Guy Kawasaki should know the Art of the Start, the title of his latest tome on how to be a real revolutionary and make it work, something Kawasaki is uniquely qualified to write and more, has proven is possible with his real life experience. With his impressive background as an Apple-Fellow at Apple Computer and an employee partially responsible for the success of the Macintosh brand, Guy Kawasaki then had the brass to start his own company, Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture film, for which he is managing director. Here, i'd like to get into Kawasaki's new book, and note, that this review will soon be followed by an interview with the author in the weeks to come... so read on, and prepare to be motivated!
Kawasaki's new book, The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything could not be more aptly named. Here, Kawasaki lays out practical and yet not obviously intuitive (which is what gives this book it's real value, for if we all knew what Kawasaki knew, we'd be golden - thank god he's the sharing sort) strategies for anyone who, as the title says, is starting anything, and while I won't go through the entire book step-by-step (because I highly recommend you read it), I will say that many of the steps not obvious and are some real gems. The first step before starting anything: Add Meaning, Kawasaki tells us.
However we define that, whether it's to change the world, continue a good thing, whatever the case, our project or goal must have some deeper meaning that we really believe in. Without meaning, we have nothing. At first reading, this may seem trite, but really think about it and look deeper and you'll see that Kawasaki is absolutely right. Most entrepreneurs are insanely driven and have a unique vision that either adds meaning in a way that did not previously exist or an idea that builds on an already existing technology or idea in a way that enhances it for the rest of us -- a technique that Kawasaki endorses by the way - why create a business model from scratch when there are so many good ones that you can follow. It's an excellent strategy, and one that any branding expert or publicist worth her salt will tell you is that one of the first things you want to do when presenting an unknown or new product or service or even marketing a book as i did as a publisher is to compare yourself and draw clear parallels between your product or idea to an already existing and successful model - to give the VCs, the public, whomever, something to latch onto so that they know what you are about. It's far simpler to understand an idea if you have a reference point or a touchstone of sorts.
Article comments
1 - TDavid
I'm currently working my way through this book. I'm impressed so far.