Art of the Start

Art of the StartGuy Kawasaki’s book The Art of the Start should be required reading for anyone starting a new business initiative. As an entrepreneur and investor I’ve looked at hundreds of business plans. Few capture all the critical elements that a new venture needs to think about.

Kawasaki starts with his 10-20-30 rule. An investor presentation should have 10 slides, take 20 minutes, and be written in 30 point font. Kawasaki Hint: presentation font sizes should be no smaller than half the age of the oldest person you are presenting to.

More times that I can remember I’ve shared Kawasaki’s 10 elements of a business plan:

  1. Title
  2. Problem
  3. Solution
  4. Business model
  5. Underlying magic
  6. Marketing and sales
  7. Competition
  8. Team
  9. Projections
  10. Status and timeline

Kawasaki also gives invaluable insights into why writing a business plan is important, how to look at your market from both a bottom up and a top down perspective, branding, networking, and building buzz for your idea. As a former evangelist for Apple computers, Kawasaki shares what works in a compelling, readable, and relatively short book.

What new venture do you want to start today?

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