RESILIENCE

Successful people tend to be relentlessly resourceful. They do not give up when the first door closes.

The best salespeople are not born. They are built by rejection.

Getting fired from Facebook was the best thing that ever happened to me. I just did not know it for a few years.

I failed 13 businesses before 21. Every failure taught me what not to do. That education was priceless.

Every successful person I know has been through failure. The difference is they got up faster than they fell.

Every problem is a gift — without problems we would not grow.

I was dead for six minutes, told I'd never walk again, went broke, and got cancer. I'm still here. Your excuses are invalid.

We went from a company that was going to IPO to a company that was fighting for its life in the span of about four to six weeks.

I failed at making video games twice. Both times, something better came out of it.

We almost died in 2015. I laid off everyone and moved to Kyoto with one engineer. It was the best decision I ever made.

In crypto, the people who survive the winters are the ones who build the next bull run.

The BNPL winter killed our weaker competitors. It made us stronger because we had to get profitable. We did.

Going from $46 billion to $6.7 billion in one year teaches you things that no business school ever could.

I got fired from my own company. Most people would have given up. I started a better company six months later. Failure is information, not identity.

In a recession, every company needs to cut software costs. In a boom, every company is buying more software and overpaying. We win in both markets.

The market went from "you're insane for betting on digital collectibles" to "you're a genius" to "you're insane" again in about 18 months. Building in crypto is not for people who need external validation.

Our valuation went from $10 billion to $2.7 billion. That's painful. But we're still the third-largest hotel chain in the world by room count. The company is real. The valuation was the part that wasn't.

I've been dealmaking for 30 years and I've learned that when you get hit by a truck, the only thing that matters is whether you're still alive.

You want to know what separates the good traders from the great ones? The great ones take big losses and come back the next day.

I was crying for a week. But after a week, I recovered and said, 'Okay, this is my challenge. I have to move forward.'

I got rejected from Harvard ten times. I got rejected from KFC — they hired 23 people and I was the only one rejected. Rejection is just part of the story.

Our stock went from $300 to $4. Then back to $150. If you sold at $4, I understand. If you held, you believed in what we were building more than the market did.

I dropped out of high school to start a business. Then I went bankrupt at 21. Then I built a $31 billion company. The dropout part is not the lesson. The bankruptcy part is.

We laid off people. We restructured. We pivoted to enterprise. Everyone wrote us off. But we're still here, still growing, and still profitable. In AI, survival is underrated.

In Argentina, inflation was 100%. Currency collapsed. Economy in crisis. Our stock went up. Because when your currency is worthless, e-commerce and digital payments become essential, not optional.

I started this in 1999. During the dot-com crash. In Argentina. During an economic collapse. Everyone said the timing was terrible. I say: if you can survive that, you can survive anything.

Our market cap went from $4 billion to $200 billion in three years. Then back to $25 billion. The rollercoaster didn't change the business. The business was always the same. The market just stopped paying for growth.

The student loan pause almost killed us. The government froze student loan payments for three years. Our core product — student loan refinancing — went to zero overnight. We survived by diversifying fast enough.

We serve 80 million members in 130 countries. The largest telehealth company on earth. The stock is down 90%. Revenue is still growing. The business is fine. The stock price is a different conversation.

I built an exchange that did a trillion dollars in volume. Then the US government charged me with a crime. Then I paid a fine and came back. In crypto, that is a Tuesday.

I lost seven buildings in one year. Seven. Most people would have retired. I started planning the tallest residential tower in New York. What else was I going to do — play golf?

432 Park Avenue is 1,396 feet of concrete and glass and proof that you can lose everything and still build the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, we had hundreds of engineers in Kyiv. We had to keep them safe, keep the product running, and keep competing with Google and Microsoft simultaneously. That was the hardest year of my life.

The war in Ukraine forced us to relocate our Russian engineering team. It was the hardest thing we have ever done as a company. But the team came together and we did not miss a single product deadline.

Our stock went from $30 to $400 to $50. That is a hell of a ride. But the business processes 150 billion API calls a year and the revenue is $4 billion. The stock price is a story. The business is real.

I applied for 30 jobs and got rejected from all of them. I applied to KFC — 24 people applied, 23 got accepted. I was the only one rejected. So I applied to be a police officer — five people applied, four got accepted. I was the only one rejected.

Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine. Most people die tomorrow evening.

I failed in London. I failed in some parts of America. I failed at running other brands. But I never failed at learning from failure. That's the only skill that matters.

One win, nine losses. That is the history of my career. The key is to make that one win so big that it pays for all nine losses and then some.

When Mugabe's government tried to shut me down, my employees kept showing up to work every morning. That told me everything I needed to know about the business — and about the people.

Zuckerberg taught us that ideas are worthless without execution. We've applied that lesson to everything since — including building Gemini from scratch while everyone said crypto was a scam.

Solana went down seven times in 2022. Each outage was painful and embarrassing. But we fixed the problems, improved the network, and came back stronger. The people who declared Solana dead were wrong — they confused growing pains for a death rattle.

When FTX collapsed and SOL went from $260 to $8, I thought — either we're dead or this is the greatest buying opportunity ever. The technology hadn't changed. Only the price had.

I get hate mail every day from men who are angry that I teach women about money. That tells me I'm doing something right. Comfort zones and wealth don't overlap.

The stock going from $179 to $12 was painful. But the value of what we're building didn't change — the market's perception of it did. I've learned to separate market noise from engineering progress.

When the stock hit $1.19 and everyone wrote our obituary, I invested my own money and told my team: we are not dying. We will find a way. Six months later, we secured $1 billion from Hefei. Persistence is not optional in this business.

My parents both died by the time I was 15. I had nothing. So when people say starting a battery company in a borrowed factory was risky, I ask — riskier than growing up with no parents and no money? Perspective changes everything.

The stock going from $132 to $5 was brutal. But the stock price doesn't change the physics. Our cells still show 80% capacity after 800 cycles. Markets are opinions. Lab results are facts.

Failure and resilience are the hallmarks of every great career. I have had nine companies. Most of them failed. The ones that worked made everything worth it.

We nearly went bankrupt three times before going public. Solar hardware is not for the faint of heart — or the faint of balance sheet.

The Indian edtech correction was brutal but necessary. The companies that survive will be the ones focused on outcomes, not just user counts.

The hype cooled. The stock crashed. But the mission has not changed. Animal agriculture is still unsustainable and we are still building the alternative.

We pivoted from textbook rentals to digital homework help. Now we are pivoting again to AI tutoring. The companies that survive are the ones that keep pivoting.

Our stock is down 95% from the peak. That is painful. But Amazon was down 90% after the dot-com crash and look where it is now. Great companies survive bear markets.

I would not wish starting a company on anybody. It is suffering. If I knew what I know now, I might not have done it. But then I would have missed everything.

The stock crashed 90%. I understand the frustration. But the mission has not changed and neither has the demand for plant-based milk.

COVID took 80% of our revenue in eight weeks. I thought we were dead. Six months later we went public. The lesson: do not count out companies that people love.

I do not dwell on what happened at Facebook. I focus on what is next. And what is next is Southeast Asia.

We are rebuilding. Smaller team, clearer focus. The audio format has a future, even if the hype cycle is over.

The two-year app ban cost us millions of users. Rebuilding that trust and market position is the hardest thing we have ever done.

Broke is temporary. Poor is a mindset. My mother taught me that.

The stock is down 80% from our SPAC. That is the market's opinion. Our technology on the highway is our opinion. I trust the highway.

I started Cruise in my apartment with the idea that any car could become autonomous. GM bought that idea for a billion dollars. What we built with it was extraordinary, even if the ending was not.

The Mike Lynch connection was a distraction that followed us for years. Our technology stands on its own merits. The $5.3 billion acquisition proved that.

We need to accept that we will not always make the right decisions. We will screw up royally sometimes. Understanding that failure is not the opposite of success is part of success.

Our stock went from 15 to 370 to 40 and back to 100. If you cannot handle that volatility you should not own growth stocks.

I was the first in my family to go to college. I paid for it with scholarships and part-time jobs. That shapes how you see the world.

Surviving is not the same as winning. But you have to survive first.

We will be here when rates come back down. The question is whether we will be stronger. I intend for us to be.

I was employee number eleven. Three failed launches later we were almost out of money. The fourth launch saved the company.

I was fired on a Friday and started DoubleLine on Monday. Within a year my old clients brought me 12 billion dollars. Loyalty is earned.

We got delisted from the stock exchange for being too bullish on crypto. We framed the delisting notice.

The critics have been predicting Tether will collapse since 2017. We are still here. We are more profitable than ever.

Meta killed Diem. We took the technology and built something bigger. Sometimes getting fired is the best thing that can happen.

The RBI shut down our payments bank. It was the worst day of my professional life. But Paytm is bigger than one license.

My net worth dropped 25 billion dollars in 2008. I did not sell a single share. You cannot panic in a cyclical business.

I am from Akron Ohio. I grew up with nothing. Everything I have I built. Nobody gave me a dollar I did not earn.

HIV was supposed to end my life. Instead it started my second career. I have been investing for 30 years now.

We sold the technology to Flexport. At least something survived.

Everyone said Dell was a dying PC company. We went private restructured and came back at 72 billion. Never count us out.

I'm a catalyst for change. You can't be an outsider and be successful over 30 years without leaving a certain amount of scar tissue around the place.

The cowards never started and the weak died along the way. That leaves us.

Take the stones people throw at you, and use them to build a monument.

I'm a hustler. I have to eat. I'll figure it out. I always figure it out.

Option A is not available. So let's just kick the hell out of Option B.

I grew up in Israel. You learn early that complaining doesn't help. You just solve the problem.

I had a choice: I could let what happened to me define me, or I could use it to build something better.

I've made money and I've lost money. The trick is making sure you're still in the game when the next opportunity comes.

I put my elbow through a Picasso. Then I sold it for more than I paid. That's a metaphor for something.

The worst thing that can happen to you is you go broke. I've been broke. It's not that bad.

When you've grown up with nothing, losing money doesn't scare you. Starting over doesn't scare you. Nothing scares you.

Going from the hottest company in America to a 97% stock decline teaches you everything about humility.

We almost died. The stock went to near zero. We didn't give up. Now our loss ratios are improving quarter after quarter.

A 97% stock crash and a 10x recovery. Root's chart looks like a heart monitor.

COVID was existential for us. Nobody rented dresses when nobody went anywhere. But we survived.

The 2022 downturn tested our model. Defaults rose. We tightened underwriting. The core idea is still sound.

The FTX investment created drama. But the business is real. The users are real. The problem we solve is real.

Our stock went from under $5 to over $60. A 1,000%+ rally. Everyone who counted us out was wrong.

Failure is just a stepping stone. The question is whether you step on it or sit on it.

The Sawiris family has survived multiple governments. Adaptability is survival.

I've been through more adversity than most people can imagine. And I'm still here.

Turn your worst moment into your best chapter. That's not motivation — that's math.

Sjogren's syndrome could have ended my career. Instead, it made me rethink everything about health and wellness.

I've navigated bankruptcy courts, political scandals, and federal indictments. I'm still standing.

I was kidnapped and held for two days. I talked my way out. That's the one negotiation I'll never forget.

I've held through four 80% drawdowns. Each time, everyone said crypto was dead. Each time, it wasn't.

COVID was devastating for Manhattan retail. But prime locations always recover. Always.

The 2008 crash nearly killed me. I owed billions. But I negotiated, survived, and came back stronger.

I started S4 Capital at 73. If they thought I was going to retire, they don't know me.

I built SoFi, got pushed out, and started Figure the next year. Setbacks are just setup for the next thing.

India banned PUBG Mobile — our largest mobile market — and we survived. Adaptability is everything.

Rising interest rates hurt us. But rental demand goes up when mortgages go up. The thesis still holds.

I came to this country with nothing. That gives you a very different relationship with risk — when you've already lost everything once, starting over isn't as scary.

Growing up in Medellin during the worst years taught me something: big problems aren't permanent if someone is stubborn enough to solve them.

In times of adversity and change, we really discover who we are and what we're made of.

In 2008, we had seven billion pounds of debt and the world stopped. I thought I'd lost everything. We negotiated with 230 banks and survived.

I was fired from ICM. Best thing that ever happened to me. I started Endeavor the next week.

I grew up with nothing. No parents, no money, no connections. Everything I built came from taking chances others wouldn't.

I started this company from my kitchen table at 37. Everyone in fashion told me I was too old and too unknown. They were wrong.

We built Robinhood for the people who were locked out of the financial system. That mission doesn't change because of one bad week.

2022 humbled me. We lost 30%. But the positions that hurt us the most are the ones that will make the most money over time.

In an industry that's 98% male, you either outperform or you disappear. I chose outperform.

2016 nearly killed us. We lost money, lost investors, lost people. But we rebuilt. The fund today is 10 times stronger than before.

Risk management isn't about avoiding risk. It's about making sure no single risk can destroy you.

I quit DeFi three times. I keep coming back because the code is more interesting than the community is toxic.

I lost $4 billion in one day. The phone didn't stop ringing. Most of the calls were from people I thought were friends.

I went from $7 billion to $1 billion. Most people would be destroyed. I'm still building.

The best time to become profitable is when everyone says you can't.

A down-round is not a death sentence. It's a reality check. What you do after the reality check is what defines you.

I went bankrupt owing $36 million. You know what I learned? Money comes back. Hustle doesn't expire.

I got shot nine times and survived. After that, a bad quarter doesn't really scare you.

I grew up during the NATO bombing of Serbia. When you have practiced tennis while bombs fall, nothing on a tennis court scares you.

When my father died during a match, I went back and batted the next day. That's when I understood what mental strength really means.

Being a female founder in Latin America means being told no by people who have never heard the word applied to themselves.

Our IPO was the worst first day in London Stock Exchange history. We're still here. That tells you something about resilience.

The RBI action was painful but we will come back stronger. Regulation doesn't kill good companies. Bad compliance does.

Shark Tank made me famous. BharatPe made me rich. The governance allegations made me a meme. Life comes in chapters.

Failure is not the enemy. The real enemy is the fear of failure that stops you from trying again.

Every leader gets tested. 9/11 was my test on day four. I learned more in that first week than in the previous decade.

When I came to LA, people said I was retiring. I scored 52 goals in 52 games. Then they stopped saying I was retiring.

Losing Canelo hurt. It was the right business decision for him and the wrong outcome for us. I respect it. I had to learn from it and rebuild.

I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.

Every time someone tries to count me out, it fires me up more. That's just how I am wired.

This is our f***ing city. And nobody is going to dictate our freedom.

Racing was the most competitive environment I have ever been in. Everything else feels easier by comparison.

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

I have no regrets about the work. The work was real. Everything built around it was complicated. But the work was real.

I spent years being the cautionary tale. I decided I'd rather be the comeback story everyone references.

I learn from every mistake. Astroworld the festival will be the hardest lesson I ever carry. But I will carry it.

I grew up with nothing. Nothing at all. So I understand what it means when someone says they cannot afford to dream. But the dream is the only thing no one can take from you.

I was homeless at 18 and sleeping in my car. That kind of experience either breaks you or gives you an unfair advantage in understanding risk.

The best founders are the ones who’ve been told no a thousand times and kept going. I know what that feels like.

We have been bought and sold by three different owners across four decades. The brand survives because the tractors outlast the corporate drama.

We should be prepared for the worst and strive for the best. Huawei will survive any crisis.

COVID almost killed us. But you know what? If you survive something that was supposed to destroy you, you come back stronger.

Travel is the largest consumer category in the world. People will cut spending on almost everything before they cut spending on experiences.

COVID should have killed us. Instead, it proved our thesis. When travel restarted, nobody wanted to go back to the old way of booking work trips.

When the SPAC market collapsed, it took our public listing with it. The company survived. The stock market lesson was expensive.

We didn't die after FTX. We shipped code. That's all that matters in the end.

I was one of the co-founders of Ethereum. And then I wasn't. Sometimes the best things come from the worst days.

The gatekeepers said I did not belong. So I built my own gate.

I was sleeping on the airport floor. Now I write checks. Never let anyone tell you where you belong.

Lebanon has survived things that would have destroyed any other country. That resilience is not a weakness — it is our most underrated asset.

When others left Nigeria in the 1980s and 1990s, we stayed. That is why we are where we are today.

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 came back to Uganda because I believed in the country. That belief has never left me.

When you have built something from nothing once, you know that losing everything is not the end. It is just the beginning of another chapter.

We are not leaving. Our roots are Syrian and we will face whatever comes with our heads up.

Lebanon taught me that resilience is not a choice. It is a business requirement.

I came to New York with five hundred dollars and a car. I had no connections. I figured that out as I went.

Corporate America has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to adapt and grow earnings even in difficult environments.

Every crisis we went through — 1998, 2008, 2014 — TechnoNIKOL came out stronger. You learn to love what others run from.

A currency devaluation is painful for every business in Egypt. The question is not whether it hurts — it is whether you have built the company to survive it.

Every mistake I made taught me something the classroom never could. I am not ashamed of my past. I am built from it.

I am willing to use everything I have — my personal assets, everything — to protect Sunac. This is not just a business. It is what I built with my life.

Anaconda was my education. It was an expensive education, but I would not trade it. You learn more from failure than from anything else.

I don't give up on anything. I just change tactics.

Success is not built on success. It is built on failure, frustration, and sometimes catastrophe.

I didn't fight to get out of that fire to give up. I never give up.

I had a reading disability. My teachers told me I'd never succeed in business. That turned out to be excellent motivation.

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I had one rule: don't let it stop you.

I was f***ing fired. Yes, the board could have been more professional about how they fired me.

Getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to me. It forced me to answer a question I had been avoiding: what do I actually want to build?

The people who do not give up are the ones who find a way to believe in abundance rather than scarcity.

Failure is the universe telling you to try differently.

I got rejected by QVC seven times. Seven. And then they finally said yes — and I cried on live television and sold out in ten minutes.

I was rejected so many times that rejection became normal. It stopped scaring me. That is when everything changed.

We made mistakes. Big ones. But the core strategy — the land, the gas, the shale — that was right. History will show it was right.

India is a story of resilience and growth. Whatever short-term challenges we face, the long-term picture is absolutely clear.

Every entrepreneur faces setbacks. What separates those who succeed from those who don't is how you respond when things go wrong.

Challenges make us stronger. My husband faced many. My sons face many. We do not step back — we step forward.

I learned to breathe fire on the street to survive. I will figure out the next chapter the same way — one performance at a time.

The critics said Force India was dead. They said Aston Martin was finished. I am comfortable being wrong in public. What I am not comfortable with is giving up on things I believe in.

I'm interested in criticism based on fact, not on projections. If you want to f**k with me, bring your A game.

People thought we were nuts, and now these are widely adopted things. Just be who you are, stick to your guns, find your resilience and keep going.

It is only when you are calm in a crisis can you find a solution.

For every 100 doors that you knock on, 98 get shut in your face.

I have spent my whole life proving disbelievers wrong.

You learn a lot of things more through adversity than you do through success.

If somebody can do it, why can't I do it?

My color, look, I would say it is other people problem. I am who I am. They decide, they choose to react in a given way to me. All I can do is not let it affect me in the important things I have to do.

The situation for each of us is always the result of one will and of circumstances. Sometimes the will prevails over the circumstances and sometimes it is the opposite.

Difficulties are not abysses, difficulties are stairs. When difficulties are gone, there is no opportunity for the people who come after.