Don't build a bar for yourself. Build it for your customers. It's all about them: the walls, the finishes, the textures, the food, the beverages, literally everything has to be for them.

There has been a black hole in the bar business in Las Vegas, particularly on the Strip in tourist areas.

Bars need to be conceived and built for the local audience, not the personal tastes of the owner. Huge mistakes are made with regard to market research and concepts. Research and capital are paramount!

Bars are about experience and interaction; so often, the people make the bar.

The right personality with a weak resume can be filled in. That's the employee who will become great.

A plate of food hits the table, lands right in front of you. One of two things happens. Either you sit up and look at it and react to it, or nothing happens. If nothing happens then that restaurant is stuck in mediocrity forever.

You have to connect with your market and your employees. First, understand that what your market says is fact and what you say is opinion. Then, take the time to create a good connection with your employees. Without those two key connections, your business will be stuck in mediocrity forever.

Don't open a bar if you think all you need to be is social and greet the customers. You have to run a business.

Leadership is a trait; it's not a skill.

When I was running the Troubadour, there was this transition from the classic singer/songwriter Jackson Browne types to bands like Black Flag, the Dead Kennedys, and Fear. Those are just some that come to mind. Oh, and Adam Ant! The Fear fans wanted to 'crush' the Ants. These guys hated each other.

When you're on-stage, you're expected to perform in the bar business. You shake hands. You smile. You're all positive energy: you add to your environment. When you walk in the door to the back of the house, that's like a stage door. You're off-stage now.

You ever see a bar with 200 beautiful women go broke? But I've seen a lot of bars with great DJs go broke.

The word 'mixology' adds $3 to the price of any drink.

Failure is an awful thing, and when I look at the common denominator of failure, it seems to always be the same thing: excuses.

I think success is a relative term. If you're a caveman, success is capturing an elephant. Success is achieving better than the norm. Success is being exceptional. It's exceptional reputation, exceptional income, and exceptional respect.

Pushing for excellence is a fight. You have to fight to hire the right employees, fight to get the supplies you need, to move line items around. Being a great manager means pushing to get those few extra inches every day. It's almost like a football game - the team that wins sometimes wins by just inches.

The simple things can be really powerful.

The greatest gift of leadership is a boss who wants you to be successful.

Offset and Skillfeed are examples of products launched in 2013 that have expanded our opportunity with both large enterprises and across new content types.

I think, as an entrepreneur, you have to see the unlimited amount of potential but concentrate on your day and just keep building.

I think that initial independence is very important; that's what being an entrepreneur is all about.

I found it very helpful not to do the venture round. Instead, I started with very little money, a few thousand dollars, and I did every job myself. I was the first photographer. I was the first customer service rep. I was the first online marketing person.

Anyone can contribute images, and we sell them to designers and agencies all over the world.

I needed to make the buyer happy: I needed to provide a price point and sort of a model that was attractive to them. But I also needed to make the contributor happy.