Kennedy’s famous quotes offer timeless lessons for entrepreneurs — from choosing hard paths to putting the team first. Here’s how they apply to startups.

Kennedy might be a bit outdated, but still, some of his quotes are describing spot-on what society in general, and entrepreneurship in particular needs.

I am a non-political entrepreneur, so this article is about some of Kennedy’s quotes, and not about his political views or style.

Without searching through Kennedy’s speeches systematically, two of his quotes immediately resonated with me.

Here we go.

“We choose to go to the Moon…”

On 12 September 1962, Kennedy gave a speech at Rice University, talking about the race to the moon. He said:

“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

My fellow entrepreneurs, this quote holds two very important messages for all of us.

First of all, entrepreneurship is a choice. Nobody becomes an entrepreneur by accident, and nobody can be forced to become an entrepreneur. You choose to be an entrepreneur. And if you don’t want to be an entrepreneur, that’s perfectly fine, there are many other choices such as working in a large corporation, in public administration, etc. Each of these choices comes with a distinct set of advantages and disadvantages, and you can’t have them all.

Second, I couldn’t agree more that entrepreneurship is hard. There is no overnight success, irrespective of what you read on social media. Solving a problem well for customers to pay you for solving their problem is hard. Dealing with all the internal and external factors that generate uncertainty during your journey is hard.

But remember that you chose to be an entrepreneur, and with it, you also chose to do hard things.

“Ask not what your country can do for you…”

Now that we chose to be entrepreneurs and we chose to do hard things, let’s take this one step further. During his inaugural address on 20 January 1961, Kennedy said:

“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for the country.”

For all those who served and serve in the Armed Forces, this attitude is in the foreground at all times. That’s why I like hiring military guys.

In early-stage startups, it’s the same thing. As in sports or war, the overpowering desire to not let down your fellows is often all that keeps you going. As a consequence, ask what you can do for the company. There is always more you can do to make the company successful. And if nobody does all those things that are needed to make a company successful, the chances of your company becoming successful dramatically diminish.

Don’t get me wrong. Entrepreneurship is a marathon, and by no means do I advocate 24/7 work over several years. Nevertheless, growing a company only works if you go beyond and above the normal call of duty.

Remember the choice of being an entrepreneur again. If you’re uncomfortable with putting the company first, that’s fine. But then please choose to be anything but an entrepreneur.