FRANCISCO SARAIVA

Founder and CEO of Garage Technology Ventures, Guy Kawasaki talked about in a 40 minute presentation 10 tips on how to effectively start a business. He is the author of the book with the same title, “The Art of the Start: The Time Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything”.

According to Guy, there are ten key points for entrepreneurs and investors wanting to venture into a business of their own. A sneak peek of his book, here are the ten tips:

Make Meaning. It’s not all about the money. It’s about finding the true meaning of why you want to start with the business in the first place.

Make mantra. Create a mantra that will describe your core values in around three words. He mentioned that of Wendy’s “Healthy fast food”, Nike’s “Authentic, athletic performance”, Fed Ex’s ” Peace of mind” and he’s very own, “Empower entrepreneurs” as classic examples.

Jump to the Next Curve. Try to adopt new patterns of behavior and break the old ones that you have. Have a small, loyal customer base. This, he said is better than having a big one which will eventually fade.

Get going. Keep moving forward. Do whatever it takes to actually produce a product. The right time is now, don’t wait too long. Also, he mentioned about finding someone to share your enthusiasm with, someone who will complement you in what you do and will give you a sense of balance.

Niche thyself. Find your proper place. According to Guy, two things should be considered uniqueness and value creation. He said that both of these should be present for your business to really take off to a good start.

Let a hundred flowers blossom. Maximize your marketing skills and exhaust all possible efforts to reach your potential clients. At one point, he talked about ‘sowing fields, not window boxes”. Also, there may be people who would buy your product but is not your target market. Be open to the idea, find out why and be grateful.

Follow the 10/20/30 rule. This is applicable for making presentations. Use 10 slides. Not too many. Use 20 minutes of your time to set the pace and keep your audience interested. Use a 30 point font. This will reduce the number of words in your slides therefore your audience will focus more on you as their speaker.

Hire infected people. For Guy, it is important that you hire people who love your product as much as you do. Passion for something is far greater than experience and education. The same kind of passion will lead to loyalty and motivation.

Lower barriers to adoption. Your products should be user-friendly. Don’t expect prospective clients to use something you yourself is not capable of operating or using. He also talked about “embracing your evangelists”. These are people within and outside your business, the employees and clients. Let them speak. Give them a “voice”. He refers to them as “marketing evangelists”.

Don’t let the bozos grind you down. What are “bozos”? They are so called smart people who always question your ideas or try to let you down. They doubt all your motives and are grumpy about your success. Don’t let them pull you down.

Considered as one of the best presentations ever made, Guy inspired his audience especially those wanting to start their own business. His presentation is very insightful and light hearted. He was able to inject humor at the proper time. He was able to get the message across his audience. With this presentation, he was able to convince those in the process of venturing to entrepreneurship.