PURPOSE

My goal was never to just create a company. A lot of people misinterpret that as if I do not care about revenue or profit or any of those things. But what not being just a company means to us is building something that actually makes a really big difference in the world.

The goal is not to be liked. The goal is to be useful.

Money is not the goal. Money is the tool that lets you live the life you want.

Life is too short to work at a company that makes something nobody cares about.

If you are not happy, even if you have everything — the big house, the nice car — it doesn't matter. Delivering happiness is the most important thing.

Imagine being locked inside your own body, fully conscious but unable to move or speak. That's the problem we're solving first. Everything else comes after.

The most important work I'm doing is Blue Origin. I'm using my Amazon lottery winnings to fund it.

My mom worked in restaurants my whole childhood. Three jobs, no benefits, no delivery option. DoorDash is the tool she never had.

I retired at 23 and was miserable. Turns out, having nothing to do is the worst thing that can happen to someone who loves building things.

I had millions of YouTube views and couldn't pay my rent. The internet broke the connection between making something people love and getting paid for it. Patreon fixes that.

RPA sounds boring. It IS boring. That's the whole point — we automate the boring stuff so humans can do the interesting stuff.

Small business owners didn't choose to become tax experts. They chose to open a bakery or a law firm. We handle the payroll so they can focus on what they actually care about.

We handle the business of therapy so therapists can focus on the therapy. Nobody went to graduate school for six years to argue with insurance companies.

We automate the most boring, important process in healthcare. Nobody talks about credentialing at dinner parties, but the entire system breaks without it.

I watched someone I love almost die because there was nowhere for them to go between a weekly therapy appointment and a locked hospital unit. That gap shouldn't exist.

I was CFO of Facebook and Genentech. I could have done a lot of things. But mental health is the biggest solvable problem in healthcare, and nobody was solving it well.

I could have retired at 24. I chose to work on the hardest problem I could find instead. Coordination is that problem.

Effective altruism isn't just about donating money. It's about choosing to work on things that actually matter. Asana is part of that for me.

I co-founded Groupon. Built it to a $30 billion IPO. It was the fastest-growing company in history at the time. Tempus is harder. But it matters more. Coupons versus cancer. Easy choice.

My wife carries the BRCA gene. That is why we have given over $100 million to cancer research. Some things are more important than returns.

During the COVID crisis in India, we raised $100 million for oxygen and medical supplies. Some people build companies to make money. Some build them to make a difference. I want both.

I burned out in my 20s. I had money but no purpose. Starting Spotify gave me purpose again. Building something that matters to hundreds of millions of people — that's better than any bank account balance.

I left a billionaire's life to run a government project because some things matter more than money. Giving 1.3 billion people an identity was one of those things.

I am not interested in building monuments to wealth. I am interested in using it to solve problems that outlast me.

I was Zuckerberg's roommate. I helped build Facebook. But the thing I am most proud of is giving away $1 billion to causes that save lives.

Facebook made me rich. I hope Asana and Good Ventures make me useful.

We do not just sell tractors. We sell economic empowerment to rural India.

We measure success not by the size of our revenue but by the long-term value we create for customers and society.

Indian women deserve the same access to beauty products as women anywhere in the world. That is not a business plan. That is a belief.

The American Dream of homeownership is broken. The process is slow painful and uncertain. We are trying to fix it.

Good power is the power that lifts others up. It is the only kind worth having.

Revenue grew from 35 billion to 63 billion while we made the portfolio healthier. You do not have to choose between profit and purpose.

Starlink will connect the unconnected. Three million subscribers and counting. The internet should not be a luxury.

I wanted to be an inventor when I was young. Inventing things is what changes the world.

I bought Time Magazine because journalism matters and because nobody else was going to save it.

Business is the greatest platform for change. CEOs who think their only job is shareholder returns are dinosaurs.

The demand for mental healthcare is real. 700,000 people signed up because they needed help. The model needs fixing not the mission.

Seventy percent of physician burnout comes from documentation. We are solving the biggest cause of doctor burnout with AI.

Our factory is in Weirton West Virginia. We are bringing clean energy manufacturing to a former steel town. The symbolism is intentional.

Losing my brother on September 11th taught me that life is finite and the work we do should matter.

The psychic income of building something meaningful at Yale was worth more than any Wall Street bonus.

Every Remitly transfer represents a family connection. Someone is sending money to someone they love.

Criminal justice reform is the most important work I've ever done. More important than any brand.

I sold Celtel for $3.4 billion. But the real value is that 100 million people can now call their families, check market prices, and send money by phone.

I grew up knowing what it's like to not have money. That's why I built a product for people who need to manage their money carefully.

Profit is to business what breathing is to life. Necessary, but not the purpose.

The foundation saved millions of lives. But I needed to find my own voice and my own path.

I want to use data and technology to make cities work better. Finance is just one application of these tools.

India needs education that leads to jobs, not degrees that lead to nowhere. That's why I built upGrad.

Biocon's insulin serves millions of diabetics who could never afford the branded version. That is what keeps me going after 46 years.

Becoming a father changed me more than any gold medal. Boomer, Beckett, and Maverick are my real legacy.

My audience is 18-35 year olds who never got financial education in school. I'm the teacher they never had.

I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur. I just wanted to teach in a way that made sense.

I lost an election. Then I visited schools and saw almost no girls learning to code. The loss gave me a purpose bigger than winning.

My mother died when I was 9. Healthcare has never been abstract to me. It is personal in a way it cannot be if you just read about it.

I never wanted to be the spokesperson for mental health. I just wanted to protect my own. Then I realized protecting it publicly might protect someone else's too.

I gave up law because I realized I would spend my life arguing about other people's problems. I wanted to build something that was mine.

We've always known that profits are important, but we've never thought that profits were the purpose.

The most powerful thing you can do as an artist is make people feel less alone.

Success is waking up and doing what you love. Everything else is a bonus.

Tony Stark made me a billionaire in fiction. FootPrint Coalition is me trying to be useful in reality.

I just want people to feel good. That's it. That's the whole thesis.

The road to here was not straight. Nothing about me is straight. But I'm here, and I'm going to use it.

I made my money fixing broken bones. Now I’m trying to fix a broken planet. The second job is harder.

I want to step back and focus on things that matter to me personally. Being a CEO forever is not one of them.

Generic medicine is not about copying. It is about making life-saving drugs affordable for billions of people.

I had one idea that never changed in my mind — that you should use your wealth to help people.

Happiness is really just about four things: perceived control, perceived progress, connectedness, and vision or meaning.

Money is a tool, not a trophy. The question is always: what are you building with it?

After what happened in 2018, I came back stronger. It reminded me why I do what I do. This continent needs people who refuse to leave.

I chose to stay in Africa because I believe in Africa. I could have gone anywhere. I chose here.

I give away 75 cents of every dollar I earn. Business is not just about making money — it is about making a difference.

We are not just a housing finance company. We are the bridge between an Indian family's earnings and their most important asset.

The accumulation of wealth is not an end in itself. It is a means to an end. And the end should be more than your own comfort.

A leader's job is not to stand at the top of the pyramid. It is to be the foundation beneath everyone else.

I started Jaipur Rugs to prove that you can build a business with love. Every knot in every rug is an act of love by the person who tied it.

I had enough money to be comfortable. The question was: what do I do with the rest?

We work to live well, not to become rich. There is a profound difference.

We want to be the mining company the world needs to exist. Not just the one it currently tolerates.

Wealth is a tool. The question is whether you pick it up and use it, or let it just sit there.

The best thing you can do with money is make sure the next generation does not need as much of it.

The pharmacist on the corner is the most underrated healthcare professional in America. Kinray existed to make sure they could do their job.

I never set out to become a billionaire. I set out to solve a problem. The financial outcome was a consequence of getting the science right.

The point is not just returns. It is founders solving health, food, and education.