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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
Price
service
Value to customer
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Stupid
Ability
to provide
unique
product or
Price
service
Value to customer
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Stupid
Ability
to provide
unique
product or
Dotcom Price
service
Value to customer
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X
Stupid
Ability
to provide
unique
product or
Dotcom Price
service
Value to customer
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Breitling Emergency
X
Stupid
Ability
to provide
unique
product or
Dotcom Price
service
Value to customer
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Smart Car
X
Stupid
Ability
to provide
unique
product or
Dotcom Price
service
Value to customer
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LG Kimchi refrigerator
X
Stupid
Ability
to provide
unique
product or
Dotcom Price
service
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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