Dennis Crowley Quotes

Powerful Dennis Crowley for Daily Growth

About Dennis Crowley

Dennis Crowley is an American media entrepreneur, technologist, and inventor who has made significant contributions to the digital world, particularly in the realm of location-based social networking. Born on March 3, 1975, in Boston, Massachusetts, Crowley developed a keen interest in technology at a young age. He attended Boston College for his undergraduate studies before moving to New York University for his graduate studies. One of Crowley's most notable influences was the city of Boston itself. The urban environment inspired him to create technologies that would enhance and connect city dwellers. This led to the creation of Dodgeball, a pioneering location-based social network in 2002, which was later sold to Google in 2005. In 2008, Crowley founded Foursquare, another location-based social networking service. Initially started as a 'friend-finder' tool, Foursquare eventually evolved into a platform that rewards users for exploring new places and checking-in at various locations. The app has grown to become a popular tool for local commerce and exploration, with millions of active users worldwide. Crowley's influence extends beyond his own ventures. He is often recognized as a key figure in the development of urban tech and the 'quantified self' movement. His work has been recognized by numerous awards, including being named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2010. Currently, Crowley serves as the Founder and Chief Product Officer at Swell, a startup that uses machine learning to help users discover new places and activities based on their interests. His work continues to shape the way we interact with our cities and communities in the digital age.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The best ideas often start as a twinkle in someone's eye."

This quote emphasizes that many groundbreaking concepts initially originate from an intuitive, imaginative spark within an individual's mind rather than being the result of deliberate, calculated thought or extensive research. The "twinkle" symbolizes the inspirational, often spontaneous, and seemingly insignificant idea that, when nurtured, can grow into something significant and innovative.


"If you're building something for everyone, you're building it for no one."

This quote suggests that if a product or service is designed to cater to everyone indiscriminately, it may lack specific appeal or relevance to any particular group or individual, rendering it less effective in connecting with its intended audience. To build something impactful, it's crucial to understand and address the unique needs and preferences of your target users.


"Innovation is not just about having the next great idea; it's also about executing on that idea."

Dennis Crowley's quote emphasizes that innovation involves more than just conceptualizing a new idea or invention. It underscores the importance of translating the idea into actionable steps for successful execution, thereby ensuring its potential impact and relevance in society. In other words, innovative thinking is not complete until it results in practical application and tangible outcomes.


"The best way to predict the future is to create it."

The quote suggests that instead of passively waiting for events or circumstances to unfold, we should actively shape our own destiny by creating opportunities and taking proactive steps towards our desired future. It's a call to action to take control over the course of our lives rather than simply reacting to external influences. In essence, it encourages us to turn aspirations into reality through effort and determination.


"Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard."

This quote emphasizes that generating ideas, or coming up with creative thoughts, can often be a relatively straightforward process. However, transforming these ideas into tangible realities through implementation – making them functional, viable, and successful – is where the real challenge lies. Implementation demands effort, persistence, problem-solving skills, and often, a significant amount of time and resources.


The misconception about Foursquare is that it's just hipsters in New York and San Francisco checking in at bars. It's happening all over the world. I've seen huge growth in Europe, Japan, South America.

- Dennis Crowley

Checking, Japan, Francisco, Bars

People share everything on Facebook. That can be a very good thing or a very noisy thing. With Foursquare, people know that they're getting information specifically about a place, advice about where they are and what they could be doing. It's a very filtered view of the world.

- Dennis Crowley

Advice, Doing, Very, Noisy

My mindset is of the person who is still unsure whether they have enough money in their ATM to go to another bar. I lived that way when I was unemployed, when I was a snowboard instructor, and when I was at NYU. A lot of my personality is stuck in those five years, and I don't know if that's ever gonna change.

- Dennis Crowley

Another, Unsure, NYU, Enough Money

Every check-in should mean something. Foursquare should get smarter every time that you continue to check in. We should be able to offer special deals that you may be interested in, and we should be able to offer recommendations for the type of things you should do next.

- Dennis Crowley

Next, Check, May, Smarter

Facebook is about sharing experiences that you've had. Foursquare is more about the present tense and the future tense.

- Dennis Crowley

Future, More, Facebook, Present Tense

My buddies are like, 'You live the most amazing life!' Well, I'm working like a dog. I come home most nights and pass out on the couch.

- Dennis Crowley

Like, Pass, Most Amazing, Amazing Life

It's very clear to users, more clear than in other apps, that Foursquare is an app for search and discovery, and we're very good at delivering you a social map that will show you friends' faces on the map and things that you might like.

- Dennis Crowley

Other, Show, Very, Map

I didn't really start building my own stuff until I was 24, 25 or so, and even then, I ran into a lot of resistance from, like, older folks, like my bosses at other companies or people in the industry that were like, 'Oh that's an interesting idea, but it will never work.' And, I don't know, I kind of believed everything that they told me.

- Dennis Crowley

Own, Other, Idea, Interesting Idea

Asking Siri where the nearest sushi bar is - that's not interesting. What's interesting is asking your phone where one of your friends have last had dinner in the neighborhood, or having it recommend a cool paella place in Barcelona because it knows you eat paella all the time at home.

- Dennis Crowley

Asking, Had, Recommend, Sushi

We've got over 1 million merchants who have claimed their businesses on Foursquare, running specials and doing other things. What we want to do is take these tools used by the 50-100 national retailers and make them accessible to our 1 million merchants. Then you've got something really powerful.

- Dennis Crowley

Doing, Other, Accessible, Businesses

Between the three, Facebook is literally everyone I've ever shaken hands with at a conference or kissed on the cheek at Easter. Twitter seems to be everyone I am entertained by or I wish to meet some day. Foursquare seems to be everyone I run into on a regular basis. All three of those social graphs are powerful in their own.

- Dennis Crowley

Hands, Some, Conference, Entertained

Don't let anyone tell you your ideas are stupid or the thing you feel most passionate about 'won't work' - it's happened to me time and time again, and we find that if you push at what you think is interesting hard enough, you're probably right.

- Dennis Crowley

Stupid, Passionate, Tell, Time And Time

Forget about where you want to be and go out and build stuff. Dodgeball came from being bored at work... things happen because you make them happen. Stop sketching, and start building.

- Dennis Crowley

Building, Out, About, Bored

I keep a notebook in my pocket, and I write down all the stuff we could ever do with Foursquare.

- Dennis Crowley

Down, Could, I Write, Pocket

If we all went to Google right now, or went to Yelp right now, we'd all get the same results, and that seems really, really broken to me. Foursquare should understand the neighborhoods I've spent a lot of time in, and the restaurants that I went to once but never went back to.

- Dennis Crowley

Back, Same, Lot, Restaurants

It's difficult to build services that are supposed to scale to, you know, 30, 50, 100 million users right off the bat because they got to be kind of tailored down; by definition, they have to be a little bit generic to speak to that large of an audience.

- Dennis Crowley

Scale, Tailored, Bit, Users

The best version of Foursquare is the one you don't think about using.

- Dennis Crowley

Think, About, Using, Version

I can think of the number of people who were like, 'I will never get a cellphone because I don't want people calling me all the time. And I will never get on Facebook because I don't want to share that stuff with people. And Twitter, that's not for me.' And this is just the natural progression of things.

- Dennis Crowley

I Can, Number, Progression, Calling

You know when people leave a job, and they say they didn't know what they came away with after two years? That's how I felt when I first left Google.

- Dennis Crowley

Say, Away, Felt, They Say

People used to pooh-pooh the idea of a check-in, saying that this wasn't interesting. But when you have 3 billion of those data points, you can take any latitude and longitude anywhere in the world, and I'll tell you what is interesting now, 20 minutes from now, and 6 hours from now.

- Dennis Crowley

Data, Tell, Idea, Latitude

Foursquare makes maps special. We take maps that are blank and put dots on them to help you figure out what to do.

- Dennis Crowley

Dots, Blank, Figure, Maps

I learned early on not to feel badly about reaching out for help, and not to feel embarrassed about saying that you're in over your head.

- Dennis Crowley

Over, Badly, Learned, Reaching

I use Facebook all the time. I'm not a believer that they're going to do everything on the Internet better than anyone else.

- Dennis Crowley

Facebook, Going, Use, Believer

I feel lucky because earlier in my career, I found what I liked to do; it's build software that you see your friends using on the street, and they like it.

- Dennis Crowley

Career, Lucky, Using, Earlier

I used to snowboard 30 days a year. Now it's down to eight.

- Dennis Crowley

Year, Days, Now, Eight

I'm obsessed with the idea of social TV.

- Dennis Crowley

Idea, Social, TV, Obsessed

Whatever way that we have in our head that we expect people to use a software, they'll find other interesting ways to use it that we didn't expect.

- Dennis Crowley

Interesting, Other, Use, Software

One of the biggest hurdles about Foursquare is you need to remember to use it.

- Dennis Crowley

Remember, Need, Biggest, Hurdles

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