Leah Busque quotes: on hiring, culture, growth, balancing family life, and more.
“Life is like the monkey bars: you have to let go to move forward. Once you make the decision to leap into entrepreneurship, be sure to loosen your grasp on old concepts so you can swing your way to new ones.”
“Learn to bet on yourself and have confidence in your own decisions. No one knows your business better than you.”
“I needed enough confidence that I would learn on the job.”
“Failure is awesome. Failure means you tried something, you tested it, and you learned some things. Failure gives you the tools to move forward.”
“Entrepreneurs have a natural inclination to go it alone. While this do-it-yourself spirit can help you move forward, adding an element of collaboration into the mix can make you unstoppable.”
“It all really comes down to execution. So I’d say, one: never worry about being afraid that someone’s going to steal your idea. There’s just so much value in sharing your idea with as many people as possible, getting feedback early on, and then developing it from there. You just never know where different leads are going to take you, and if you can just be really open about what you’re working on, open to feedback, open to connecting with people, you just never know where that’s going to take you.”
“So, the importance of just surrounding yourself with amazing advisors and mentors, people that can help you along the way, people that can be a sounding board, for me was what made or broke the company in the early days.”
“I’ve had some very strong female role models, so I think that’s an important thing.”
“Out of all the things I’ve had to learn, the hardest one for me, and I think one of the most important ones, is just building the right team. Just finding great people that you want to work with, that are smarter than you, that can take the concept to a whole other level. For me, I feel like those early days were a real struggle, particularly because we didn’t have any money to pay people, so you really had to convince them that this was something to join because they were just as passionate about the idea as you were. Over time we were able to build such an incredible team, but some of those key team members took a long time to actually meet and get involved in the company.”
“People with highly transferable skills may be specialists in certain areas, but they’re also incredible generalists—something businesses that want to grow need.”
“Find people who believe the world will be better when your company succeeds. That’s an incentive that money can never buy.”
“Surrounding yourself with people who are actively and enthusiastically working toward their best futures will keep you moving toward your own goals.”
“Hiring’s tough. It’s not just filtering through hundreds of applications and blocking out big chunks of your day for interviews—those are the simple parts. The difficult thing is the nagging feeling that, despite your best efforts, the perfect candidate will somehow fall through the cracks.”
“Some people revel in getting their hands dirty. These are the people that make startups grow wildly. People with hustle also tend to be much more agile—they’re the water that goes around the rock. These are the people you want around when everything goes wrong. They’re also the people you want beside you when everything goes right.”
“As a small business or startup, one of the factors you should always consider when looking at a potential partnership is the incremental potential reach. Note that wider reach doesn’t always mean a better partnership opportunity. Instead of sheer scale, take a look at which communities your potential partner can open up for you.”
“Deciding about where you spend your time, energy and passion to ensure your baby is going to thrive, grow, develop and scale into the company it is meant to be, that’s no small decision.”
“It seems like those of us who run a business can’t go five minutes without encountering the term ‘company culture.’ The phrase is always uttered with extreme adoration, yet the very concept seems as nebulous as it is elusive.”
“Beyond brand, culture can help drive your product itself by creating the conditions for the idea generation that is and will continue to be the lifeblood of any company.”
“Since most startups operate at a break-neck pace, with a concept to prove or a product to launch within a rapidly shortening runway of financing, company culture often gets shoved aside. This is a big, big mistake. Nobody serious about their business should put culture in the corner.”
“Startups need to focus on building a foundation for their company culture early, and then they need to revisit it often. Culture should be part of the decision-making process.”
“Traditional models of work only let us cross out the needs on the very bottom of the pyramid—basic sustenance. On the flip-side, independent employment within the network of the new sharing economy addresses our needs for a sense of community and belonging, autonomy and respect, creativity and problem solving.”
“It’s easy to get distracted when the competitive landscape gets crowded and new companies are popping up all the time. But don’t worry too much about what’s happening externally. A company is only as good as the team behind it.”
“Online transactions, once relegated to leaps of faith, have evolved into our status quo. We no longer ask ourselves whether or not it’s wise to buy online. Instead, we ask whether or not it’s wise to deal with a particular person, service provider, or business.”
“This product should exist, and I know I can build it, so how do we make that happen?”
“Stay focused on what you’re doing well and what your company is doing well.”
“When I was eight, I asked my dad what was the highest role in a company, and he said, ‘It’s the CEO.’ That’s when I decided what I wanted to be. I started a recycling program in our elementary school and set up an office in our basement, where I was the CEO.”
“There are plenty of things I wish I’d known when I decided to quit my position at IBM and work on the idea that later became TaskRabbit. Maybe that’s why one of the things I cherish most about being a founder and CEO is the opportunity to offer advice to new entrepreneurs.”
“There were steep learning curves but not to overthink was a key lesson during the early years.”
“I had the idea for TaskRabbit one night when my husband and I were getting ready for dinner.”
“TaskRabbit is really my first baby. So balancing the second child is something I’ve tackled, but I’m really passionate about what I do, and then I’m passionate about coming home and putting my baby to bed.”
“Swapping out the nine-to-five for a more agile, independent working life brings with it one other huge benefit: a channel for self-actualization.”
“I’m an engineer turned entrepreneur who’s passionate about connection.”
“Whatever the future of social reputation online, I’m excited to dig in and help forge the path forward. Not only will embracing and enabling the growth of these reputation elements benefit my business, the consumer in me can barely control her excitement.”
“I wake up every morning and think to myself, ‘How far can I push the company forward in the next 24 hours?'”
“When you think to the week ahead and the months to come, what changes do you see needing to be made? By staying ahead and making these changes, you can weather many changes in your industry.”
“As a business owner, you cannot be complacent. Every day, you should consider how you can improve your operations. Whether this be by brainstorming marketing ideas, ordering inventory, revising your budget, or training employees, ensure that you always have a goal or task that you’re ready to focus on.”
“Push your company as far as you can every single day.”
“I’ve never thought of myself as a female engineer or founder or a woman in tech. I just think of myself as someone who’s passionate. That’s what I’m passionate about: product, technology and engineering.”
