Jeff Bezos Advice to Entrepreneurs: Stubborn Relentlessness and Flexibility

The advice came in the context: I always tell people who think they want to be entrepreneurs, you need a combination of stubborn relentlessness and flexibility and you have to know when to be which. Basically you need to be stubborn on your vision because otherwise it’ll be too easy to give up. But you need to be very flexible on the details, because as you go along pursuing your vision, you’ll find that some of your preconceptions were wrong. And you’re going to need to be able to change those things, so I think taking an idea successfully all the way to the market, and turning it into a real product that people care about and that really improves people’s lives is a lot of hard work.

The advice was given during this interview: Jeff Bezos on Entrepreneurship and How Amazon Innovated.

It comes in the same context as the other quote by Jeff: Pursue your passions, the risks are not as great as they seem to be.

I have absolutely nothing to add, Jeff’s advice is spot on. I would probably just want to emphasize a bit on the 3 key words Jeff used.

You need to be stubborn and relentless in it: because entrepreneurship is a long road with a lot of obstacles, many of these articles would make you want to quit, so it is important to not give up, and stay well attached to your vision.

You will need to be flexible: The same reason as above, you will encounter many obstacles that will show you that the detailed idea might need some modifications to be successful. Thus, you need to be flexible, and see where you can compromise with the original plan, and where not.