Guy Kawasaki: The funnest entrepreneur

When Guy Kawasaki became a technology evangelist for Apple, the world lost a wonderful stand-up comic. To wit: The audience for his half-hour keynote address at the Salesforce Developer Conference was in stitches for about, oh, 30 minutes.

Guy has a wonderfully casual, self-deprecating style. He bemoaned that he potentially lost a couple of billion dollars by deciding not to interview for CEO of Yahoo, years ago, because he wanted to stay home with his young children. In retrospect, he knows he made the right choice. It was worth giving up a billion dollars to be with his family. But that second billion… that pisses him off.

No, I’m not going to transcribe Guy Kawasaki’s rapid-fire bon mots; I couldn’t do them justice. Instead, I’m going to summarize the ten rules that he (in his role of venture capitalist) says are “the art of the start.” (That’s also the theme of his 2004 book of the same name.)

These are his headings, but my interpretation of his words; these aren’t literal quotes.

1. Make meaning.

Great entrepreneurs are motivated to change the world, make the world a better place, perpetuate good things, end bad things. Don’t be focused on just making money. If you tell people that you’re in business to make money, you’ll attract MBAs and consultants. If you tell people that you’re going to change the world, you’ll attract true believers and enthusiasts who can help you.

Also, think big. Think about jumping curves. Don’t set out to make something that’s 10% better than what’s available; strive make something that’s 10x better. Change the game, don’t just refine it.

2. Roll the DICEE.

What are the tactical qualities of great products?

D = Deep, with a lot of rich functionality
I = Intelligent, anticipating the user’s pain
C = Complete, it’s the totally of the experience
E = Elegant and simple.
E = Emotive, you love them or hate them, but feel something strong

3. Make a mantra.

Most companies make mission statements. Those are worthless. Instead, come up with three or four words that explain, to the world, why your company or product exists.

4. Get going.

Too many entrepreneurs wait, for the perfect tool, the perfect moment, the perfect situation, the perfect whatever. Don’t wait. Go ahead and:

• Think different. Create the product or service that you want to use yourself.
• Polarize people. Don’t intentionally piss people off, but don’t be afraid to piss people off. Great products polarize people.
• Find a few soul mates. Don’t do it alone. The optimal number in a startup is three: One who can make it, one who can sell it, an d one who can pull it together. Don’t find people like you; you want to a team with balance of skills.

5. Define a business model.

• Be specific. Know exactly who your customer is, and exactly how you’re going to get your money out of her purse. (Your customers’ money is really your money, they’re just temporarily holding it for you.)
• Keep the business model simple. Innovate in your software and your architecture, but not in your business model. The trick to success is to make something for $1 and sell it for $5.
• Ask women about your business model. Men will be focused on what you’ll “kill,” and will almost always say “yes, go for it.” Women will give more balanced, and practical, advice.

6. Niche thyself.

Imagine a simple four-quadrant chart. The vertical access defines your ability to provide a unique product or service. The horizontal axis defines the value of that product/service to the customer. You want to go high and to the right, offering the most unique product/service, with the best value to the customer.

Here’s what the corners mean:

Lower left: The dot-com corner. You’re selling a common product with little value to the customer.
Lower right: The price corner: You’ve a common product that the customer wants, but so does everyone else. You’ll always be competing on price.
Upper left: The stupid corner. Nobody else makes it, but nobody wants it either.
Upper right: The value corner. You’ve got the only thing that solves a big problem. Ka-ching!

7. Follow the 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint.

Everyone does 60 slides for a 60-minute presentations. Don’t do that, since you’re talking too fast for too long. Instead spend 20 minutes giving a ten-slide presentation that clearly defines the problem, your business model, and how you’ll make work.

The “30” is the optimum font size.

8. Hire infected people.

Look for people who are infected by the love of what you’re doing. Sure, it’s nice to get people with the right educational background and the right work experience. But it’s more important to find people who love what they do.

• Ignore the irrelevant when you’re interviewing and hiring.
• Hire better than yourself. If you hire b-level players, soon you’ll be surrounded by bozos
• Apply the “Shopping Center Test.” If you interviewed a person in the morning, and then that evening you see her across the mall: If you want to run over and talk to her, hire her. If you don’t want to run over and talk, don’t hire her. Hire the people that you want to work with.

9. Lower barriers to adoption.

You’d be amazed at how many barriers there are to adoption, and you won’t always know where they are.

• Let a hundred flowers blossom: Your customers will find better uses for your product than you’d ever imagine. Create an environment where that can happen.
• Find the true influencers. While everyone says they want to sell to CEOs or CTOs or CIOs, the true influencers are the people who get the work done, and know that your product/service can get the word done better.
• Embrace your evangelists. These are customers who aren’t motivated not by options or salaries, but are the early adopters who love what you do, and want to help. Don’t be scared of them, or of their ideas. Embrace them.

10. Don’t let the bozos grind you down.

There are two kinds of bozos:

• Slovenly bozos who drives a rusty car. You can see that they’re bozos, and you know to ignore them.
• Svelte rich bozos who dress in all black, drive expensive cars and wear fine watches. You think they must be smart and successful. Well, they might be a bozo in disguise. If they tell you that you’ll fail, and you listen, then they’re right: you will fail.

Guy’s summary:

• If you want to change the world, want to make meaning. That doesn’t mean doing things 15% better. you have to jump to the next curve — 10x better, not 10% better.
• Go high and to the right.
• Let a hundred flowers blossom.
• Don’t be stubborn, thinking that you know who the customer is, and that’s the only person you need to talk to.