Is there such a thing as too much advice for entrepreneurs? Guy Kawasaki thinks many people starting their own companies or creating new products get frozen into inaction by the wide variety of advice offered by books, magazines, and Web sites. (Of course, Kawasaki, a former Apple marketing exec who went on to fame as an entrepreneurship guru, contributed to the noise with four books, now make that five, on the subject.)
The Art of the Start aims to cut out the unnecessary details and provide the basics for starting up anything, from a new company to a church. "My presumption is that your goal is to change the world—not study it," says the author.
He begins with the top five important things an entrepreneur must accomplish:
- Make Meaning. Create a product or service that makes the world a better place.
- Make Mantra. A short and sweet description of the essence of your endeavor, such as IBM's "Think."
- Get Going. Start selling, instead of writing a document about selling.
- Define Your Business Model. Who are your customers, and how will you get their money into your pocket?
- Weave a Mat. A list of milestones to be met, the assumptions built into your business model, and tasks needed to create an organization.
Kawasaki is always willing to break with the formulaic. Want advice about a business plan? Don't ask men, ask women, he says. The "killer gene" in men makes them see a successful business as something that kills another organization. "For example, Sun Microsystems wants to kill Microsoft. When is the last time you bought a computer based on whom the manufacturer wanted to kill?"
Still, Kawasaki has a lot of traditional advice, albeit cloaked in a very entertaining writing style. When hiring for your start-up, choose people who are enthusiastic for what you do ("infected people"). When seeking funding, acknowledge (or create) an enemy. Investors don't like to hear, "We don't have any competition." When pitching an idea, observe the 10/20/30 rule: ten slides, twenty minutes, thirty-point font text (the latter to make an easier read for aging baby boomers).
This book is full of such practical advice and exercises that will indeed help you start anything, and perhaps rethink the things you've already started.—Sean Silverthorne