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Hardcover
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
More uncommon common sense from the bestselling author of The Art of the Start.
In Silicon Valley slang, a “bozo explosion” is what causes a lean, mean, fighting machine of a company to slide into mediocrity. As Guy Kawasaki puts it, “If the two most popular words in your company are partner and strategic, and partner has become a verb, and strategic is used to describe decisions and activities that don’t make sense” . . . it’s time for a reality check.
For nearly three decades, Kawasaki has earned a stellar reputation as an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and irreverent pundit. His 2004 bestseller, The Art of the Start, has become the most acclaimed bible for small business. And his blog is consistently one of the fifty most popular in the world.
Now, Kawasaki has compiled his best wit, wisdom, and contrarian opinions in handy book form. From competition to customer service, innovation to marketing, he shows readers how to ignore fads and foolishness while sticking to commonsense practices. He explains, for instance:
• How to get a standing ovation
• The art of schmoozing
• How to create a community
• The top ten lies of entrepreneurs
• Everything you wanted to know about getting a job in Silicon Valley but didn’t know who to ask
Provocative, useful, and very funny, this “no bull shiitake” book will show you why readers around the world love Guy Kawasaki.
| Customer Reviews: |
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| If you've ever worked at, or plan to work at a startup, read this book |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I could be called a start-up junkie. I've been in the trenches for 15 year now and I learned more in this book than in those 15 years. Well, that's not entirely true, but what this book give you is a view into what the heck is going on. In fact, reading this book can give you more insight to how your company is really fairing.
Quite frankly, the several chapters on top lies told by {developers, managers, CEOs, lawyers, VCs, etc) are worth the price of admission alone. Throughout the entire book the irreverent humor of Mr. Kawasaki is present. Be prepared to laugh as you learn.
It's quite obvious that Mr. Kawasaki has been involved in start-ups for quite some time. He gets a good handle on the kooky, crazy, and downright pathological feeling and interactions that define start-up life. Also, his solution to fix all the ills at a company is pretty close to pitch perfect: if you start being successful, people have a way of really getting more positive and happy.
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| International buyer |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Great book for those who want to start a business and make it durable (successful).
For my personal situation, i liked much "The art of the start", also from Guy Kawasaki.
This one is a handbook of truths about what envolves entrepreneurship. Good for starting
and also good for profiting a business.
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| Well-rounded read about all-business, but best for college graduates |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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This book is a really good read for those who are at their first business idea or just out of university. For those who have started their business, it might not be that useful. Overall, it's a good overall set of information about very wide-range of areas of business.
Also, it's a big thick, but don't think you need to read it all.
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| Huge book with little to offer... unless you're a Silicon Valley startup |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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If you look through my other reviews, you'll see that I tend to either really love or really hate books. This is one of the very few that I have read where, after 450+ pages, my response is, "meh".
This book is actually a very complete look at a very small niche - technology startups, particularly in Silicon Valley. That wasn't made clear in any of the marketing or book synopsis, and really should have been. I was reading it and actually thought, "Did I miss something? Why am I reading about tech startups?" I went back to double-check and the answer was no, I didn't miss anything. The book is marketed to entrepreneurs, but written for a very specific sub-set of entrepreneurs.
The book was not a total waste of time for those of us who are not concerned with software ship dates and venture capital. The information is exhaustive and I did write down an idea or two from it. That said, at over 450 pages, that's a lot of book to get through for just a couple of ideas!
I think Guy Kawasaki is a genius of self-promotion and really believed this would provide some insight on that area - or at least on more general marketing and business topics. If that's what you're looking for, perhaps another one of Guy's books might be a better bet. This was my first one, and while it was certainly an entertaining read, I probably won't buy another, as I can't trust that the promotion or synopsis will tell me what I'm actually committing my money and time to.
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| Something every startup founder should read |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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If you are tired of those books that makes seems everything easy to do, it's probably time for a reality check.
This is a great book to see what really happens in the startup world and teach you how to relate to it. Not only great insights from Guy, but also from many people who collaborated in this book.
Highly suggested.
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