Never Enough Quotes: Andrew Wilkinson & Tiny’s Best Lines on Buying and Building

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Never Enough Quotes: Andrew Wilkinson & Tiny’s Best Lines on Buying and Building is my punchy, copy-paste set of lines founders actually remember.
I curated short, repeatable quotes and “Tiny-isms” about deals, pricing, diligence, and operating.
Some are direct lines.
Some are distilled principles in plain English.
I’ll point to deeper posts if you want the full playbook.

1) Email & communication

“I don’t respond to long emails.”
“Three asks, one decision, one owner.”
“Write like a human and ship.”
For more on ruthless brevity, see our blog post: I Don’t Respond to Long Emails.

2) Operating cadence

“One weekly loop beats ten quarterly plans.”
“Decide in the meeting or delete the meeting.”
“Scoreboard before storytelling.”
For the cadence I use, see our blog post: 02: Journaling With AI.

3) Storytelling

“Never tell, always storytell.”
“Show the before, the after, and the mechanism.”
“One proof is worth a paragraph of adjectives.”
For narrative that lands, see: Never Tell, Always Storytell.

4) Pricing power

“Price the outcome, not your costs.”
“Raise price when NRR stays ≥ 100%.”
“Two price tests beat ten opinions.”
For scripts that work, see: I Don’t Respond to Long Emails.

5) Cash & capital allocation

“Cash is the first tile on the dashboard.”
“Burn multiple tells me if growth is real.”
“Quiet dollars hide in working capital.”
Taste check here: A $3,600 Keyboard and a $66 Million Dollar Investment.

6) Spans & layers

“Managers exist to increase output.”
“Fewer layers, wider spans.”
“Pay elite ICs more than average managers.”
For org hygiene, see our site’s About and explore org posts: About.

7) SOPs

“One page, one owner, one definition of done.”
“If you can’t run it on a phone, it won’t run.”
“Spot-run a SOP each week.”

8) Owner dashboards

“Every tile needs an owner and a decision.”
“Cohorts tell truth. Vanity hides it.”
“If it doesn’t change a decision, cut it.”

9) Vendor consolidation

“Trade term, prepay, or volume for price.”
“Kill auto-renew traps.”
“Publish a savings bridge that ties to cash.”

10) Contract renegotiation

“CPI ≤ 3%, MFN, opt-in renewal, open data exit.”
“Two acceptable paths. Close calmly.”
“Leverage first. Ask second.”

11) Working-capital peg

“Set the peg from a 12-month average.”
“Define inclusions in one sentence.”
“True-up dollar-for-dollar at close.”
For a plain-English peg explainer, see: I Committed Email Suicide.

12) LOI → close

“One thread, named owners, parallel tracks.”
“LOI in 7–10 days, close in ~30.”
“Fast, not loose.”

13) Post-close integration

“Protect customers, cash, and culture— in that order.”
“Two quick wins beat a big plan.”
“Make Day-91 boring on purpose.”

14) Diligence

“Tie every number to bank.”
“Cash→accrual bridge or we’re guessing.”
“Trust me add-backs aren’t add-backs.”

15) Marketplace fundamentals

“Liquidity is time-to-match, not a slide.”
“Raise take rate when you raise trust.”
“Kill leakage with on-platform payments.”

16) SaaS activation

“Activation before acquisition.”
“Time-to-value beats a bigger funnel.”
“Usage alerts prevent bill shock.”

17) E-commerce sanity

“Turn the SKUs that turn the cash.”
“Bundle for AOV, fence for margin.”
“Returns are a product bug.”

18) People & culture

“Titles follow scope, not tenure.”
“Player-coaches before new layers.”
“Promote for outcomes, not attendance.”

19) Security

“SSO, backups, and restores you’ve tested.”
“Publish RTO/RPO and honor it.”
“Boring security raises multiples.”

20) Philosophy

“Simple, durable, profitable.”
“Engines, not stories.”
“One page, one thread, one owner.”
Start here if you’re new: About · Podcast · Newsletter.

Mini-stories and how to use these lines

Use one line to anchor a decision.
Use three lines to open a meeting.
Use five lines to teach a playbook.
For deeper context, drop a link to the relevant essay so the team sees the full “why.”

Internal linking you’ll want while using these quotes

For short writing that moves work, see: I Don’t Respond to Long Emails.
For the weekly loop, see: 02: Journaling With AI.
For story over fluff, see: Never Tell, Always Storytell.
For capital-allocation taste, see: A $3,600 Keyboard and a $66 Million Dollar Investment.
For peg clarity, see: I Committed Email Suicide.

FAQs

Are these exact quotes from Andrew Wilkinson.
Many are direct lines or titles.
Several are distilled “Tiny-isms” written in plain English for speed and recall.

How should I use these in my company.
Pick three that solve this week’s problem.
Paste them into your weekly note and tie them to a decision.

What’s the most important operating line.
“One weekly loop beats ten quarterly plans.”
A steady cadence compounds.

What’s the one pricing line I should remember.
“Price the outcome, not your costs.”
Prove it with cohorts and NRR.

What’s the one diligence line.
“Tie every number to bank.”
Trust follows reconciliation.

What’s the best email line.
“I don’t respond to long emails.”
Short wins.

What’s the fastest culture fix.
“Fewer layers, wider spans.”
Make managers increase output.

What’s the best deal-speed line.
“LOI in 7–10 days, close in ~30.”
Speed with discipline.

How do I keep security from becoming theater.
“SSO, backups, and tested restores.”
Publish RTO/RPO and measure it.

How do I avoid margin leaks after close.
“Trade term, prepay, or volume for price.”
Publish the savings bridge monthly.

Conclusion

Never Enough Quotes: Andrew Wilkinson & Tiny’s Best Lines on Buying and Building is your one-page script for emails, pricing, diligence, dashboards, vendors, and culture.
Use a handful this week, link the deeper posts, and let simple, durable, profitable thinking do the work.
Get Your Copy of Never Enough at https://www.neverenough.com/

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