1. It doesn’t have to be new. It just has to be fresh.

The toy brick was invented (and patented) by British toymaker, Hilary Fisher Page in the 1950s. But when LEGO released its own riff on the brick, they made some very important changes to ‘freshen up’ the idea for the Danish market. One of those important changes was the little tubes underneath ... See more

One of the things about the Valley that I find outsiders miss the most is that it feels like it's all moving so fast, and yet, any of the important companies or any of the important products take a decade or more to build. Everything important takes a long time, so a lot of it actually feels quite slow. Long-term orientation is absolutely necessary... See more

Failure is just part of the process. It took me 15 years and 5,127 attempts to develop the first bagless cyclonic vacuum. And I won't lie, it was frustrating, aggravating – but it was also invigorating, exciting. What matters about failure is that you learn from it.

Not only do people cringe at the thought of failing, but we're also an impatient

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The problem is that the quality of timelessness takes years to develop, even decades. You cannot just decree it. A brand has to pay its dues—it has to come to stand for something in the eyes of the world. But you can, as a manager, enhance timelessness—that is, create the impression of timelessness sooner rather than later. And you do that with unc... See more

“This is my lifelong project now. I’m not building [Best Made] to sell it in 5 or 10 years. And so I have the luxury of time, in a sense. Everything will get done in its own good time.”

A lot of companies don’t make it because in the process of trying to get many things right, they don’t get anything right.

Why are they in such a hurry?

A great company is a privilege, and it’s a privilege best earned through a singular product, not a collection of products. Entrepreneurs and creatives think about batches of products —creating an e... See more