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The Art of the Start

Guy Kawasaki
Managing Director
Garage Technology Ventures

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 1. Make meaning

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 2. Make mantra

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 “The mission of Wendy’s is to deliver
superior quality products and services
for our customers and communities
through leadership, innovation, and
partnerships.”

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 • Wendy’s “Healthy fast food”

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 • Wendy’s “Healthy fast food”
• FedEx “Peace of mind”

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 • Wendy’s “Healthy fast food”
• FedEx “Peace of mind”
• Nike “Authentic athletic performance”

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 • Wendy’s “Healthy fast food”
• FedEx “Peace of mind”
• Nike “Authentic athletic performance”
• Target “Democratize design”

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 “We exist to professionally build long-
term high-impact sources so that we
may endeavor to synergistically
leverage existing effective deliverables
to stay competitive in tomorrow’s
world.”
Dilbert Mission Statement Generator
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 3. Roll the DICEE

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 Deep: Fanning (Reef)

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 Intelligent: BF-104 Flashlight
(Panasonic)

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 Complete: GS Hybrid
(Lexus)

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 Elegant: Nano (Apple)

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 Emotive: Harley Davidson

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 4. Define a business model

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 • Be specific

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 • Be specific
• Keep it simple

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 • Be specific
• Keep it simple
• Ask women

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 5. Weave a MAT (milestones,
assumptions, tasks)

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 • Milestone “Finish design”

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 • Milestone “Finish design”
• Assumption “Sales calls/day”

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 • Milestone “Finish design”
• Assumption “Sales calls/day”
• Task “Rent an office”

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 6. Niche thyself

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 Ability
to provide
unique
product or
service
Value to customer
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 Ability
to provide
unique
product or
service Price

Value to customer
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 Stupid
Ability
to provide
unique
product or
service Price

Value to customer
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 Stupid
Ability
to provide
unique
product or
service Dotcom Price

Value to customer
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 Stupid X
Ability
to provide
unique
product or
service Dotcom Price

Value to customer
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 Breitling Emergency

Stupid X
Ability
to provide
unique
product or
service Dotcom Price

Value to customer
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 Smart Car

Stupid X
Ability
to provide
unique
product or
service Dotcom Price

Value to customer
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 LG Kimchi refrigerator

Stupid X
Ability
to provide
unique
product or
service Dotcom Price

Value to customer
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 7. Follow the 10/20/30 rule

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 10 slides
Title Marketing and sales
Problem Competition
Solution Team
Business model Projections
Underlying magic Status and timeline

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 20 minutes

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 30 point font

This is 20 points
This is 14 points

This is 12 points and what you’re using now

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 8. Hire infected people

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 • Ignore the irrelevant

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 • Ignore the irrelevant
• Hire better than yourself

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 • Ignore the irrelevant
• Hire better than yourself
• Apply the shopping center test

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 9. Lower the barriers to adoption

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 • Flatten the learning curve

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 • Flatten the learning curve
• Don’t ask people to do something that
you wouldn’t

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 • Flatten the learning curve
• Don’t ask people to do something that
you wouldn’t
• Embrace your evangelists

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 10. Seed the clouds

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 • Let a hundred flowers blossom

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 • Let a hundred flowers blossom
• Enable test drives

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 • Let a hundred flowers blossom
• Enable test drives
• Find the influencers

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 11. Don’t let the bozos grind
you down

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 “I think there is a world market for maybe five
computers.”
Thomas Watson
Chairman, IBM
1943

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 “This telephone has too many shortcomings
to be seriously considered as a means of
communication. The device is inherently of
no value to us.”
Western Union internal memo
1876

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 “There is no reason why anyone would want a
computer in their home.”
Ken Olsen
Founder, Digital Equipment Corp.
1977

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 “It’s too far to drive, and I don’t see how it can
be a business.”
Guy Kawasaki
Bozo

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