Jon Oringer Quotes

Powerful Jon Oringer for Daily Growth

About Jon Oringer

Jon Oringer, born on August 31, 1974, is an American entrepreneur, software engineer, and the founder of Shutterstock, a leading global marketplace for licensed images and videos. Born in New York City, Oringer developed an early interest in computers and programming. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Columbia University in 1996. His time at Columbia was instrumental in shaping his entrepreneurial spirit and technical skills. In the late 1990s, Oringer founded a company called Eventful, an online platform that allowed users to create and promote their own events. Despite its success, Oringer sold Eventful in 2008 to CBS for $50 million. It was during this time that Oringer identified a gap in the market for an easy-to-use, affordable stock photography service. In 2003, he founded Shutterstock, initially operating from his apartment. With a mission to make licensing images simple and accessible, Oringer and his team built the platform to cater to both professional and amateur photographers. Shutterstock's success is largely attributed to its unique approach, offering flexible pricing and a vast library of royalty-free images. Today, Shutterstock is a publicly traded company with millions of contributors and clients worldwide. Oringer's influence extends beyond the digital media industry. His story serves as an inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs, demonstrating the potential for innovation and success through technical expertise, perseverance, and a keen understanding of market needs.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The best time to start was 10 years ago. The second best time is now."

This quote emphasizes that it's never too late to begin something new or pursue a goal. The implication is that we often have regrets about not starting earlier, but the reality is that the best opportunity to start was in the past. However, the second-best time is always now – today offers us another chance to make progress and work towards our aspirations. It's a reminder to embrace the present moment and take action, regardless of when we started or how much time has passed.


"Success doesn't come from what you do occasionally, it comes from what you do consistently."

This quote emphasizes the importance of consistency in achieving success. It suggests that sporadic or occasional efforts are unlikely to lead to long-term accomplishment. Instead, sustained focus, persistent work, and consistent actions over time are key to realizing one's goals and finding lasting success.


"Everything you see I owe to spaghetti." (This quote is a nod to the famous Thomas Edison quote, emphasizing the role of persistence in innovation)

This quote by Jon Oringer suggests that every accomplishment or success he has achieved can be attributed to his persistence, symbolized by spaghetti. Just as one must persistently twist and turn spaghetti to eat it, Oringer is saying that relentless effort, resilience, and persistence are key factors in achieving one's goals or innovations, much like Thomas Edison emphasized with his famous quote about success being 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.


"The biggest risk is not taking any risk... In a world that's changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks."

This quote underscores the idea that in a rapidly evolving world, playing it safe and avoiding risk can lead to failure. It encourages us to take calculated risks because standing still or clinging to the status quo could result in being left behind. The message is to embrace change, be adaptable, and seize opportunities when they present themselves, even if they come with inherent risks, as this is the best strategy for success in a rapidly changing world.


"Ideas are worthless unless executed. They only have value when they become things."

This quote underscores the importance of turning ideas into tangible realities, as it is the realization of an idea that gives it value. Merely having ideas without taking action to bring them to life is essentially valueless, no matter how innovative or groundbreaking they may seem. It emphasizes the significance of execution in the process of ideation and innovation.


Shutterstock has the tech ethos. Rex has the relationships, packaging, and merchandising know-how.

- Jon Oringer

Relationships, Tech, Ethos, Packaging

We realized we had high-volume marketplace as a platform. Anyone can come in and buy with a subscription.

- Jon Oringer

Buy, Marketplace, Anyone, Subscription

Evolution has been the key tenet of success over the past 13 years, and we have transformed from a single subscription e-commerce image business into a company with a diversified portfolio of content offerings, servicing the needs of businesses of all types and sizes globally.

- Jon Oringer

Years, Been, Globally, Subscription

When a user signs up for Skillfeed, they get unlimited access to thousands of video courses and creative and technical skills, all as a part of one inexpensive monthly subscription. Instructors from around the world can apply to have their course from Skillfeed and earn money based on how much their courses are viewed.

- Jon Oringer

Access, Part, Technical, Subscription

Some people are serial entrepreneurs and want to just move on to the next thing. They just want to clean the slate and start from scratch. I feel that sometimes, too, and the way that we do that here is we build things inside Shutterstock: we launch new products all the time.

- Jon Oringer

Next, Here, Some, Scratch

It's typical for video customers to often use licensed music - whether a soundtrack, background music, or sound effects - to complement their video projects.

- Jon Oringer

Soundtrack, Projects, Use, Licensed

On average, an e-commerce client who evolves into a premier enterprise client increases their annual spend by 10 times in that first year.

- Jon Oringer

Year, Average, Enterprise, Premier

In 2013, we opened our first international office in London and established a European hub in Berlin.

- Jon Oringer

London, Established, Hub

While the scale of our library is certainly attractive to our users, equally important is the quality of the content we provide and our state-of-the-art processing operation that vets every single piece of content that's submitted to ensure only the most suitable content is included.

- Jon Oringer

Scale, Equally, While, Submitted

To ensure we are meeting the demands of existing customers while also attracting new users, we remain focused on building cutting-edge technology and introducing new and innovative product offerings.

- Jon Oringer

New, Product, Ensure, Cutting-Edge

I hear so many startups talking about how they can raise VC instead of questioning whether they need it in the first place.

- Jon Oringer

Questioning, Need, About, Startups

Was I going to start companies outside of Shutterstock or inside? Going public kind of meant I was going to start them inside, and I kind of thought this through and decided that if I was going to do that, I was going to continue to operate Shutterstock like it was an incubator of startups.

- Jon Oringer

Thought, Through, Meant, Startups

Shutterstock's ability to cultivate a healthy and expanding marketplace for both customers and contributors remains a key competitive advantage and a crucial component of our sustained growth.

- Jon Oringer

Expanding, Marketplace, Key

I figured managing people was obvious - I'd tell someone what they needed to do and they'd do what I wanted. It turns out that's not the case. It was frustrating at first.

- Jon Oringer

Tell, Needed, Figured, Case

I believe anything has to be possible. You have to be able to face any problem that comes along and unravel it into a solution.

- Jon Oringer

Believe, Possible, Any, Unravel

I hadn't really worked in an office before Shutterstock, so I didn't have the experience of building a culture, nor did I understand how important that is for attracting and retaining the best talent.

- Jon Oringer

Best, Understand, Before, Retaining

I like San Francisco, but I don't think I'd want to work in Palo Alto. It seems like a pretty rough commute. In many ways, I think New York has a lot of things the West Coast doesn't have.

- Jon Oringer

I Think, Rough, Francisco, Alto

By investing in diverse asset types from SD video to HD video to 4K video, we can satisfy the video needs of a wide array of users.

- Jon Oringer

Needs, Types, Wide, Array

The decisions you make affect a lot of people. You have investors, employees, and customers who all rely on you. Being a leader is a 24-hour-a-day job.

- Jon Oringer

Leader, Affect, Being, Being A Leader

Many entrepreneurs have shifted their focus to pursuing VC funding as a primary strategic priority instead of concentrating on generating value for their users. This is worrisome because raising capital alone is misleading as a benchmark for success.

- Jon Oringer

Capital, Concentrating, Primary

Shutterstock has evolved from an image-based marketplace for small businesses to a much broader platform, with a large and expanding addressable market opportunity.

- Jon Oringer

Small, Expanding, Broader

Offset is helping to expand our relationship with large enterprises and serve a broader set of imaging.

- Jon Oringer

Offset, Set, Expand, Broader

Working with limited resources is an excellent way to hone skills that will serve you well for the rest of your career. You will prioritize profitability from the start.

- Jon Oringer

Rest, Career, Profitability, Prioritize

I wanted a CFO with public company experience; I needed an HR department, new office space, and a board which could help me grow the business. Insight, the private equity firm I chose, helped me with all that.

- Jon Oringer

Office, Private, Needed, Department

All businesses need images to sell their products and services.

- Jon Oringer

Need, Sell, Images, Businesses

We sell to businesses who sell other stuff, so we're just going to concentrate on doing that.

- Jon Oringer

Doing, Other, Going, Businesses

As I saw more and more people buying the images that were happy buyers, and people selling the images that were happy with how the market was pricing them, I started to get the sense this could be the go-to place for businesses to get the images they need.

- Jon Oringer

Happy, How, Buyers, Businesses

I met with several public company CEOs to learn about their experiences of going public and listened to as many earnings calls as I possibly could.

- Jon Oringer

Learn, Going, Could, Possibly

I started Shutterstock without any outside funding; I believe in creating a lean startup. By not taking outside investors early, I was forced to use every dollar I had as efficiently as possible. And I was able to keep a large part of the company.

- Jon Oringer

Part, Use, Forced, Startup

We continually hear from our engaged customer base that Shutterstock's content is a true differentiator, given not only the size of the library but also the quality and diversity of the images we offer.

- Jon Oringer

Engaged, Given, Images, Base

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