"Let everyone else call your idea crazy, [you] just keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t even think about stopping until you get there, and don’t give much thought to where ‘there’ is. Whatever comes, just don’t stop."

"1) Don’t Wish for Your Problems To Go Away… Because They Never Will"

"“The problems were never going to stop, I realized, but for the moment we had more momentum than problems.”"

"2) Hire a Team of Believers"

"why was selling shoes so different? Because I realized, it wasn’t selling. I believed in running. I believed that if people got out and ran a few miles every day, the world would be a better place, and I believed these shoes were better to run in. People, sensing my belief, wanted some of that belief for themselves."

"Nike’s co-founder, Bowerman, a track shoe coach, was a believer too. And so were all other early Nike team members. For them Nike was more than just a job, it was their life’s mission. They were all shoe dogs."

"some of Nike’s other early employees skipped cashing in their paychecks altogether. For them, working at Nike was not about money. It was about something else. It was about their calling."

"Even if you don’t know what it means, seek it. If you’re falling your calling, the fatigue will be easier to bear, the disappointments will be fuel, the highs will be like nothing you’ve ever felt"

"3) Target Your End Customers"

"As startups, you should always cut through the noise and directly target your end customers. They are the ones who are going to benefit the most from your product and potentially influence the sale."

"4) Your Brand Does Not Have To Be Perfect on Day 1"

"5) Take Care of Your Mental and Physical Health"

"There is nothing in the world, seriously nothing, more important than your health. Every dream, every opportunity, every dollar becomes irrelevant if your health is not with you."

"6) Keep a Tab on Your Company’s Financial Health"

"7) Managing Work/Life Balance Is Tough"

"The buttfaces [Nike’s inner team] were like family, but every minute I spent with them was at the cost of my other family, my real family. The guilt was palpable."

"8) Be Wary of the Bargaining Power of Suppliers"

"Michael E. Porter, in his competitive strategy framework, talks about how suppliers with huge bargaining power can adversely impact a company’s profitability."

"9) Never Stop"

"Blue Ribbon simply couldn’t support me. Though the company was on track to double sales for a fifth straight year, it still couldn’t justify a salary for its co-founder."

"Every runner knows this. You run and run, mile after mile, and you never quite know why. You tell yourself that you are running toward some goal, chasing some rush, but really you run because the alternative, stopping, scares you to death."

"“Each new day brought fifty new problems, fifty tough decisions that needed to be made, right now, and we were always acutely aware that one rash move, one wrong decision could be the end. The margin for error was forever getting narrower, while stakes were forever getting higher.”"

"People, sensing my belief, wanted some of that belief for themselves.”"

"“Shoes were their way of connecting with humanity. What better way of connecting, shoe dogs thought, than by refining the hinge that joins each person to the world’s surface?”"

"Unknown to Knight, some of Nike’s other early employees skipped cashing in their paychecks altogether. For them, working at Nike was not about money. It was about something else. It was about their calling."

"“I’d tell men and women in their mid-twenties not settle for a job or a profession or even a career. Seek a calling. Even if you don’t know what it means, seek it. If you’re falling your calling, the fatigue will be easier to bear, the disappointments will be fuel, the highs will be like nothing you’ve ever felt”"

"He was not discouraged. Instead, he started pitching his track shoes to end customers, i.e. the coaches and the runners. And it worked wonders."

"Similarly, in Silicon Valley, Stripe grew its product by pitching it to developers, instead of finance chiefs."

"“…think many of the developers were just really glad that someone was finally paying attention to them at all.”"

"Nike and its swoosh logo were not even born until after 11 years of its existence."

"The worst thing that you can do in this situation is to let your work get onto your health."

"“If we didn’t “sell-through”, sell all the shoes in our most recent order, and quickly convert that product into cash, we’d be in big trouble. […] We were leveraged to the hilt, and like most people who live from paycheck to paycheck, we were walking the edge of a precipice.”"

"Ultimately, Nike diversified its supply and got over its Onitsuka problem."

"“Let everyone else call your idea crazy, [you] just keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t even think about stopping until you get there, and don’t give much thought to where ‘there’ is. Whatever comes, just don’t stop.”"