If you have a dream, you can spend a lifetime studying, planning, and getting ready for it. What you should be doing is getting started.

The happiest and most successful people I know don't just love what they do, they're obsessed with solving an important problem, something that matters to them.

You're not going to become a great manager overnight. You're not going to become a great public speaker or figure out how to raise money. These are the things you want to start the clock on as early as possible.

You can’t focus on what everyone else is doing — it has to be about what’s really broken and what you can do to fix it.

No one is born a CEO, but no one tells you that. The magazine stories make it sound like Mark Zuckerberg woke up one day and wanted to redefine how the world communicates [by creating] a billion-dollar company. He didn't.

Even if it doesn't work out, the experience is so valuable to so many employers that your worst case scenario is, 'Ok, so that was a bust, I'll get a six-figure job at whatever company.' Risk is this outmoded idea - your parents might not understand that, but taking these types of risks doesn't have a downside.

I actually don't think it matters how early or late you are as long as you hit critical mass.