The top 10 mistakes entrepreneurs make by Guy Kawasaki

Binary Studio CEO is working hard through his first term of MBA at UC Berkeley in the very heart of Bay Area. This is the place where 90% of tech innovation news comes from. Last week Guy Kawasaki held a talk at Berkeley University and that was the talk not be missed. Guy is a well known inspiring speaker and ex-evangelist of Apple, an author of business best-sellers: APE, What the Plus!, Enchantment; currently he works at Canva – amazingly simple design tool for blogs, presentations etc.

So here is the essence of Guy’s speech Artem shared publicly:
1) Multiply by 1%;

You won’t get 1% of China's population drinking soda; Be realistic - make your figures bottom up instead, i.e. assess potential audience of similar sites and take 1% from that figure only.

2) Scale too fast;

You don’t want to drive your overhead costs crazy by opening numerous warehouses, buying the most expensive, the best, the most sophisticated bla bla bla. “Eat what you kill” - buy what you need only.

3) Form partnerships;

4) Focus on pitches;

Better focus on MVVVP = minimum viable valuable validating product.

5) Use too many slides;

Obey 10-20-30 rule; be F15/F16 instead of heavy Boeing 747.

6) Proceed serially;

No – better do things in parallel.
7) Retain control

I liked this one the most. If you take money from outside - you work for other people. Period. They will take part of your company. Period. If you want to get more money – “bake a bigger pie”. Better to have 1% of Google than 51% of …you name it…

8) Use patents for defensibility;

Use success for defensibility!

9) Hire in your image;

NO NO NO- organizations need diversity! Hire to complement!

10) Be friends with your investors;

You better exceed expectations, perhaps by giving 90% initial estimates; no friends in this business!

Bonuses:
- VCs are our crack dealers;
- Two essential roles in startups: you either create or sell. If you can’t create – sell. If you can’t sell – create. Simple!
- “Don't worry, be crappy” - do prototypes! Prototypes are the keys!
- Android is better (I knew it !!!)
- Be nice - register at www.canva.com

Author:

Diana Ivanova

Customer Care Manager

Diana’s position in company matches her life motto “Happy to help” just right. Using her skill-set in marketing, customer care, communication and attention to details Diana helps our customers
set up the team at the kick-off stage and manages the process smoothly during the whole project life time. As the result customers get high quality service, positive ROI plus good mood as a bonus.

Diana can’t imagine life without traveling and discovering new and interesting places as well as meeting new people around the world.

You can contact with Diana Ivanova in Google +