7 Things Jessica Alba Said About Starting a Business

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Jessica Alba at the DealBook conference in New York on Thursday.Credit Thos Robinson/Getty Images for The New York Times

The conference sponsored by DealBook on Thursday featured a number of prominent financial leaders.

It also featured Jessica Alba.

Ms. Alba, known for acting in films like “Never Been Kissed” and “Sin City,” is also a successful entrepreneur in her own right, after conceiving the Honest Company. The start-up, which has been around for about three years, sells diapers and personal care products and has a roughly $1 billion valuation.

Ms. Alba, who appeared at the conference alongside her co-founder, Brian Lee, shared some insights about making the transition from acting to the business world.

It’s Friday afternoon, so we’ve collected a few of our favorite quotes — in a BuzzFeed-style listicle — below:

1. “I appreciate being an actress now more than ever, because being in business is so stressful.”

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Credit Thos Robinson/Getty Images For New York Times

2. “Board meetings are so long.”

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Brian Lee and Jessica Alba are co-founders of Honest Company.Credit Andrew Renneisen for The New York Times

3. Raising money is “like pitching a movie all the time.

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Credit Andrew Renneisen for The New York Times

4. “My 30-plus-page deck got condensed into a 10-page deck, with a lot less words, a lot more pictures.”

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Credit Andrew Renneisen for The New York Times

5. “I had this idea of this brand where people could really outsource their trust.”

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Credit Andrew Renneisen for The New York Times

6. With a movie, “it’s not like your whole life is hanging on this thing. With a business, your whole life is hanging on this thing.”

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Credit Andrew Renneisen for The New York Times

7. “We don’t test our products on animals. We test our products on our kids. And on ourselves.”

Ms. Alba also explained how she came up with her alias, which recently became public after a hacking attack on Sony’s movie studio revealed the names that she and other stars use to remain anonymous when checking into hotels or other places.

“I did a movie for Sony when I was 16. It was before I even met — my husband’s name is Cash — it was before I even met Cash. I was that cool, where I at 16 was really trying to be like, ‘Cash Money!’”