulfilling."

"Productize yourself. Create a product out of your specific knowledge and leverage it."

"Play long-term games with long-term people. All returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest."

"Impatience with actions, patience with results."

"Escape competition through authenticity. No one can compete with you on being you."

"Judgment is the decisive skill. In an age of infinite leverage, judgment is the most important skill."

"If you want to be wealthy, you have to work on something that scales. You need to have a product that you can replicate."

"The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner. You have to know how to learn anything you want to learn."

"The best jobs are neither decreed nor degreed. They are creative expressions of continuous learners in free markets."

"Set up systems, not goals. Use your judgment to figure out what kind of environments you can thrive in, and then create an environment around you so you’re statistically likely to succeed."

"Retirement starts when you stop sacrificing today for an imaginary tomorrow. When today is complete, in and of itself, you're retired."

"Specific knowledge is found by pursuing your genuine curiosity and passion rather than whatever is hot right now."

"Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. Status is your place in the social hierarchy."

"The efficient markets hypothesis fails because humans are not rational beings. We are biological beings who have emotions and make mistakes."

"If you can't see yourself working with someone for life, don't work with them for a day."

"A busy calendar and a busy mind will destroy your ability to do great things in this world."

"Fortunes require leverage. Business leverage comes from capital, people, and products with no marginal cost of replication (code and media)."

"You’re not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity - a piece of a business - to gain your financial freedom."