Guy Kawasaki is the Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures, and has two separate stints at Apple under his belt. He is highly regarded in the Venture Capital and entrepreneurial communities.
Here are his ten (and a bonus) points for creating a successful company. This is not (specifically) about how to raise capital. It IS about how to create a great company which is all part of the journey. No punches are pulled.
1. Make Meaning. Change people’s lives. Apparently it’s not all about money. Meaning makes money.
2. Make a mantra. Have a mission statement that people understand, not one that Dilbert would create.
3. Get into action. An average plan acted on outperforms a great plan on the shelf. Don’t put up with incremental improvements. Jump the curve. Don’t try to appeal to everyone. Polarise. Find people to help on your journey.
4. Define your business model. Be specific about where dollars come from. Keep it simple.
5. Know your milestones. Know your assumptions. Know your tasks.
6. Get niched.
7. 10/20/30. 10 slides in your pitch. 20 minutes. 30 point font. Keep it simple. Don’t read your slides. These stop Guy getting ringing in his ears from BS presentations.
8. Hire infected people. They must love your product. Ignore the other stuff. Hire people better than you.
9. Lower barriers to adoption. Make it easy to do business with you. Flatten the learning curve. Don’t ask customers to do more than you would do. Embrace the evangelists.
10. Take the money. If the wrong people buy your product, let them. Allow a test drive. Find influencers, even if this is the soccer mums.
11. Don’t let the bozos grind you down. Especially the smart ones because you might believe them.
Enjoy the video and let it inspire you to create an incredible business.
If you enjoyed this, check out his VC Aptitude Test for a slightly tongue in cheek look at what makes you successful in business.
And more wisdom here…
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