The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything
1591840562
Guy Kawasaki
Notes
GIST – Great Ideas for Starting Things
- Make Meaning
- Make Mantra
- Get Going
- Define Your Business Model
- Weave a MAT
- Milestones
- Assumptions
- Tasks
Mantra – a sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer, meditation, or incantation, such as an invocation of a god, a magic spell, or a syllable or portion of scripture containing mystical potentialities.
- Authentic Athletic Performance – Nike
- Fun Family Entertainment – Disney
- Rewarding Everyday Moments – Starbucks
- Think – IBM
- Winning is Everything – Lombardi
Major tasks to focus on:
- renting office space
- finding key vendors
- setting up accounting and payroll systems
- filing legal documents
- purchasing insurance policies
Observe the 10/20/30 rule:
- 10 slides maximum
- 20 minutes maximum
- 30 pt font text minimum
Pitch types:
- Investor pitch
- Title
- Problem
- Solution
- Business model
- Underlying magic
- Marketing and sales
- Competition
- Management team
- Financial Projections and Key Metrics
- Current Status
- Sales Prospect Pitch
- Title
- Problem
- Solution
- Sales Model
- Technology
- Demo
- Competitive Analysis
- Management Team
- Next Steps/Call to Action
- Potential Partner Pitch
- Title
- Problem
- Solution
- Partnership Model
- Underlying Magic
- Demo
- Competition
- Management Team
- Next Steps
(When presenting) you should start off by asking these 3 questions:
- How much of your time may I have?
- What are the 3 most important things I can communicate to you?
- May I quickly go through my presentation and handle questions at the end?
Under-staff and Outsource
Sweat the Big Stuff
- developing your product/service
- selling your product/service
- collecting money
- office space
- furniture
- computers
- office equipment
- office supplies
- business cards and letterhead
Questions to ask References:
- How do you know this person?
- How long have you known him?
- What are your general impressions of him?
- How would you rank them against others in similar positions?
- What contribution has he made to the organization?
- How do others in the organization view him?
- What are his specific skills? What is he best/worst at?
- What are his communication and management styles?
- In what areas does he need improvement?
- Is he capable of functioning effectively in a small organization?
- How would you comment on his worth ethic?
- Would you hire/work for/work with him again?
- Should I speak with anyone else about him?
Boards:
- Customer – Understands the needs of your customer
- Geek – Provides a reality check on your development efforts
- Dad – brings a wealth of experience and maturity to help mediate issues
- Tight Ass – bad guy that pushes for totally legal and ethical processes
- Jerry Maguire – brings industry contacts
- Less paper is better than more paper. Don’t bury them in documents
- Provide useful metrics
- Send reports with metrics to them 2 days before meetings
- Never surprise a board
- Get feedback from each member in advance