I realized that, after tasting entrepreneurship, I had become unfit for the corporate world. There was no turning back. The only regret I had was having wasted my life in the corporate world for so long. – Vivek Wadhwa
If anyone tells you that you’re too old to be an entrepreneur or that you have the wrong background, don’t listen to them. Go with your gut instincts and pursue your passions. – Vivek Wadhwa
The best way of dealing with the press, customers, and critics is to come clean when things go wrong and admit when you make a mistake. We are humans, and no one expects us to be perfect. – Vivek Wadhwa
Most business schools are geared toward churning out investment bankers and management consultants. – Vivek Wadhwa
The natives of Silicon Valley learned long ago that when you share your knowledge with someone else, one plus one usually equals three. You both learn each other’s ideas, and you come up with new ones. – Vivek Wadhwa
Corporate executives and business owners need to realize that there can be no compromise when it comes to ethics, and there are no easy shortcuts to success. Ethics need to be carefully sown into the fabric of their companies. – Vivek Wadhwa
Whenever I write about immigration, I hear heart-wrenching stories of computer workers who are unemployed and facing severe hardship. – Vivek Wadhwa
The harsh reality is that if you are middle-aged, write computer code for a living, and earn a six-figure salary, you’re headed for the unemployment lines. Your market value declines as you age, and it becomes harder and harder to get a job. – Vivek Wadhwa
The fastest way to get kicked out of a venture capitalist’s office is to say that you want to build a business that grows steadily, focuses on employees, and creates wealth over the long term. Entrepreneurs with such ambitions are considered pariahs. – Vivek Wadhwa
Most successful entrepreneurs share their knowledge as a way of giving back. They do not demand compensation. Those who do are usually trying to take advantage of you. – Vivek Wadhwa
You may not believe in anything called a work-life balance, but your body certainly does. You need to monitor and nurture your body. – Vivek Wadhwa
Building a company isn’t that different from climbing a big mountain. You need people helping you traverse treacherous paths and to lift you up when you fall. – Vivek Wadhwa
Hiring foreigners is more expensive and more difficult than hiring locals, because of the visa fees and long lead times for visa processing. And companies face a backlash by anti-immigrant groups for hiring foreigners. So they do it only because they have to. – Vivek Wadhwa
Ask any venture capitalist, and they will tell you that they consider the experience and completeness of the founding team to be a more important factor in their investment decision than the technology that is being built. – Vivek Wadhwa
My message to students is that if you want to become an entrepreneur and save the world, definitely don’t skip college. But go to a school that you can afford. You’ll be freed from the chains of debt and succeed on your own ambition and merit. – Vivek Wadhwa
One of the biggest problems that software developers face is that technology changes rapidly. It is very hard to stay current. – Vivek Wadhwa
No matter how well things are going, failure and disaster are just around the corner. So celebrate the good, but be ready for the bad. – Vivek Wadhwa
I used to have an obsession with building businesses and forgot about building health. I was focused on the destination instead of the journey. I caution you to not do the same. – Vivek Wadhwa
Business executives need to start by spelling out and communicating their values. Then they need to lead by example. This means getting rid of the bad apples and declining opportunities that bring instant wealth at the cost of selling one’s soul. – Vivek Wadhwa
You have to live in Silicon Valley and hear the horror stories. You go and hang out at the cafes, and you meet entrepreneur after entrepreneur who’s struggling, basically – who’s had a visa problem who wants to start a company, but they can’t start companies. – Vivek Wadhwa
After my health suffered due to the stress of running my second company, I had to switch careers. But I still didn’t want to go back to the corporate world. So I became an academic. – Vivek Wadhwa
If you don’t have savings, and your co-founders are as poor as you are, and if Mom and Dad won’t loan you money, then your best bet is to find people that know you – your friends. If they, too, won’t help, then you’re stuck seeking out angel investors. – Vivek Wadhwa
The stereotypical successful entrepreneur is Mark Zuckerberg – the young college dropout who dreamed up a crazy idea while in his dorm room. – Vivek Wadhwa
What the tech industry often forgets is that with age comes wisdom. Older workers are usually better at following direction, mentoring, and leading. – Vivek Wadhwa
What you want in a mentor is someone who truly cares for you and who will look after your interests and not just their own. When you do come across the right person to mentor you, start by showing them that the time they spend with you is worthwhile. – Vivek Wadhwa
The most valuable lesson I learned in dealing with the ups and downs was to invest in my employees – to do all I could for them when the times were good. – Vivek Wadhwa
When I start getting embroiled in heated debates and feeling stressed, I just turn everything off and disconnect from the world. I simply tell my colleagues and friends that I am not well and need to cancel all meetings for a day or more. I take it easy – go for a long hike, take a vacation somewhere, or just stay at home and read. – Vivek Wadhwa
Outsourcing was the bogeyman of the ’90s. Protectionists portrayed it as an evil that would take American jobs away. Yes, some jobs did go offshore as people feared, but it made the global economic pie grow bigger. – Vivek Wadhwa
