Meet the MasterMinds: Guy Kawasaki on The Art of the
Start
 Guy
Kawasaki is co-founder and managing director of Garage
Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital
firm, and a columnist for Forbes.com. Previously,
he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, where he was one
of the people responsible for the success of the Macintosh.
Kawasaki is the author of eight books, including Rules
for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy,
Selling
the Dream, The
Macintosh Way, and his most recent work, The
Art of the Start. He's also a consultant and
a speaker.
MCNews asked Kawasaki for some tips on getting started--on
a new venture or a new direction.
* * * *
MCNews: What one piece of advice would you offer a consultant
starting a new firm?
Kawasaki: Remember one thing: Giving advice is easy,
but implementation is hard work. The ultimate value of a
consulting firm rests on the results that you help clients
achieve. If the results are good, then the consulting firm
is good. If the results are mediocre, then the firm is mediocre.
Life is tough.
MCNews: What would you advise consulting firms to do
to improve their positioning?
Kawasaki: Make a 2 x 2 chart. The vertical axis
measures the ability of the firm to provide unique services.
The horizontal axis measures the value of this service.
You want to be high on the vertical axis and far to the
right on the horizontal axis. This is the key to positioning:
Figure out how to get high and to the right--so that you
are providing a great service and only you can do it.
If you can't explain why you're in that corner in less
than thirty seconds, you either have a crappy practice or
you need to perfect your positioning statement. I hope it's
the latter.
MCNews: You've listened to thousands of pitches/proposals
for new ventures. What about them needs improvement, and
what seems to work well?
Kawasaki: Most pitches remind me of a big airplane
trying to take off. It lumbers down the runway--with engines
screaming--and shudders as it finally takes off just before
the runway ends. By contrast, pitches should take off fast--afterburners
blazing!
To use another analogy, if most pitches were movies, you'd
leave after the first twenty minutes. Typically people start
off by talking about their background, the history of the
company, and the size of the market. Twenty minutes later,
they still haven't explained what the company does. By then,
eyes are starting to roll up into heads, and people have
lost interest.
Unless you have an astounding background ("I created
the system that enables Fed Ex to sort two million packages
a day," or "I got a PhD in computer science from
MIT at the age of 14"), cut the bull and get to
the essence of any proposal: Exactly what product or
service are you selling?
MCNews: When you evaluate investment opportunities,
what personal attributes do you look for in the person making
the pitch, and which ones turn you off?
Kawasaki: The personal attributes that attract me
most are an extremely fast chip in peoples' brains and a
love of what they do in their hearts. I don't care very
much about their background, that is, their "on paper"
educational or work experience.
Two things turn me off. The first is arrogance--whether
it's arrogance about their past, present, or future. The
second is long-windedness. An arrogant, longwinded person
is the kiss of death.
MCNews: What excites you about a written proposal? And,
what makes you just toss it in the pile with all the others?
Kawasaki: I like to read proposals that catalyze
fantasy--that make you think, "I would love to buy
one of those or use that service." It means I don't
have to figure out if some CIO wants this piece of enterprise
software or whether some chip design I can't comprehend
means anything.
I like stuff that will change people's lives quickly and
directly--that you and I can buy in stores or online in
less than a year.
MCNews: The term "rainmaker" is reserved for
a small number of consultants who bring in the most work
for a firm. Does the rainmaker label have to be reserved
for the minority?
Kawasaki: I'm a naïve, romantic when it comes
to rainmaking. I believe in Guy's Golden Touch--which means
that whatever is gold, Guy touches. The key to rainmaking
is a great product or service, not being a slick MBA in
a black mock turtleneck in a German car. So if you want
to make it rain, have a great service. The rest is easy.
MCNews: In the final exercise of your book, you ask
readers to write down the three things they want people
to remember about them. What are those three things for
you?
Kawasaki: First, that I was a good father. Second,
that I was a good husband. And third, that I empowered entrepreneurs
to change the world.
MCNews: Finally, what's on your reading list these days?
Kawasaki: I read to escape. I like books where spies
are killed and diabolical enemies are plotting the end of
the United States. And a retired Navy Seal or FBI agent
is called back from retirement to save the world working
alongside a blonde crime scene investigator in a nuclear
submarine.
MCNews: Thanks for your time.
You can find out more about Guy Kawasaki, his books and
his services at www.guykawasaki.com.
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