A biography for Glenn Kelmanhasn’t been written yet.
“People can smell a lack of respect from a mile away.”
“One reason I was so convinced that Redfin would work was that I never met anyone who bought or sold a home who thought the process was ideal.”
“Short of a space-alien invasion or an Oklahoma tornado, there is almost no problem that a democracy can tackle in a year. But that isn't why we have a government. We have a government to solve the problems that greedy, short-sighted businessmen like me can't.”
“We need a government policy all-out in favor of more, denser housing.”
“Those in technology who can afford to stay in Silicon Valley all know it as one of the most beautiful places to live in the world, but a wariness has sunk in as folks from other walks of life are forced to leave: coffee shops are wall-to-wall with aspiring entrepreneurs, and restaurants buzz with talk of valuations and venture capital.”
“Whereas any political party, and nearly all voters, prize consistency as a sign of authentic, values-driven thinking, it is deeply alien to the hacker, who holds that changing your mind is simply intelligence in action.”
“I think that real estate consumers are stuffy; I think they're scared. They don't buy a house every day. It's a very infrequent purchase.”
“The really basic stuff that fuels 30-year job booms almost always comes from government research, stuff like biotech, the transistor, the Internet. The idea that private capital can handle the early spade work is a joke.”
“We need to create technologies - and a culture of respect, and an updated legal doctrine, too - that allow creative folks to make money from their own efforts.”
“I learned that it's important to treat yourself like a work in progress, to think about how you can improve, to listen to feedback.”
“I think if I had gone to a private school and been coddled a little bit, I wouldn't be as tough as I am now.”
“If you actually believe in free speech and not simply the free distribution of other people's intellectual property, you should let journalists, law firms, and investors exercise their rights to it alongside your own.”
“In 2006, I appeared before a House subcommittee considering real estate reform. It was like visiting the capital for the 'Hunger Games' as an outsider in a glamorous and byzantine fairy tale: I couldn't believe how beautiful all the congressional aides were, and I never understood the system of bells and alarms warning legislators to vote.”
“Almost everything is interesting if you work at it.”
“I had a choice between working on Wall Street or doing consulting or working at a start-up, and I got a job at a start-up. I was one of the first employees there, and I did everything for them, and it was so much fun.”
“Steve Jobs knows how to hold his hand out, to build beautiful products and make people pay for them.”
“If your values don't alienate anyone, it is just platitude.”
“You have to be sort of an emotional steward to really get a business to do something hard - to take people up the hill, to conquer the mountain, to sack the city. You have got to be a maniac.”
“Startups can be the most conservative organizations in the world. We spend so much energy nurturing our delicate egos against naysayers and self-doubt that we can hardly admit mistakes. This is especially true of first-time CEOs.”
“Every firing happens differently except in this one respect: the person being fired can't believe how fast it happens.”