Full Circle Associates

When I first started reading Guy Kawasaki’s new book, “The Art of the Start,” about six weeks ago, I had just come back from an exhausting overseas trip. I was not the brightest ember in the fireplace. I looked at the chapter names, “Causation,” “Articulation,” “Activation,” “Proliferation,” and “Obligation,” and wondered what the heck I was going to be reading. My natural tendency was to go to Activation and Obligation, being a bleeding heart Pollyanna, but I decided to ignore my normal business book reading patterns and, well, really read the darn book. (I’m a skipper, scanner and kismet reader. In fact I find great rewards is opening a book to any page and finding something that is relevant to me in that moment to a degree that either makes me scared or think I’m a total putz. Go figure.)

The start was a bit slow and the book got put down. Clearly exhaustion is not my best review mode. Four weeks later I picked the book up again and actually started reading. Guy has ditched biz-school speak, seasons with some cool-speak and sauces liberally with humor. Thank goodness. Think about it. Most business books are read on airplanes. If you can find a reason to smile or chuckle while being crammed in a tin can and reading a business book, chuck it. Life is too short. This book is easy to read.

The book follows the list of usual suspects for a start up. This is where the flashbacks started for me. In 1996 –97 I was part of a start up. I really do wish this book had been around when that adventure transpired. What I find to be “no-duh” common sense now that I’m older (read: stressed, wrinkled and wiser) would have been very useful. The flashback was helpful because it reminded me that this is the type of book I will pass on to my son with his dreams of being an entrepreneur. That is the book’s strength. It is straight forward, pragmatic and fairly basic. Don’t get me wrong, the basics are ESSENTIAL. Too often that’s what we skip. But the book won’t be full of surprises for the start up veterans.

Since I no longer work primarily in the business world, I was reading the book with the eye of a social venture or NGO start up perspective. How can this book help those in the non profit world? The concepts are mostly applicable, but I think the language differences between the two worlds is a challenge. That said, I can imagine a conversation or book club discussion around the book with folks from entrepreneurial NGOs would be fantastic once some of the complementary terms were sketched out in NGO-speak.

So what did I like? Not like? I’ll start with the shorter bit: the not-liked. I wanted more stories. Context is everything to me today and the book tended more towards catchy snippets. Almost too easy. There were more stories as I moved through the book, but yeah, I want more. I was non-plussed by the label of the “mini chapters” because they diminished the value of this consistent piece at the end of every chapter that provided a quick but tasty focus on some issue relevant to the chapter. I somehow expected something more there, but can’t put my finger on it, especially when I value straight-forward communication. I guess I can contradict myself. The tables had useful content but the labeling layout surprised me. Again, I expected better. This is in direct contrast to the thing I liked best.

OK, the fun part. Yeah, the thing I liked best. I can’t help myself, but my favorite part was the inside of the book jacket. Yes, the book jacket. Guy created a contest to find the design for the front of the book. On the inside are some of the other entries. I refuse to say losers, ok? It was the perfect example of walking the talk on branding in Chapter 9. In fact I liked Chapter 9 because four pages in, Guy was talking about how to make adoption of your product easier. Now THAT is branding. Of course I swooned at the community section of the chapter because after all, that is my religion. What can I say… I’m not objective in this area.


Most useful? The chapters on Bootstrapping, Recruiting and Raising Capital. Nuts, bolts and a few truffles thrown in for good measure. And I was reminded why I am now joyously a soloist. ;-) What I sensed in this area was a thread on leadership that was never really articulated, but was present. Guy, what does leadership look like in a start up? (I think this would be a fascinating topic and conversation.)

Finally, chapter 11, The Art of Being a Mensch. If there was 2% more mensch-hood in the world I think we’d be ready to entrepreneurally figure out how to make this world a better place. Or at least perhaps not destroy each other and the world. So yeah, I’m a Pollyanna. I’m glad to see that Guy has that gene floating around in his system as well.

Should you read this book? If you are thinking of a start up, yes. If you want flashbacks from doing a start up, take the appropriate cautions (I had chocolate truffles on hand.) If you are an old hand, skim for fun.

Oh, and one more thing. The title, “The Art of the Start” is clever. But in reality, Guy has put more of the practice on the table. I don’t deny there is art in the start, but without practice, it ain’t doodly squat.

Coordinates:
The Book via Amazon
The Book via CEO Reads

Disclosure: I was asked by a member of one of the communities I belong to if I would like to be part of an experiment with this book. A group of bloggers were asked to read the book and then blog about it. I was provided the book at no charge. I was not paid and if the book sucked I would have stopped reading it and would not have posted. Life is too short!

Logistical observation: I have three books given to me by the authors to read and, if I choose, comment upon them. I know and like two of the authors. The third I don’t know. But his colleague gave me a date by which they’d appreciate the post. Guess what today is? Bottom line, sometimes a boundary or parameter is just the trick to move someone to action! That said, Christian, your's is next! I'm half way through and am enjoying it!