What Guy Kawasaki Learnt from Steve Jobs

Lessons from Steve Jobs for Entreprenuership

(I thought he said 13 things, not 12, go figure).

1. Do not listen to experts. Expert pronouncements, interpretations... they are clueless. Especially those who call themselves experts.

2. Customers cannot tell you what they need; They can only tell you incremental improvements to an existing product (better, faster etc.). Apple will die the day they start using focus groups.

3. Big challenges result in great work. Bite sized work will breed mediocrity.

4. Design counts. Price is not #1. Price points are a myth. (see #8)

5. Present using big graphics and big fonts

6. Jump curves, not better the existing crap. E.g. the Ice Harvesters did not become become better ice harvesters. The ice jumped industries. From Ice Harvest > Ice Factory > Personal Refrigerator. It's not about 10% better, but 10x better. Ice Harvesters will die Ice Harvesters.

7. Don't get stuck on models. E.g. open v/s closed. What matters is that if it works or not. Ignore industry jargon.

8. Price is not Value. (Overlaps with #4)

9. Be unique and valuable. Just one of these is not enough

10. Avoid the Bozo Explosion. A player hires B-level player. B hires C-level... and by reverse Peter principle, we are surrounded by Bozos. In Job's world: A-players will hire A+ players.

11. Real CEOs can demo. Not the VP of Engineering.

12. Entreprenuer-ship not slip. Don't get bogged down by perfection. "Don't worry be crappy". Ship a curve-jumping product that - rather than waiting for customer validation.

13. Invest your beliefs if you expect to see something come out.