The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything - Hardcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva (an online design service) and an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley. Previously, he was the chief evangelist of Apple and special advisor to the CEO of the Motorola business unit of Google. His many acclaimed books include The Art of Social Media and Enchantment. He lives in Silicon Valley with his family and on social media where he has ten million followers..

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Acknowledgments

In giving advice, seek to help, not please, your friend.

—Solon

Write what you know. That should leave you with a lot of free time.

—Howard Nemerov

Read Me First

I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I have in my heart must come out; that is the reason why I compose.

—Ludwig van Beethoven

If I knew then what I know now.” Most experienced entrepreneurs say this at some point. My goal is that you won’t have to because you read this book.

I’ve started three companies, invested in ten, and advised organizations as small as two people and as large as Google. I’ve worked for Apple twice, and I’m the chief evangelist of a startup called Canva. Hundreds of entrepreneurs have pitched me—until my right ear won’t stop ringing.

When it comes to startups, I’ve been there and done that several times over. Now I’m doing what techies call a “core dump,” or recording what’s in my memory. My knowledge comes from my scars—in other words, you will benefit from my hindsight.

My goal is simple and pure: I want to make entrepreneurship easier for you. When I die, I want people to say, “Guy empowered me.” I want lots of people to say this, so this book is for a broad population:

1. Guys and gals in garages, dorms, and offices creating the next big thing

2. Brave souls in established companies bringing new products to market

3. Social entrepreneurs in nonprofits making the world a better place

Great companies. Great divisions. Great schools. Great churches. Great nonprofits. Great entrepreneurs. That’s the plan. A few details before we start:

   • My original intent was to merely update the book. However, I kept adding, altering, and deleting. Thus, this isn’t a “1.1” kind of revision. This is a “2.0,” whole-integer, real-man revision. When my editor at Penguin told me to turn on Track Changes in Word, so that copyediting would be easy, I LOLed. Version 2.0 is 64 percent longer than version 1.0.
   • For brevity, and because entrepreneurs are more similar than different, I use the word “startup” to refer to any new venture—profit or not-for-profit—and the word “product” to refer to any new product, service, or idea. You can apply the lessons of this book to start almost anything, so don’t get hung up on semantics.
   • If you’re reading the paper version of this book, you’ll see text that is underlined and italicized. This text is hyperlinked in the e-book version. You don’t need to buy the e-book, but I guarantee that you will gain more than the cost of the e-book in additional knowledge if you did.
   • For every recommendation, there is an exception, and I could also be wrong. Learning by anecdote is risky, but waiting for scientific proof is too. Remember, few things are right or wrong in entrepreneurship—there’s only what works and what doesn’t work.

I assume that your goal is to change the world—not study it. Entrepreneurship is about doing, not learning to do. If your attitude is “Cut the crap—let’s get going,” you’re reading the right book by the right author. Onward . . .

Guy Kawasaki

Silicon Valley, California

GuyKawasaki@gmail.com

CONCEPTION

CHAPTER 1

The Art of Starting Up

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That’s funny . . .”

—Isaac Asimov

GIST (Great Ideas for Starting Things)

It’s much easier to do things right from the start than to fix them later. At this stage, you are forming the DNA of your startup, and this genetic code is permanent. By paying attention to a few important issues, you can build the right foundation and free yourself to concentrate on the big challenges. This chapter explains how to start a startup.

Answer Simple Questions

There is a myth that successful companies begin with grandiose ambitions. The implication is that entrepreneurs should start with megalomaniacal goals in order to succeed. To the contrary, my observation is that great companies began by asking simple questions:

   • THEREFORE, WHAT?* This question arises when you spot or predict a trend and wonder about its consequences. It works like this: “Everyone will have a smartphone with a camera and Internet access.” Therefore, what? “They will be able to take pictures and share them.” Therefore, what? “We should create an app that lets people upload their photos, rate the photos of others, and post comments.” And, voila, there’s Instagram.
   • ISN’T THIS INTERESTING? Intellectual curiosity and accidental discovery power this method. Spencer Silver was trying to make glue but created a substance that barely holds paper together. This oddity led to Post-it Notes. Ray Kroc was an appliance salesman who noticed that a small restaurant in the middle of nowhere ordered eight mixers. He visited the restaurant out of curiosity, and it impressed him with its success. He pitched the idea of similar restaurants to Dick and Mac McDonald, and the rest is history.

   • IS THERE A BETTER WAY? Frustration with the current state of the art is the hallmark of this path. Ferdinand Porsche once said, “In the beginning I looked around and, not finding the automobile of my dreams, decided to build it myself.”* Steve Wozniak built the Apple I because he believed there was a better way to access computers than having to work for the government, a university, or a large company. Larry Page and Sergey Brin thought measuring inbound links was a better way to prioritize search results and started Google.
   • WHY DOESN’T OUR COMPANY DO THIS? Frustration with your current employer is the catalyzing force in this case. You’re familiar with the customers in a market and their needs. You tell your management that the company should create a product because customers need it, but management doesn’t listen to you. Finally, you give up and do it yourself.
   • IT’S POSSIBLE, SO WHY DON’T WE MAKE IT? Markets for big innovations are seldom proven in advance, so a what-the-hell attitude characterizes this path. For example, back in the 1970s a portable phone was incomprehensible to most people when Motorola invented it. At the time, phones were linked to places, not people. However, Martin Cooper and the engineers at Motorola went ahead and made it, and the rest is history. Don’t let anyone tell you that the “If we build it, they will come” theory doesn’t work.

“The genesis of great companies is answering simple questions that change the world, not the desire to become rich.”

   • WHERE IS THE MARKET LEADER WEAK? Three conditions make a market leader vulnerable: First, when the leader is committed to a way of doing business. For example, IBM distributed computers through resellers, so Dell could innovate by selling direct. Second, when the customers of the leader are dissatisfied. For example, the necessity to drive to Blockbuster stores to pick up and return videos opened the door for Netflix. Third, when the market leader is milking a cash cow and stops innovating. This is...