If you don’t envision your business growing one hundred times in size, your start-up probably won’t generate much interest [from venture capitalist] - Ziad Abdelnour

I do not believe in the power of brand names or in emulating
any of the brand name investors out there. It is a fact that all — if
not at least most — of the biggest names in American finance and
industry out there today have proven after the 2008 crisis to be some
of the most incompetent people there are. Starting with the untouchable
Goldman Sachs, who was bailed out by over $5 billion from
Warren Buffett, to AIG and Citibank, who were bailed out by the
hundreds of billions of dollars from the Troubled Asset Relief Program
(TARP), having a name and a history does not make you the brightest
and the best. All it takes is one nincompoop with a huge ego or a
board of directors who think they are smarter than everyone else to
destroy what has taken generations to build.

Everyone you meet comes with baggage, find someone who cares enough to help you unpack.

Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get to know who you are.