Technologists come at a problem from the point of view that the system is working a certain way, and if I engage in that system and actually change the rules of the system, I can make it work a different way. – Pierre Omidyar
eBay’s business is based on enabling someone to do business with another person, and to do that, they first have to develop some measure of trust, either in the other person or the system. – Pierre Omidyar
If you can get over this initial distrust that people have of strangers, you can do remarkable things. – Pierre Omidyar
If you give people the opportunity to do the right thing, you’ll rarely be disappointed. – Pierre Omidyar
In the same way that you’re driven in your business to keep innovating – Facebook is a wonderful example of constant innovation – think about doing that in philanthropy. – Pierre Omidyar
When I started eBay, it was a hobby, an experiment to see if people could use the Internet to be empowered through access to an efficient market. I actually wasn’t thinking about it in terms of a social impact. – Pierre Omidyar
I do like to fly under the radar. When I walk around town, the only people I want to recognise me and call me by my name are the folks at Starbucks. – Pierre Omidyar
In 1991, I co-founded my first start-up, Ink Development, which made software for an early tablet computer. – Pierre Omidyar
I developed an interest in supporting independent journalists in a way that leverages their work to the greatest extent possible, all in support of the public interest. – Pierre Omidyar
What makes eBay successful – the real value and the real power at eBay – is the community. It’s the buyers and sellers coming together and forming a marketplace. – Pierre Omidyar
In terms of my belief that one individual can make a difference – that belief comes from my parents. – Pierre Omidyar
I had always been interested in markets – specifically, the theory that in financial markets, goods will trade at a fair value only when everyone has access to the same information. – Pierre Omidyar
Advertisers don’t want to put their ads next to the investigative story; it’s extremely difficult to do that. And very few people today actually read those serious news stories on the Web now. – Pierre Omidyar
I had the notion that, OK, so now we have all of this wealth, we could buy not only one expensive car, we could buy all of them. As soon as you realize that you could buy all of them, then none of them are particularly interesting or satisfying. – Pierre Omidyar
News organisations that have been around a while have a lot of traditions and ways of doing things that may have served them for many years but perhaps make them less flexible in the digital era. As an entrepreneur, it just makes more sense to start something new. – Pierre Omidyar
What I’m really focused on is connecting people around shared interests, so together they can make good stuff happen. I’m more focused on helping people discover their power as individuals, but through those connections with one another. – Pierre Omidyar
My parents made me believe I could do anything I wanted to do. They were really into empowering me. – Pierre Omidyar
In February of 1996, about six months after I created eBay, I started receiving a spate of complaints. Everyone was complaining about each other. I felt very much like I was a parent who had to adjudicate the brothers beating each other up. – Pierre Omidyar
My dad was a physician. As a kid, I remember driving around with him on weekends so he could do his rounds at the hospital and talk to patients. We’d spend time in the car talking about what was going on with them, their stories. – Pierre Omidyar
When you have mass surveillance, it’s impossible to meet the intent of the First Amendment because reporters can’t talk to sources because sources are afraid to talk. – Pierre Omidyar
As a philanthropist, I try to help people take ownership. Everything I’ve done is rooted in the notion that every human being is born equally capable. What people lack is equal opportunity. – Pierre Omidyar
You can invest in companies, you can help grow companies, you can be a venture capitalist – and be a philanthropist at the same time. – Pierre Omidyar
