nicole

[4:04] If I have to do something, or if I have to work for something in the week, the first question I will ask myself is how likely am I to not want to do this task, and how much energy will this take. So, depending on these two factors, it will either go into any part of my day.

They’re global companies in a market where it’s really not clear that being global gives you that much of an advantage.

…if somebody is several years ahead of you, and it's one of the middle phase types of power, which is most common in tech—network, economy scale, economy switching costs; those are the three most common ones—then your size matters. If they're ahead of you, when push comes to shove, when the market settles down, you will not be in a good position.

Givers think that conversations unfold as a series of invitations; takers think conversations unfold as a series of declarations. When giver meets giver or taker meets taker, all is well. When giver meets taker, however, giver gives, taker takes, and giver gets resentful (“Why won’t he ask me a single question?”) while taker has a lovely time (“She... See more

It wasn’t an asset that either company had but the process of the acquisition itself forced them to get good at the thing that would determine their future success.