A successful product is easy for everyone to use, immediately. Flatten the learning curve, never ask someone to do something you would not, and recruit evangelists to spread your message.

Transcript



The ninth thing is to lower barriers to adoption. Here are the cases where you've created the world's greatest mousetrap, the nuclear power mousetrap. You kill mice better than anybody in the history of mankind. Mouse goes in there, there's a little explosion, a little mushroom cloud and the mouse is gone. You murder mice really well. You got the design from Lawrence Livermore or you stole it from Los Alamos, I don't how you got it. Somehow, you really murder mice well. So here are the barriers to adoption. First of all, your mousetrap is nuclear-powered. However, you need a PhD in Applied Physics to set the mousetrap. The learning curve is so high. It's almost as difficult as setting the clock on a VCR. It's that high, all right? The fundamental model, the metaphor that you should aspire to is you open the box, you plug in the cords, you go. That's what it should be like. You should not need a PhD in Physics to set your mousetrap. Flatten the learning curve. By contrast, if any of you buy a BMW, there's something in the BMW called an iDrive which is their interface for their electronics. If you take a two-hour course you will then be able to change the radio station. That is the antithesis of flattening the learning curve. Second point is, you never ask people to do something that you yourself would not do. You wouldn't go back to school to get a PhD in Physics to set a mousetrap. You wouldn't drive 300 miles to drop off a dead radioactive mouse. You wouldn't pay $250 thousand dollars for a mousetrap. Don't expect customers to do this either. The reason why there's a washing machine in this picture is because I have a positive example which is the Kauai Hyatt Regency. The Kauai Hyatt Regency, in every wing of the hotel there's a laundry room. That means there's one less guestroom. It means that people send out less laundry through the laundry system. Then if you went into the laundry room, you would see that the washers and driers are free. So at the Hyatt Regency at Kauai, they're not charging you to wash the clothes. That is a good example, a positive example of this theory. The third point is, you need to recruit evangelists. At the start of a company, you need to recruit evangelists. They're not stockholders. They're not employees. They see your product or service as a way to make the world a better place. There's no more higher leverage than recruiting evangelists. Evangelists view your product or service as bringing the good news. That's the Greek-based word for evangelism - - bringing the good news. It means that you had to have thought differently, that you jumped curves, that you're not just better, faster, cheaper. You're fundamentally different. That's what evangelists do. They evangelize and proselytize things that are fundamentally different and better. Having seen the example of, TiVo recruit evangelists. And Harley-Davidson have evangelists, and Apple have evangelists, and Netflix have evangelists. At this point in e-commerce and commerce, you would think that people understand when you have a great product or service, you will get evangelists. I don't think that people have quite understood that. When you have this great product or service, I'm telling you, go get your evangelists. Don't wait for them to bubble up. Don't wait years for these groups to form. Go get them. Go get them. You'll increase the leverage of your marketing sales tremendously by doing that.

1. Make Meaning in Your Company
2. Don't Write a Mission Statement, Write a Mantra
3. Get Up and Get Going!
4. The New Business Model
5. Weave a MAT and Outline Your Priorities
6. Know Thyself and Niche Thyself
7. Make a Great Pitch
8. Who to Hire
9. Lower the Barriers to Adoption
10. Seed the Clouds and Watch the Sales Grow
11. Be a Mensch
12. Funding Choices
13. How Do You Find Evangelists?
14. How Do You Find Soul Mates?
15. The Career Path to Becoming a Venture Capitalist or an Entrepreneur
16. Experience Is Overrated

In this course, Guy Kawasaki gives 16 video lectures on Entrepreneurship for Stanford University students. Video lectures were taken on October 20, 2004. Guy Kawasaki, founder and Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures, believes that those companies who set out to make a positive change in the world are the companies that will ultimately be the most successful. He gives examples of the best way to make meaning: increase quality of life, right a wrong, and prevent the end of something good.

Guy Kawasaki

Garage Technology Ventures



Guy Kawasaki is a founder and Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures. Prior to this position, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. and sits on the board of BitPass Inc. A noted speaker and the founder of various personal computer companies, Guy was one of the individuals responsible for the success of the Macintosh computer. He is also the author of eight books including Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. Guy holds a B.A. from Stanford University and a M.B.A. from UCLA, as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.



Related Links: www.garage.com



Last Updated: Thu, Jun 1, 2006



Course Details:

- Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Lecture

- Stanford University's Entrepreneurship Corner (ecorner)



Original Course Name: Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Lecture.