I recently read a book called What Would Jackie Do?--An Inspired Guide to Distinctive Living. The co-authors are Shelly Branch of the Wall Street Journal and Sue Callaway, the former vice president and general manager of Jaguar Cars U.S. The book explains what Jackie Onassis “would do” in various situations. I enjoyed the book because [...]
I received an email from Craig James that contained superb insights into the art of recruiting. With Craig's permission, I provide it below. As the chief technology officer of eMolecules, Craig is responsible for the design and development of the www.chmoogle.com chemistry search engine. Craig worked with chemistry, chemists and chemical databases his entire career, [...]
A friend who worked at O'Hare International Airport told me this story. He once watched a passenger absolutely scream at an airline ticket agent. The ticket agent, however, remained completely calm. After the tirade was over, my friend asked her how she could remain so calm, and she said, “That's easy. He's going to Paris, [...]
The French version of The Art of the Start is now available from Diateino: http://snipurl.com/frenchart The translator is Marylène Delbourg-Delphis, someone who I've known for twenty years. She is the only person in the world who could faithfully translate my book because she knows me well and is bi-lingual--a niche sector indeed! Jean-Louis Gassée, general [...]
On Friday, March 17th, Ryan over at www.inBubbleWrap.com (a fun site that gives away business-related prizes every day), is giving away thirty two copies of The Art of the Start. All you have to do is create an account, click on “I Want One,” answer two silly questions, and you are entered into the random [...]
I've been on both sides of board meetings: as the entrepreneur (a.k.a., the “victim”) and as the board member (a.k.a., the “heavy”). I can't tell you that I've run perfect board meetings nor that I am the world's greatest board member, but I can provide some tips on the art of the board meeting. These [...]
Here's a quiz to determine your “entrepreneurial quotient.” My intent is to test a person's knowledge of entrepreneurship. However, scoring high doesn't mean you're the next Steve Jobs, and scoring low doesn't mean you're not. Some answers are debatable, so there will be many comments. #10, in particular, is tricky so read it very carefully. [...]
How many times have you watched a panel and thought that it was entertaining and informative? Your answer is probably a small number. Moderating a panel is deceptively hard--harder, in fact, than keynoting because the quality of the panelists is usually beyond your control. Here's how to be a great moderator. Don't over-prepare the panelists. [...]
Many people have asked about seeing me speak in person. Most of the time, I speak at private events that the general public cannot attend. However, if you will be in the Los Angeles area in the middle of March, please check out this open-to-the-public (but not free) conference: The What’s Next? Boomer Business Summit [...]
Hugh Macleod is using FilmLoop to push out his Gaping Void cartoons. You can subscribe by clicking on this: http://snipurl.com/gapingvoid
Adam Lashinsky is a reporter for Fortune magazine. He has the high-tech beat in Silicon Valley. As such, he works with some of the best known (as well as the most full-of-shitake) companies and PR firms in the world. His perspective on working with the press is valuable for every marketing person. You can read [...]
Make no mistake about it: There is an art to raising angel capital. Raising angel capital is not harder or easier than raising institutional venture capital—it’s simply different. Here’s how to do it. Make sure they are “accredited” investors. “Accredited” is legalese for “rich enough to never get back a penny.” Just read what the [...]
Check this out: http://electricpulp.com/gbat/ Now you can take the GBAT online. Thanks, Michael Lehmkuhl and Electric Pulp. There is also a German version at: http://www.houseofuser.com/guy_kawasaki_GBAT_german.html Thanks, Stefan Voigt. Can online study courses be far behind? :-) Whether you guys did this on purpose or not, this is a VERY clever way to get me to [...]
Due to the overwhelming response to my article about bozosity, I've created the GBAT (Guy's Bozofication Aptitude Test). It is a compilation of the best indicators of whether a company is sliding into bozosity. I've included the names of the people who came up with some of these ideas. In some cases, I took their [...]
It's depressing to watch a mean, lean, fighting machine of a company deteriorate into mediocracy. In Silicon Valley we call this process the “bozo explosion.” This downward slide seems inevitable after a company achieves success--often during the years immediately following an IPO. The purpose of this article is to prevent, or at least postpone, this [...]
My buddy, Brad Fitzpatrick, drew this cartoon in response to the “abhorrent” article that I wrote called “How to Suck Up to a Blogger.” We're missing a caption. I KNOW you guys can come up with some great stuff. Please submit your idea as a comment! Oh yeah, click here to see the outtakes (ala [...]
Here's another MP3 recording. It is my reading of Chapter 7: The Art of Raising Capital from The Art of the Start. It covers some of the same material as my blog entries, but sometimes hearing is believing. Download raising.mp3
There's a great article called “How they named companies” at the Day2Day Activities blog. How do you like this for irony? Volvo- From the Latin word “volvo,” which means “I roll.” It was originally a name for a ball bearing being developed by SKF. I'll never look at a Volvo without thinking about this irony [...]
You may find this hard to believe, but I recommend that you read this post, “Spread Firefox but don't be a fanatic,” from the Firefox marketing community web site: http://www.spreadfirefox.com/node/19663 It begins with this: In my opinion it's ridiculous to have “loyalty” to a company. I base my evaluation of products only on their own [...]
Blogging has flipped traditional PR on its head. It used to be that ink begat buzz. Life was simple then: you sucked up to the Wall Street Journal, one of its reporters wrote about your product, and the buzz began. (Here’s a collection of great speeches about the state of the art of blogging, courtesy [...]