The Art of the Start - A Summary

I recently read the book "The Art of the Start" by Guy Kawasaki and as a wannabe entrepreneur I really enjoyed reading this book and found some nuggets of wisdom that I want to remember and apply in future. Below is a summary of what resonated most strongly with me:

• Find a reason to do business – a reason bigger than making money. Create something that does some good, something helps people. Working for a cause makes what you do meaningful and keeps you going through the tough times. An example would be – “helping people save money”.

• Think of a catch line or a mantra defining the product/service/company that people will easily remember and associate with the company. For instance, Nike’s mantra is – “Authentic Athletic Performance”.
• Start creating and delivering the product/service instead of waiting to perfect it. There is no better way of learning than getting your feet wet.
• Decide on your business model or how the business will make money. Keep it simple. Test it for sustainability – determine why people would want to keep paying for the product/service.
• Take project plan approach in execution. At the simplest level, compile major milestones and steps that will lead to them. This will introduce discipline in execution and ensure that things get done.
• Position the offering - make it personal. For example - this product “reduces air pollution” vs. “prevents you from having lung problems”. The latter is more personal. Keep it customer centric – focus on what your offering does for the customer.
• In early days of the business, manage cash flow, not profitability because it is cash that will keep the business afloat. Good cash flow essentially means – short sales cycles and recurring revenue.
• Focus on function not form in each and every part of the organization from the offering to operations. Adopt a frugal approach – under-staff and outsource. It is better to have too much work and not enough people as opposed to the other way round.
• Build a board of people who can act as trusted advisers to your business.
• Recruit evangelists. These are typically people who like the product or service and are happy to help spread the word. Ask them for help. Equip them with the right tools and make it easy for them to spread the word.
• Foster a community focused on the product/service.
• Ensure that a business plan addresses the following: - Problem - Solution - Business model - Unique Selling Proposition or the magic formula - Marketing and sales - Competition - Management team - Financial projections and key metrics

Netbooks: The present and the future

A little over a year ago, a relatively little known laptop manufacturer called Asus launched the first ultra-portable laptop or the netbook. The market for these netbooks has exploded since then. Several manufacturers around the world now offer products in this computer category (Click here for an interesting news and information web site covering netbooks )

Interestingly, the term 'netbook' was trademarked by a company called Psion that had launched its mini-laptops several years ago. The product was discontinued, but the term was reintroduced by Intel in 2008.

The idea behind netbooks is to provide a very small and light weight, low capability and cheap device that allows users to do simple activities such as checking emails, surfing the web, listening to music etc. However, as as features and processing power of netbooks continue to evolve over time, the line between a netbook and a notebook will get blurred. This leads us to an interesting question - Will netbooks replace laptops completely at some point? Well, if we were to look at the desktop versus laptop example, we have seen that desktops have continued to persist inspite of the rising popularity of laptops and their ability to match or even exceed in certain cases, the features offered by desktops. So, for netbooks to compete with regular laptops, they have to provide the complete features set and processing capabilities of a regular laptop, yet maintaining a low price tag. Even so, netbooks still have restrictions such as small sized screen and keyboard. However, as features and processing power of netbooks continue to evolve, it is possible that that the netbook/notebook market polarizes into small sized laptops similar to netbooks and notebooks similar in appearance to Apple's Macbook Air, providing users the choice between a small ultra-portable device and a large yet light-weight full-screen and full-keyboard device.

There has also been a trend towards providing netbooks with cellphone like contract deals, where the netbook will be sold at a hugely discounted price in return for a lock-in period for using the telecom provider's wireless data services. However, this business model is still in experimental stages and it is yet to be determined whether netbooks will sell more like laptops or more like cellphones.

As of now, the future of netbooks looks bright with the netbook market buzzing with activity and manufacturers rushing to unveil new netbook models with added features. (Click here for a listing of new netbook announcements in Consumer Electronics Show 2009)

However, in the distant future, some disruptive innovation may lead to a smartphone kind of a single device that replaces all kinds of computers including netbooks! Until then, netbooks rock!!