Bill Maris Quotes

Powerful Bill Maris for Daily Growth

About Bill Maris

Bill Maris (born October 23, 1980) is an American entrepreneur, investor, and author, best known as the co-founder of venture capital firm Section 32. Maris's innovative spirit and keen interest in technology have shaped his impressive career in the tech industry. Born and raised in Northern California, Maris developed a passion for science and engineering from an early age. He pursued this interest at Stanford University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 2003. During his time at Stanford, Maris also co-founded the Stanford Student Venture Fund (SSVF), one of the first student-run venture capital funds in the country. In 2004, Maris joined Google as an associate product manager, where he played a crucial role in launching Google Maps and Google Earth. In 2011, he co-founded Google Ventures (GV), the venture capital arm of Alphabet Inc., now known as GV Capital. As a partner at GV, Maris invested in various tech startups, including Uber, Warby Parker, and Nest Labs. In 2017, Maris left Google to establish Section 32, an independent venture capital firm focusing on early-stage investments in the tech sector. In addition to his work at Section 32, Maris has written extensively on entrepreneurship, technology, and venture capitalism. His most notable book is "Big Bold Technologies: How American Startups Can Compete in the World" (2018), where he shares insights from his experience as an investor and provides a roadmap for entrepreneurs navigating the tech industry. Throughout his career, Maris has been recognized for his contributions to the tech industry. In 2014, he was named one of Forbes' "30 Under 30" in Venture Capital and was honored with the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® award in 2018. Today, Maris continues to shape the tech landscape as an investor, author, and thought leader.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The secret to creating is believing you are already an artist."

Bill Maris' quote, "The secret to creating is believing you are already an artist," emphasizes that confidence in one's abilities as a creator is crucial for artistic expression. It suggests that the act of creation begins with the mindset of being an artist – possessing the belief, passion, and courage to bring forth new ideas and expressions. This quote encourages individuals to embrace their innate creative potential and trust themselves in their artistic journey, rather than waiting for external validation or perfection before starting to create.

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now."

This quote emphasizes the importance of taking immediate action on long-term goals or opportunities, even if they were not started earlier. It suggests that procrastination should be avoided, as starting today is the next best option to a perfect start 20 years ago. In essence, it encourages people to seize opportunities and initiate change immediately for a better future.

"Entrepreneurship is the last legitimate opportunity for the average citizen to grow rich."

This quote by Bill Maris suggests that entrepreneurship offers a significant opportunity for individuals to accumulate wealth, especially in societies where traditional paths to financial success may be limited. It implies that through innovation, hard work, and risk-taking in starting and growing their own businesses, people have the potential to create substantial wealth, which may not be as easily attainable in other areas of life for the "average citizen." However, it's essential to note that entrepreneurship is not a guaranteed route to wealth and comes with its unique set of challenges and risks.

"If you can't make things simple, you don't understand something well enough."

This quote emphasizes that a profound understanding of something enables one to simplify it effectively. By breaking down complex ideas into their essential components, we not only make them more accessible to others but also demonstrate our deep comprehension. Simplification is a testament to mastery over the subject matter.

"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance — it is the illusion of knowledge."

This quote highlights that overconfidence or complacency, believing one knows everything, is a significant hindrance in the pursuit of new discoveries. It suggests that even when we think we have a good understanding of something, there's always more to learn and uncover. Embracing humility and curiosity can lead to breakthroughs and advancements.

As computer intelligence gets better, what will be possible when we interface our brains with computers? It might sound scary, but early evidence suggests otherwise: interfacing brains with machines can be helpful in treating traumatic brain injury, repairing spinal cord damage, and countless other applications.

- Bill Maris

Other, Evidence, Damage, Interface

We actually have the tools in the life sciences to achieve anything that you have the audacity to envision. I just hope to live long enough not to die.

- Bill Maris

Die, Achieve, Audacity, Envision

If I were to leave and raise a venture fund, I would have to find 10 or 100 LPs. They would all give me a bunch of money, and I would take a percentage of that to pay myself. They would expect me to invest that over the next three years, and they want that money back in seven or eight years.

- Bill Maris

Back, Next, Invest, Percentage

To create exponential growth in health care, we need to put tremendous resources and focus behind the best human minds working in this field.

- Bill Maris

Health, Behind, Need, Exponential

The reality is the technology exists now to extend life and have people live healthier, happier lives. Not to be kind of immortal - that's not what I'm talking about.

- Bill Maris

Kind, Lives, Healthier, Extend

I'm interested in the ideas that sound a little crazy, such as radical life extension, curing cancer, being able to create a simulation of the human brain and map every neuron.

- Bill Maris

Sound, Radical, Extension, Simulation

As life expectancy extends beyond 80 years in some parts of the world, more people are struggling with brain diseases. For older people, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other conditions become a major impediment to quality of life.

- Bill Maris

Some, Other, Impediment, Older People

I contemplated a career at NIH at one point. I have a neuroscience background.

- Bill Maris

Career, Neuroscience, Contemplated

If you want to invest in early-stage technologies, putting a timeframe on it does behold you to Silicon Valley economics. You've got a certain time period where you have to make the money. And you have to invest that money whether you find good companies or not.

- Bill Maris

Invest, Got, Putting, Behold

You want to work with people you are excited about and they are excited about you. It's a two-way street.

- Bill Maris

Excited, Two-Way Street, Two-Way

Not many venture firms have people whose job is to read academic research - on startups, ventures, and entrepreneurs - and gather knowledge from that.

- Bill Maris

Read, Entrepreneurs, Gather, Startups

VC firms are... responsible for the full life cycle of a company: they find it, help it grow, open up a Rolodex, and sell it.

- Bill Maris

Grow, Cycle, Sell, Full Life

There are environmental threats to health; there are internal threats to health - genetic conditions, viral threats, diseases like cancer and Parkinson's. And then there are societal and global ones, like poverty and lack of nutrition. And unknown viral threats - everything from a new kind of influenza to hemorrhagic fever.

- Bill Maris

Internal, Fever, Influenza, Viral

With a regular venture fund, you raise, let's say, a billion dollars, and then over the next three or four years, you've got to invest that money; otherwise, the people who invested with you will say, 'What are you doing? You're just collecting fees on our money.'

- Bill Maris

Doing, Next, Fees, Billion Dollars

We have this powerful lever at Google Ventures, which is to invest $200 million a year. This is a huge lever. It's not all going into one place; it's going into lots of start ups and founders and entrepreneurs, all of which are levers to try and change the world in one way or another.

- Bill Maris

Year, Invest, Entrepreneurs, Ups

I'm not bothered when other VCs start hiring great designers or start recruiting. That's the direction I'd like it to go.

- Bill Maris

Other, Hiring, Designers, Recruiting

Antibiotics are so pervasive that they are often prescribed preemptively, as soon as patients report symptoms, before a diagnosis is made.

- Bill Maris

Made, Before, Patients, Antibiotics

We make a series of investments, some will pan out and some won't.

- Bill Maris

Will, Some, Series, Pan

People talk about the redistribution of wealth a lot, which is a very valid topic. But what about the redistribution of health? That's even more concentrated at the top.

- Bill Maris

Wealth, Very, Which, Redistribution

Back in the late 1990s, venture capitalists got very excited about the Internet. A whole lot of money was poured into some companies that failed rather spectacularly, and a lot of people lost a lot of money.

- Bill Maris

Excited, Some, Very, Capitalists

When you build relationships with entrepreneurs, they're not trying to optimize on price.

- Bill Maris

Trying, Relationships, Build, Optimize

You make a great investment in the consumer Internet, maybe you make a lot of money and create something useful, interesting, or fun. But in life sciences, you have a chance to be part of something that lets people live longer and healthier and not lose the people they care about. That is really profound.

- Bill Maris

Maybe, Part, Healthier, Consumer

Organizing healthcare information is a daunting task, but it is not an impossible task. We've had people walk on the moon. This is a lot more doable.

- Bill Maris

Impossible, More, Had, Daunting

Say you have cancer - you have this broad thing we call cancer; we're going to irradiate you and pump this poisonous material into you and hope more of the bad stuff dies than the good. That is going to seem so medieval when we can fix it on a genetic level, and Foundation Medicine is the first step to diagnosing it on a genetic level.

- Bill Maris

Foundation, Bad, Poisonous, Pump

I would draw a really big distinction between competition, or potential competition, and a conflict of interest. A conflict of interest implies wrongdoing, whereas competition is really healthy.

- Bill Maris

Big, Distinction, Draw, Whereas

I used to be a health-care investor a long time ago in the public markets. One thing I learned that we tried to apply here is that investing in small molecules, trying to invest in the next treatment, there's an element of gambling to that.

- Bill Maris

Small, Next, Here, Investing

Venture funds get beaten up for not investing in important things. Okay, if you want venture funds to invest in important things, then don't penalize or make fun of them when those important things don't work.

- Bill Maris

Work, Okay, Beaten, Investing

If I'm an entrepreneur, and I have a term sheet from Sequoia and Kleiner, that's the safe choice. Google Ventures is the brave choice.

- Bill Maris

Google, Safe, Ventures, Entrepreneur

Humans are terrible at predicting the future. We really overestimate what we can do in the short term and underestimate what we can do in the long term... If we can glimpse even a couple of years into the future, even that's difficult to do.

- Bill Maris

Overestimate, Couple, Short Term

We are looking for highly technical, enthusiastic and capable entrepreneurs who have a healthy disregard for the impossible, and that's not always easy to find.

- Bill Maris

Always, Technical, Disregard, Highly

We can get much better outcomes from people if we understand the genetic basis of the exact cancer that they have, what interventions might be most effective against it, what's worked in the past and what hasn't.

- Bill Maris

In The Past, Might, Genetic, Exact

All the information in the world has been pretty dispersed, but Google's mission has been to organize it and make it universally accessible.

- Bill Maris

Pretty, Been, Accessible, Organize

There are a lot of billionaires in Silicon Valley, but in the end, we are all heading to the same place. If given the choice between making a lot of money or finding a way to make people live longer, what do you choose?

- Bill Maris

Choose, Silicon Valley, Lot, In The End

I can make it very clear: I get paid if we make good investments. And if we don't, I don't get paid. I have no incentive to sell our companies to Google; the entrepreneurs get to decide that. We are minority shareholders.

- Bill Maris

Sell, Very, Shareholders, Minority

Google Ventures has a direct financial incentive to ensure the companies we invest in succeed.

- Bill Maris

Incentive, Companies, Ensure, Ventures

CEOs who can hire properly, that's the most important part of the job. The CEO's job is really to hire the right team and execute the vision second.

- Bill Maris

The Most Important, Hire, Execute

Government is really successful when it's willing to make big, bold objectives, like, 'We're going to get to the moon.' But without leaders with big ideas, we get stuck.

- Bill Maris

Big, Like, Going, Stuck

If you're a technology investor, and you decide that you're also going to be a healthcare investor or a green-tech investor, that doesn't usually work out that well. There are reasons why people make their careers studying these things and becoming experts.

- Bill Maris

Why, Becoming, Reasons, Experts

Your genome isn't really secret.

- Bill Maris

Secret, Your, Really, Genome

I sign off not only every investment, but every dollar that goes out the door - I'm aware of it.

- Bill Maris

Door, Goes, Aware, Dollar

There are a number of start-ups in Europe that are able to reach beyond their own country. Take Spotify - Spotify just in Sweden isn't that interesting compared to Spotify all over the world.

- Bill Maris

Reach, Country, Over, Compared

Silicon Valley has been a technology capital like New York is a financial capital.

- Bill Maris

New, Been, Capital, Silicon

When you apply computer science and machine learning to areas that haven't had any innovation in 50 years, you can make rapid advances that seem really incredible.

- Bill Maris

Innovation, Apply, Rapid, Advances

I loved dinosaurs, I loved space, and I thought maybe I'd be the first paleo-astronaut.

- Bill Maris

Thought, Loved, Maybe, Dinosaurs

During the 2000 bubble, many companies rushed to go public before they had any revenue.

- Bill Maris

Bubble, Public, Companies, Revenue

In genomics, there's a massive amount of information in which you can look for patterns and develop insights.

- Bill Maris

Which, Amount, Massive, Insights

Healthcare is becoming part of information technology.

- Bill Maris

Information, Becoming, Part, Healthcare

The reality is regulation often lags behind innovation.

- Bill Maris

Innovation, Reality, Behind, Regulation

The reality is if you were going to die tomorrow, and someone offered you another 10 years, most people would take those 10 years.

- Bill Maris

Die, Going, Another, Offered

Google was a venture-funded company. Being part of that brings an energy to the company.

- Bill Maris

Company, Part, Brings, Google

Big ideas we tend to like are the ones that seem impossible or crazy.

- Bill Maris

Impossible, Big, Like, Tend

Time is the one thing I can't get back and can't give back to you.

- Bill Maris

Give, Get, One Thing, The One Thing

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