Art of the Start, The: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide For Anyone Starting Anything

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However, even if you choose never to seek investment funding, I still recommend the book. Why? Because investors ask hard questions. The kind of thinking you need to do to satisfy investors, is actually the kind of rigorous thinking more entrepreneurs should do for themselves. I mean, why fool yourself about the market potential for your startup, or about whether you've even thought through expense projections? This is especially true if you’re thinking about starting a company. And who can blame you? It’s a momentous task. But if you don’t ever start, you’ll never be a breakout success! Guy Kawasaki’s book – The Art of the Start 2.0 –represents, in fact, an entrepreneurship handbook. It is practically a giant slalom through demanding tools of science and surprising results of spontaneity and creativity. On your way to successfully start a startup business, ask yourself if you have at least 2 of the 3 main ingredients to achieve your goals: expertise, passion, and opportunities. Think about your stakeholders, for example. They might not ever read it, but you’d better bet they’ll ask for it. And you’re never going to get funding from investors unless you have a business plan.

In its original form, The Art of the Start was the de-facto standard for learning how to start a company. The new version is 64 percent longer and features Guy’s latest insights and practical advice about social media, crowdfunding, cloud computing, and many other topics. Just a few of the subjects you will learn about are (1) premortems, (2) why a Morpheus and a devil’s advocate are not the same thing, (2) why it is important to hire people better than yourself, (3) what a MVVVP is and why you need one. You might also be surprised, as I was, with what kind of smartphone Guy Kawasaki uses. Lower the barriers to adoption (simple to use); recruit evangelists (people that believe in the company’s mission). Many don’t want to be payed because they do it for the purpose of improving the world; Create and foster a community; Be humane and don’t be afraid of making a fool of yourself, feature your customers and help the underprivileged; Finally the author gives out a mini-chapter on out to speak at presentations and another on how to design a t-shirt to promote your company. Chapter 10: The Art of Rainmaking

Not bad, but focused on a very niche market. The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki is subtitled "The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything." Unfortunately, that isn't entirely true, unless you consider reading only the chapters that pertain to you. The book does have a very specific audience in mind, and the subtitle should have been "How to take your start-up-business-idea and use venture capital to become the next Apple/Nike/Coke/Microsoft." And right when you're about to call into question one of the points the author is making (and he does make some bold points that you're tempted to question) he follows it immediately with "for example..." and the examples are so compelling and clear, you immediately accede his point, change your own thinking slightly, and keep reading. The author's goal is to "make entrepreneurship easier for you" and, if you read what he says and then do it he will have succeeded and you will be well on your way to success too. For example, Coca-Cola’s mission statement is “The Coca-Cola Company exists to benefit and refresh everyone it touches.” That’s a mouthful. But if we formulate a hypothetical mantra for the same company, we could come up with something like “Refresh the world,” which is much catchier and easier to keep in mind.

Remember that provices (products/services) of startups are rarely bought, they are sold, hence lead generation methods. In my opinion, it’s worth its weight in gold. The Art of the Start 2.0 is a book that you should not just borrow from a friend, but you should buy. That’s why you’re going to love Guy Kawasaki’s tips in The Art of The Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything . It’ll teach you all the planning you need to do and just what your first steps need to be so you can build a winning company. Find mentors and advisors – Mentors and advisors can provide valuable insight into the world of business, so make sure to find people who are knowledgeable in the field you’re entering into.

A new product, a new service, a new company, a new division, a new organization, a new anything—where there’s a will, here’s the way. It begins with a dream that just won’t quit, the once-in-a-lifetime thunderbolt of pure inspiration, the obsession, the world-beater, the killer app, the next big thing. Everyone who wants to make the world a better place becomes possessed by a grand idea. The initial step is to identify milestones, which are the big events on your way to accomplishing your business goals. This is vital because it lets you see clear steps in the path to success and review how well you’re doing at each of them. He states it better than I could when he says, "Entrepreneurship is about doing, not learning to do. If your attitude is “Cut the crap—let’s get going,” you’re reading the right book by the right author." In The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki brings two decades of experience as one of business’s most original and irreverent strategists to offer the essential guide for anyone starting anything, from a multinational corporation to a church group. At Apple in the 1980s, he helped lead one of the great companies of the century, turning ordinary consumers into evangelists. As founder and CEO of Garage Technology Ventures, a venture capital firm, he has field-tested his ideas with dozens of newly hatched companies. And as the author of bestselling business books and articles, he has advised thousands of people who are making their startup dreams real. An excellent handbook for those starting a business or non-profit, stressing function over form and action over planning. The lessons apply to organizations whether they're bootstrapping or seeking funding from venture capitalists or angel investors. Kawasaki includes plenty of historical examples and firsthand experience, making this a practical real-world resource that's more valuable than a simply conceptual textbook.

Don’t disqualify investors because they’re 2nd class. After trying to raise money for 9 months you’ll value every penny invested in your business. A team of people with major and diverse strengths is what you want in the early days when head count is low and there’s little room for redundancy. High achievers tend to have major weaknesses. People without major weaknesses tend to be mediocre.” There are seven milestones that every startup must focus on. If you miss any of them, your organization might die.In this book, he gives you the chance to take the red pill of the Matrix, to discover what is behind any powerful business. And if you started to read the first lines – you accepted this challenge. This breaks the project into many points. If you are starting a business or a church group or a new hobby; you need a plan. All projects start with a dream. I want to create a world changing app for the tablet. I want to write a book. The Art of the Start 2.0 will be very helpful to people who want not only earn more money, but also change the world. Formulate a short, powerful mantra that reflects it. A mantra is a simple, frequently repeated statement that reminds the employees why the company exists. For example, Nike’s mantra is “Authentic athletic performance” and Disney’s is “Fun family entertainment.”

When people see that they can believe you about bad stuff, they are more willing to believe you about good stuff. Be an interesting person (get hobbies, read books, do activities that result in interesting stories — learn storytelling skills too); There’s an exercise that i found interesting which is to write a one-paragraph description of customer’s experience (as you imagine it is) when using your product/service, having customers do the same, then compare both (this is a way of testing your assumptions) Chapter 3: The Art of Pitching Define objectives (what will each organization deliver and when?) and put a clause in the deal that assures that both parties can get out of the partnership and are not trapped in it, this actually promotes the longevity of the partnership. Accentuate strengths instead of weaknesses.

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Gather around you a diversity of people and capabilities. Provide them the proper “space” to do the right things – this may become a powerful way to make a startup endure. Hire people who believe in what you’re doing — one way is to see how much they question about salary, and working benefits;