Guy Kawasaki Quotes

Different parts of the world have different attitudes to failure. Arguably, it may take more courage to be an entrepreneur in Sydney, or Paris, or London, or Japan, or Singapore... but an entrepreneur sees the world for what it could be, not what it is.

- Guy Kawasaki

A large social-media presence is important because it's one of the last ways to conduct cost-effective marketing. Everything else involves buying eyeballs and ears. Social media enables a small business to earn eyeballs and ears.

- Guy Kawasaki

Good people hire people better than themselves. So A players hire A+ players. But others hire below their skills to make themselves look good. So B players hire C players. C players hire D players, etc.

- Guy Kawasaki

If you look at my Twitter feed it is 99% links, but 1% is me responding and 1% of a big number is a big number.

- Guy Kawasaki

Smart, well-meaning people get it wrong when they start believing that the world owes them something and that the rules are different for them.

- Guy Kawasaki

The right algorithm is to put off seeking funds for as long as physically possible. And in an ideal world, a startup would never have to seek funds at all.

- Guy Kawasaki

At the end of my life, is it better to say that I empowered people to make great stuff, or that I died with a net worth of $10 billion? Obviously I'm picking the former, although I would not mind both.

- Guy Kawasaki

People are forgiving of v 1.0 of a product if it's truly innovative and useful. Then you can get away with a lot. But if you're merely marginally improving the status quo, then you better be rock solid.

- Guy Kawasaki

The most important thing is that you hire people who complement you and are better than you in specific areas. Good people hire people better than themselves. So A players hire A+ players.

- Guy Kawasaki

Don't worry, be crappy. Revolutionary means you ship and then test... Lots of things made the first Mac in 1984 a piece of crap - but it was a revolutionary piece of crap.

- Guy Kawasaki

The most powerful way to convince the interviewer that you can do the job is to show how much you already know about the industry, the company, and the products/services of the company. In other words, enchant the interviewer with how much you already know.

- Guy Kawasaki

The good news about entrepreneurship is that your fate is in your hands. The bad news is that your fate is in your hands!

- Guy Kawasaki

I've been all over the world meeting with companies and startups and entrepreneurs. And I tell you, they are more similar than different.

- Guy Kawasaki

I think that no one, or very few, are born as good presenters. It's a skill that you learn. The key is the 10/20/30 rule: 10 slides given in 20 minutes using no font smaller than 30 points. If people just adhered to this rule, they would double or triple the quality of their presentations.

- Guy Kawasaki

What I learned from my kids is that the greatest joy in life is not from material trappings, power, or visibility. The greatest joy comes from your kids. Nothing is even close to my kids in terms of bringing me joy.

- Guy Kawasaki

If you provide enough value, then you earn the right to promote your company in order to recruit new customers. The key is to always provide value.

- Guy Kawasaki

Evangelism is selling a dream.

- Guy Kawasaki

When you enchant people, your goal is not to make money from them or to get them to do what you want, but to fill them with great delight.

- Guy Kawasaki

Most venture capitalists won't read a business plan unless the entrepreneur is introduced to them by a contact.

- Guy Kawasaki

Entitlement is the opposite of enchantment.

- Guy Kawasaki

I would like my kids to inherit a world where people succeed because of merit and hard work, not entitlement, and where people accept others for what they are and not try to change them.

- Guy Kawasaki

When I was getting my education, I fell in love with the writings of Peter Drucker. He was my hero. I had a naive belief that when I became a manager, it was going to be like Peter Drucker's books. That is, I was going to be the effective executive. I was going to talk to people about their goals. I was going to help them actualize.

- Guy Kawasaki

Many Android users aren't aware of some the things that Android can already do such as supporting the enforcement of companywide security policies, encrypting phone data and providing e-mail and calendar widgets that update in real-time. Our job is to help people and businesses discover and use these features.

- Guy Kawasaki

It's hard to name a person who is unpopular who has influence.

- Guy Kawasaki

When I finally got a management position, I found out how hard it is to lead and manage people.

- Guy Kawasaki

The A-listers and the A+ listers, are reporting the news, they're not making it.

- Guy Kawasaki

My perspective is this: my allegiance is to the best product for my needs. For a computer, this means Macintosh. For phone and tablet, this means Android.

- Guy Kawasaki

It doesn't matter whether the Dow is 5000 or 50,000. If you're an entrepreneur, there is no bad time to start a company.

- Guy Kawasaki

If you're an entrepreneur and you think that the president makes a difference to your business, you should stay at your current job.

- Guy Kawasaki

Social media allows me to pick my times for social interaction.

- Guy Kawasaki

Every social media post should have a beautiful graphic. If there are two identical stories, the one with the beautiful graphic will always win.

- Guy Kawasaki

You really can't spend money on social media unless you really try. Social media is really more about effort than expense.

- Guy Kawasaki

Most people who graduate from college think they have to make a perfect choice. Is it Goldman Sachs? Is it Google? Is it Apple? They think that their first job is going to determine their career, if not their life.

- Guy Kawasaki

I'm a lousy predictor of the future.

- Guy Kawasaki

I think a lot of the logic of Google+ is much better in terms of notification of messages to you, in terms of how you post. One very obvious feature is that with Google+, after you post something, you can edit it forever. That is true of both posts and comments. I edit almost every post I make and almost every comment I make.

- Guy Kawasaki

Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.

- Guy Kawasaki

As communicators and marketers, people are so accustomed to thinking from the 'top down.' Finding the great analyst or the famous journalist who will endorse what you do and tell the rest of the world to go and buy your product.

- Guy Kawasaki

My recommendation for SEO is very simple. It's Write Good Stuff. In my mind, Google is in the business of finding good stuff. It has thousands of the smartest people in the world, spending billions of dollars to find the good stuff. All you have to do is write the good stuff; you don't need to trick it.

- Guy Kawasaki

I have developed a Zen-like approach to the operating systems that people use: 'When you're ready, the right operating system will appear in your life.'

- Guy Kawasaki

Great companies start because the founders want to change the world... not make a fast buck. Call me a romantic, but I think entrepreneurs should try to change the world. This comes from working at Apple... old habits die hard.

- Guy Kawasaki

Great companies start because the founders want to change the world... not make a fast buck.

- Guy Kawasaki

What you learn in school is the opposite of what happens in the real world. In school, you're always worried about minimums. You have to reach 20 pages or you have to have so many slides or whatever. Then you get out in the real world and you think, 'I have to have a minimum of 20 pages and 50 slides.'

- Guy Kawasaki

Entrepreneurship is not for everyone.

- Guy Kawasaki

Leverage your brand. You shouldn't let two guys in a garage eat your shorts.

- Guy Kawasaki

The jewelry business is a very, very tough business - tougher than the computer business. You truly have to understand how to take care of your customers.

- Guy Kawasaki

I started my career counting diamonds and schlepping gold jewelry around the world. The jewelry business is a very, very tough business - tougher than the computer business. You truly have to understand how to take care of your customers.

- Guy Kawasaki

A crash is when your competitor's program dies. When your program dies, it is an 'idiosyncrasy'.

- Guy Kawasaki

It's easy to say that entrepreneurs will create jobs and big companies will create unemployment, but this is simplistic. The real question is who will innovate.

- Guy Kawasaki

My mother taught me not to take any crap from anyone and to stand up for my rights. You might not believe this lesson came from a tiny Japanese woman, but it's true.

- Guy Kawasaki

I love the notification system on Google+. If someone mentions you, you get notified via Gmail. That's very useful for someone like me.

- Guy Kawasaki

A simple summary of my life is that my parents worked very hard so that I could have a great education, and I took that education and worked very hard to get where I am. I would like my kids' lives to be exactly the same.

- Guy Kawasaki

Companies in Europe should stop trying to do the U.S. version of a European idea.

- Guy Kawasaki

Coming from the U.S., you tend to look at one homogeneous market with 350 million people. But in Europe, every country has its own customs and laws.

- Guy Kawasaki

What I lack in talent, I compensate with my willingness to grind it out. That's the secret of my life.

- Guy Kawasaki

Every day, I get five pieces of hate mail: Tweets or hate emails.

- Guy Kawasaki

I think that no one, or very few, are born as good presenters. It's a skill that you learn.

- Guy Kawasaki

A good idea is about ten percent and implementation and hard work, and luck is 90 percent.

- Guy Kawasaki

Ambitious failure, magnificent failure, is a very good thing.

- Guy Kawasaki

I do have a peripatetic and active intellectual curiosity.

- Guy Kawasaki

A 50-year-old company can innovate as well as two guys/gals in a garage.

- Guy Kawasaki

A company should search for every instance of the use of its name and zoom in when there are issues - both good and bad.

- Guy Kawasaki

There are two ways to approach the application process: trying to hit a home run by getting an immediate 'Yes, here's an offer' or trying not to be eliminated. I recommend the second approach.

- Guy Kawasaki

I merely consider myself a father, and one role of a father is to provide financial resources for his family.

- Guy Kawasaki

I don't want to make more friends. I have four kids, I have plenty of friends, and all the personal relationships I need.

- Guy Kawasaki

I don't take myself that seriously. I'm a pragmatist.

- Guy Kawasaki

If you make money, you might not make meaning.

- Guy Kawasaki

Simple and to the point is always the best way to get your point across.

- Guy Kawasaki

I don't think Steve Jobs nauseated people when talking about how great Apple stuff was. The reason why he didn't nauseate people is because it was true. The start of all great marketing is to have a great product.

- Guy Kawasaki

If you have to put someone on a pedestal, put teachers. They are society's heroes.

- Guy Kawasaki

Create something, sell it, make it better, sell it some more and then create something that obsoletes what you used to make.

- Guy Kawasaki

Not many people agree with what I do.

- Guy Kawasaki

I travel all the time.

- Guy Kawasaki