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The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything (精装)
by Guy Kawasaki
| Category:
Business, Entrepreneurship, Startup |
| Market price: ¥ 278.00
MSL price:
¥ 258.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Guy Kawasaki's The Art of the Start is a must-read for anyone who is working in a start-up or thinking of starting a business of any kind. |
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AllReviews |
  1 2 Total 2 pages 13 items |
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Doron Zilbershtein (MSL quote), USA
<2007-03-14 00:00>
To say that I really enjoyed reading his book is an understatement. Guy's personality emerges in between the lines as a people person, highly energized, positive and radiating with warmth, all of which I had an opportunity to confirm when we met at the beginning of his lecture held on September 30 at the Global Entrepreneurship Center, Florida International University.
Guy's writing style is a fresh breeze in the sea of books about the subject of entrepreneurship. To begin with, he brings a new meaning to the phrase: reading a book "cover to cover". The inner -side of the dust jacket feature all the entries to a competition Guy created for the design of his book cover, the art of marketing by itself!
The book is organized into eleven chapters which are grouped in a logical sequence of events: Causation, Articulation, Activation, Proliferation and Obligations. However, Kawasaki goes beyond the trivial route of conventional entrepreneurial wisdom; He discusses the importance of being a "Mench", Yiddish for a trusted man, in the overall entrepreneurial equation.
Of special interest to me were three components that were interwoven into the text throughout the book: every chapter begins with the GIST, some kind of a birds view of the subject in the chapter, and ends up with both, a list of FAQ and a short exercise that enables the reader to get instant feedback on the message was understood. It also contains a well documented list of references some of which are already included in my library. Kawasaki ends up the book with a comprehensive and easy to follow index.
Kawasaki's suggestions are simple to follow; for example, he suggests you send yourself an e-mail and review how it comes across. Another suggestion is the 10-20-30 rules, which refers to presentations before venture capitalists: 10 Power Point slides, 20 minutes and 30 font size. Kawasaki also provides a "virtual visit" into the VC's world by providing key clues from his own experience on an array of subjects ranging from how to make a presentation powerful and convincing and how to interpretate the VC's response, to a list of questions and answers that any entrepreneur should keep in mind when dealing with VC firms.
I found it interesting that although the overall focus is on Kawasaki's experience with the high tech industry, many of his ideas and solutions can be easily implemented in other industries, such as the not for profit, for example.
After I read the book I felt I would welcome a sequel; something along the lines of the "Art of the Finish Line", or even a more focused book on the subject of the character traits that are likely to be found in a successful entrepreneur beyond the monetary reward and what it takes to develop them.
If my recommendation was for people to read the book, having met the author, I would strongly encourage organizations to invite him as a guest speaker. He is a talented speaker who knows how to instill passion and excitement in his audiences throughout his presentation by taking them on the entrepreneurial rollercoaster through the eyes of his many years of hard work and experience.
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Rowland (MSL quote), USA
<2007-03-14 00:00>
As an entrepreneur, I was touched and inspired by this book-something that happens far too infrequently with most business books I read.
Guy was a Macintosh evangelist for Apple before he started Garage.com, which later turned into Garage Technology Ventures. Guy is now a Silicon Valley VC, and has obviously seen tons of crappy pitches, which is clearly part of the inspiration for this book.
His book, The Art of the Start, is a useful plan for starting a business.
Early on, Guy tries to make the case that the book is useful for both entrepreneurs starting new businesses as well as those currently toiling to create new ventures inside behemoth companies. He starts strong with this concept, but this idea kind of goes by the wayside as the book progresses, and I personally think he should have left it out entirely. Buy this book if you are trying to start a company and raise money, but not if you are trying to deal with big company politics.
I loved the structure Guy uses in this book.
Each chapter ends with a helpful FAQ section (Frequently Avoided Questions). I found these clever and interesting. Questions range from: "Should we take into account the availability of domain names when we name the organization?" to "How can one protect an idea, given that few investors will sign an NDA (nondisclosure agreement)?"
Guy also includes various "minichapters" throughout the book. For instance, there is a minichapter on using email effectively, which includes tips from etiquette to CC rules.
All in all, I enjoyed the organization of the book and the countless ideas and advice. I've already used his section on giving proposals and have reworked mine to 10 slides and use 30 point fonts. I practiced one over and over in front of an audience to get the time down to 15 minutes.
There is a lot of painfully obvious stuff in here, as well. Stuff like "sweat the big stuff" is probably obvious to a lot of people, but we could all use a reminder from time to time. A friend of mine recently spent a great deal of time worrying about some minor business details, such as his business cards and the way a picture on his website was cropped. I couldn't believe he was wasting time on these issues when his product development hasn't even begun.
Another great piece of advice is to just get going. You're probably going to make a ton of mistakes regardless of how much time you spend on your business plan or marketing strategy. Just get going and revise later once you see how the market reacts.
All in all, this book has reenergized me and invigorated me. It was kind of like a virtual pep talk from Guy himself.
Oh, and make sure you take the book jacket off and look inside it. It's fun.
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Peter Hupalo (MSL quote), USA
<2007-03-14 00:00>
If you are interested in starting a business and want to get a lay of the land, get best practices, buy this book now.
Kawasaki uses his past at Apple and his experience as a successful venture capitalist to net out what really is important in starting a new business.
The key insights from this book are:
- Entrepreneurs need to focus on 5 things - Make Meaning (are you doing to save the world, help the under-privileged), make Mantra (don't go for mission statements, but catching one-worders), get going, define your business models, and weave a MAT (milestones, assumptions and tasks)
- Positioning: Be crystal clear in articulating what do you do to be successful in positioning your product/service
- Pitching: 10-20-30, 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 size font. Get off to a fast start and explain what you do in 1-minute and use the remaining 20 minutes to explain it further and then open it up for questions
- Business Plans: 10 pages, Title, Problem, Solution, Biz Model, Secret Sauce, Marketing and Sales, Competition, Mgmt team, Financials, and Current status
- Focus on being self-sustaining for 2-3 years
- Build a strong network by connecting through your passions (cars, kids, dogs, computers...)
- Engage people by telling them something that is interesting yet entertaining
- Evangelism is a key approach to brand your products
- Always earn the right goodwill by helping people, doing what's right and paying back society
Guy's approach in writing this book is focused on potential entrepreneurs like you and me rather than the usual academic mumbo-jumbo on starting a business. He has easy down-to-earth, "been there, done that" style without sounding too condescending, like the rest of his ilk at Silicon Valley venture capitalists, are prone to.
This book has less than 200 pages and is definitely worth a read.
Your starting to become an entrepreneur,
Fred "Garage" Sanford
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