“If you asked would I have done a startup in India, the answer is yes.” — John T. Chambers Quote

If you asked would I have done a startup in India, the answer is yes.

When you're a large company with significant market share, it's tempting to view market disruptions as a threat, but we view them as an opportunity.

Do you have the same vision of where industry is going as the target of your acquisition? If visions differ, you might get together economically for a while, but then you are going to have problems.

I wasn't always interested in technology. I had been a student for a long time - I'd earned a bachelor's degree, a law degree, and an MBA - and decided that I wanted to work in a large corporation, focusing on finance and law, in either New York or Chicago.

I didn't even know that there was a startup culture, that there were events with people who built businesses. When I started meeting those people and going in to that world, I felt like I was among my people for the first time in my life.

Stay away from family when you are working on a startup.

I have this passion for building things, so I always wanted to build a startup. I always wanted to start my own company.

In a startup, there have to be challenges. Otherwise, someone else would have done it already. And that's almost the most exciting part.

I don't know a startup that hasn't been through tough times.