Nick Hanauer
Nick Hanauer
Nick Hanaueris an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist living in Shoreline, Washington...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
CountryUnited States of America
achievement buy corner difference economic history jeff job middle people stuff
If Jeff Bezos and I had started Amazon.com in a poverty-stricken corner of Africa, there would have been no job creation because there would be no people to buy the stuff from Amazon.com. The difference here is the American middle class, which is by every measure the most extraordinary economic achievement in the history of the world.
companies congo created lots low people places somalia starting taxes
If low taxes were the way that people like me created wealth, then we'd be starting our companies in the Congo or Somalia or Afghanistan, but we're not. We come to places where there are lots and lots of customers.
art becomes crappy people prosperous society specialize work
In a sufficiently prosperous society where people specialize sufficiently, and where enough of the crappy work is done by machines, all work becomes art.
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I'm not the smartest guy you've ever met, or the hardest-working. I was a mediocre student. I'm not technical at all - I can't write a word of code. What sets me apart, I think, is a tolerance for risk and an intuition about what will happen in the future. Seeing where things are headed is the essence of entrepreneurship.
benefits business ceos companies economic era growing higher rather renewed share value wages
Once America's CEOs get back to the business of growing their companies rather than growing their share prices, shareholder value will take care of itself, and all Americans will share in the higher wages and other benefits of a renewed era of economic growth.
hard people stuff super
In software, it's easy to understand what people want, and it's hard to build. Internet stuff is super easy to build, but it's hard to know what people want.
country thinking conservative
I was more conservative when I was younger. But I don't think that I've moved left - I think the country has moved right.
jobs thinking two
Now one person doing the job of one and a half. So as an employer I can get two people to do the work of three, and think about what that does for profits.
class minimum-wage lows
The overtime threshold is to the middle class as the minimum wage is to low-wage workers.
simple fields administration
Raising the minimum wage is very efficient. Everybody's on the same playing field, it's a very simple rule, it doesn't require a lot of administration, you don't have to negotiate anything. It just is what it is.
class people helping
The most pro-business thing you can do is to help middle-class people thrive.
differences minimum-wage boards
Raising the minimum wage a lot across the board would make a big difference. It's not the only thing, but it's an indispensable part of solving the problem.
people threshold happens
Raising the overtime threshold - something that is about to happen. This is more complex so not as many people understand it, but it's equally consequential.
confused government people
Fast food workers are all the governor has power to enact. Your state legislature is held hostage by the same nitwits that hold hostage the federal [government]. People who have confused suffocating collectivism, which is bad, for a necessity to solve collective action problems, which is what all human endeavor is based on.