Phil Libin Keynote – Focus on Product & Design
Great Keynote presentation by Evernote’s CEO, Phil Libin touching on why he believes today is the best time to start a company (if you’re starting one for the right reasons). Reasons being…
- App stores
- Open source infrastructure
- Freemium economics
- Social media
He says to “focus on design and build the best product.” This wouldn’t have cut it five years ago but it does today. Advisors used to tell him that “the best product doesn’t always win” and although that used to be true, it’s not anymore, especially in the consumer internet space.
I also really liked a quote he provided from HBS professor Howard Stevenson explaining what he thinks entrepreneurship is:
“Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.” Phils interpretation is that if you have a vision or something that you really think the world needs then you pursue it without worrying about how you’re going to get there with what you have right now.