Resourcefulness beats resources

Brian, Joe, and Nate are Airbnb's founders who created novelty cereal boxes (Obama O's and Cap'n McCain's) to raise money when struggling financially.

He hated their idea, and Paul tried to get Brian and Joe and Nate to change it. But I remember specifically Joe brought out the cereal boxes, the Obama O's and Cap'n McCain's, and I just thought, oh my God, they're going to work hard to do whatever they can to make this company succeed.

High agency is about finding a way to get what you want without waiting for conditions to be perfect or otherwise blaming the circumstances.

You sort of need that desperation. You have to burn the boat. We found that founders who were still getting a paycheck and health insurance, once the going got tough, they did not quit their job.

You need to have insane, almost like reality distortion field where you don't hear the word no, or at the very least, you translate it into a not yet.

Never letting your own skills stop you from going out there making a pitch and then turning that into reality is really important.