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I started eBay as an experiment, as a side hobby basically, while I had my day job.

Pierre Omidyar

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Pierre Omidyar
Age: 57
Born: 1967
Born: June 21
Computer Scientist
Economist
Entrepreneur
Manager
Philanthropist
Programmer
Paris
France
Pierre Morad Omidyar
Pierre M. Omidyar
Hobbies
Experiment
Experiments
Basically
Side
Started
Sides
Ebay
Jobs
Hobby

More quotes by Pierre Omidyar

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eBay's business is based on enabling someone to do business with another person, and to do that, they first have to develop some measure of trust, either in the other person or the system.
Pierre Omidyar
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I've got a passion for solving a problem that I think I can solve in a new way. And that maybe it helps that nobody has done it before as well.
Pierre Omidyar
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You should pursue your passion. If you're passionate about something and you work hard, then I think you will be successful.
Pierre Omidyar
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I never had it in mind that I would start a company one day and it would really be successful. I have just been motivated by working on interesting technology
Pierre Omidyar
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Be an enzyme - a catalyst for change. As a slogan, I don't know if that's ever going to be right up there with Ich Bin Ein Berliner, or “I Have A Dream,” but there's a lot of truth to it.
Pierre Omidyar
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When you don't know what to expect, prepare for the unexpected.
Pierre Omidyar
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When I started eBay, it was a hobby, an experiment to see if people could use the Internet to be empowered through access to an efficient market. I actually wasn't thinking about it in terms of a social impact. It was really about helping people connect around a sphere of interest so they could do business.
Pierre Omidyar
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In the same way that you're driven in your business to keep innovating - Facebook is a wonderful example of constant innovation - think about doing that in philanthropy.
Pierre Omidyar
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It is not really work if you are having fun.
Pierre Omidyar
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Don't let people who you may respect and who you believe know what they're talking about, don't let them tell you it can't be done because often they will tell you it can't be done, and it's just because they don't have the courage to try.
Pierre Omidyar
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The personal wealth that's coming is absolutely secondary to the stories that I hear about our users who have given themselves some financial independence as well by starting businesses, and all the lives we've touched positively.
Pierre Omidyar
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To truly prepare for the unexpected, you've got to position yourself to keep a couple of options open so when the door of opportunity opens, you're close enough to squeeze through.
Pierre Omidyar
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You have to really believe in what you're doing, be passionate enough about it so that you will put in the hours and hard work that it takes to actually succeed there, and then you'll be successful.
Pierre Omidyar
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By building a simple system, with just a few guiding principles, eBay was open to organic growth.
Pierre Omidyar
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We believe that business can be a tool for social good.
Pierre Omidyar
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We believe people are basically good. We believe everyone has something to contribute. We encourage you to treat others the way that you want to be treated.
Pierre Omidyar
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You’ll fail at some things, that’s a learning experience that you need so that you can take that on to the next experience... What you learn from those challenges and those failures are what will get you past the next ones... I was the pretty consistent bull and the cheerleader on eBay actually.
Pierre Omidyar
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Everyone is born equally capable but lacks equal opportunity.
Pierre Omidyar
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When you look at the accomplishments of accomplished people and you say, “Boy, that must have been really hard,” ... that was probably easy. And conversely, when you look at something that looks easy, that was probably hard. And so you’re never going to know which is which until you actually go and do it.
Pierre Omidyar
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Long-term sustainable change happens if people discover their own power.
Pierre Omidyar