Guide For Anyone Starting Anything

The Art of the Start: The Time-tested, Battle-hardened Guide For Anyone Starting Anything
by Guy Kawasaki

What does it take to turn ideas into action? What are the elements of a perfect pitch? How do you win the war for talent? How do you establish a brand without bucks? These are some of the issues everyone faces when starting or revitalizing any undertaking, and Guy Kawasaki, former marketing maven of Apple Computer, provides the answers.

The Art of the Start will give you the essential steps to launch great products, services, and companies whether you are dreaming of starting the next Microsoft or a not-for-profit that's going to change the world. It also shows managers how to unleash entrepreneurial thinking at established companies, helping them foster the pluck and creativity that their businesses need to stay ahead of the pack. Kawasaki provides readers with GIST Great Ideas for Starting Things including his field-tested insider's techniques for bootstrapping, branding, networking, recruiting, pitching, rainmaking, and, most important in this fickle consumer climate, building buzz.

At Apple, Kawasaki helped turn ordinary customers into fanatics. As founder and CEO of Garage Technology Ventures, he has tested his iconoclastic ideas on real- world start- ups. And as an irrepressible columnist for Forbes, he has honed his best thinking about The Art of the Start.

Chapter 1

Read Me First

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

There are many ways to describe the ebb and flow, yin and yang, bubble-blowing and bubble-bursting phases of business cycles. Here's another one: microscopes and telescopes.

In the microscope phase, there's a cry for level-headed thinking, a return to fundamentals, and going "back to basics." Experts magnify every detail, line item, and expenditure, and then demand full-blown forecasts, protracted market research, and all-encompassing competitive analysis.

In the telescope phase, entrepreneurs bring the future closer. They dream up "the next big thing," change the world, and make late-adopters eat their dust. Lots of money is wasted, but some crazy ideas do stick, and the world moves forward.

When telescopes work, everyone is an astronomer, and the world is full of stars. When they don't, everyone whips out their microscopes, and the world is full of flaws. The reality is that you need both microscopes and telescopes to achieve success.

The problem is that this means gathering information that is spread among hundreds of books, magazines, and conferences. It also means talking to dozens of experts and professionals - if you can get, and afford, an audience. You could spend all your time learning and not doing. And doing, not learning to do, is the essence of entrepreneurship.

The Art of the Start alleviates this pain. My goal is to help you use your knowledge, love, and determination to create something great without getting bogged down in theory and unnecessary details. My presumption is that your goal is to change the world - not study it. If your attitude is "Cut the crap and just tell me what I need to do," you've come to the right place.

You might be wondering, Who, exactly, is "you"? The reality is that "entrepreneur" is not a job title. It is the state of mind of people who want to alter the future. (It certainly isn't limited to Silicon Valley types seeking venture capital.) Hence, this book is for people in a wide range of startup endeavors:

• guys and gals in garages creating the next great company
• brave souls in established companies bringing new products and services to market
• saints starting schools, churches, and not-for-profits

Great companies. Great divisions. Great schools. Great churches. Great not-for-profits. When it comes to the fundamentals of starting up, they are more alike than they are different. The key to their success is to survive the microscope tasks while bringing the future closer. Let's get started.

Guy Kawasaki
Palo Alto, California

The Art of Starting

Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all his strength.

— Hasidic saying

GIST (GREAT IDEAS FOR STARTING THINGS)

I use a top-ten list format for all my speeches, and I would love to begin this book with a top-ten list of the most important things an entrepreneur must accomplish. However, there aren't ten - there are only five:

1. MAKE MEANING (inspired by John Doerr). The best reason to start an organization is to make meaning - to create a product or service that makes the world a better place. So your first task is to decide how you can make meaning.

2. MAKE MANTRA. Forget mission statements; they're long, boring, and irrelevant. No one can ever remember them - much less implement them. Instead, take your meaning and make a mantra out of it. This will set your entire team on the right course.

3. GET GOING. Start creating and delivering your product or service. Think soldering irons, compilers, hammers, saws, and AutoCAD - whatever tools you use to build products and services. Don't focus on pitching, writing, and planning.

4. DEFINE YOUR BUSINESS MODEL. No matter what kind of organization you're starting, you have to figure out a way to make money. The greatest idea, technology, product, or service is short-lived without a sustainable business model.

5. WEAVE A MAT (MILESTONES, ASSUMPTIONS, AND TASKS). The final step is to compile three lists: (a) major milestones you need to meet; (b) assumptions that are built into your business model; and (c) tasks you need to accomplish to create an organization. This will enforce discipline and keep your organization on track when all hell breaks loose - and all hell will break loose.

Copyright © 2004 Guy Kawasaki. All rights reserved. This excerpt, or any parts thereof, may not be reproduced without permission.

About the Author

Guy Kawasaki, who helped make Macintosh a household name, now runs Garage Technology Ventures, a venture-capital firm. He has held his workshop, "Boot Camp for Start-ups," around the world. Kawasaki is the author of seven previous books, including Rules for Revolutionaries.