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I don't think anybody ever started a great business because they wanted to make a little more cash. They had a dream. They wanted to better their life.

As a young analyst just out of Stanford business school in the 1960s, I got to really understand what growth was about. Back then, you had to ask a customer to pay some money. That was the most important thing in getting a company off the ground.

In the 1960s, and stretching back to the 1930s, it was felt by many economists that easy money is a reliable way to increase employment.

Giving triggers social cohesion. It's also the basis for an economy not based on money.

One of the most important aspects that feed a thriving economy is successful businesses, so the more startups that take off, the better the financial picture is for everyone.

We started CapitalSource because large banks were ignoring small to mid-sized businesses, and we saw a big business opportunity as a result.

I basically got an education in software on DuPont's money because they were too stubborn to admit that a recession was coming.

Decades before we were able to articulate the value of 'getting out of the building' and the Lean Startup, the value in having skunk works controlling their own distribution was starkly evident.

We picked a great marketplace. We were a pioneer in payroll processing for very small companies. And we had the perseverance and good fortune enough to stick it out.

Investing in auto companies and ensuring a financial collapse didn't lead not from a recession to a great depression may not have been the most popular thing to do, but it was the right thing to do.