Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Tag: Art of the Start

Guy Kawasaki Wows Big U of MN Crowd

The Minnesota startup community turned out in big numbers on Friday, January 19 to hear Guy Kawasaki deliver his “Art of the Start” presentation. The main room at the McNamara Alumni Center was packed, with some 500-600 people, I’d guess, and a simulcast of the talk had to be set up across the river at the Carlson School for an overflow crowd. I managed to arrive a bit before 11:30 for the meetup I’d called a few days earlier, talked to a few folks (all kinds of people had arrived early), including some of my VC friends and bloggers, then was surprised to learn I was being invited into a special VIP lunch in advance of the talk in an adjoining room. Guylunchtalk Never one to pass up a free lunch, and a chance to talk more informally with Guy, my all-time favorite evangelist and speaker, I seized the moment. And I’m glad I did. Got to chat with Guy, then he gave a real interesting, informal talk and took questions, which was fun. (A photo I include here shows Guy with Gary Smaby, left, and Dan Mallin, sharing some laughs after his lunch talk.)

Guy talked about his love for hockey, and how he actually finds time to play five times a week(!) at his local rink in Silicon Valley. “Maybe I’m a Minnesota guy stuck in a Hawaiian body?” he mused. He also told us about his team, The Capitalist Pigs, which he brought along to compete in the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships at Lake Nokomis, where they’d played their first game at 8:30 that morning. Guy also told us his wife, whom he met at Apple, was originally from Minnesota. (Regarding the hockey tournament, two of the people instrumental in sponsoring Guy’s talk, Dan Mallin and Scott Littman, were also actively involved in that. More on the hockey event later.) Lunchguyk

Since Guy is now a VC, he spoke about his firm Garage Technology Ventures, and explained that he and his partners all have a background in software and IT, so tend to invest primarily in that area, although they have also invested in an e-commerce company and even a “clean-tech” energy firm. The latter is in solar energy and is actually doing the best of any of his portfolio firms right now.

So, What Is It That Silicon Valley Has?
Guy said at lunch that one of the questions he’s asked most often in his travels as he speaks around the country is this: “How do we become like Silicon Valley?” He gave some interesting insights on this topic. First of all, it was really an accident that it happened the way it did, and other locales would have a hard time trying to replicate it. It’s a state of mind, he said, not just a place. The one factor that really makes a difference, Guy said he has learned, is “the quality of the Department of Engineering” at the local university, alluding to the role Stanford University has played in the Silicon Valley phenomenon. “Google was just two engineers with an idea to improve search. Cisco was an engineer who wanted to do routing.” He noted that it’s not so much the business school. “Those people go off to work for the investment banks and big consulting firms. It’s the engineering school you need to focus on.” To me, however, the most insightful comment he had on what makes Silicon Valley different was this: “Investors there have a willingness to lose. They’re not humiliated by losing.” He also pointed out that students and entrepreneurs there come from all over the world. “Nobody cares who your father was, like at the big East Coast schools.” These first-generation entrepeneurs are the ones to watch, he said. “Like the ones whose whole family has been working at the 7-11.” But he also pointed out that a lot of the Silicon Valley allure, and the success of startups there, has to do with luck.

A really fun thing about the lunch is that I got to meet some new Twin Cities-area VIPs and see others I hadn’t seen in years. For example, got to sit next to a guy I’d met early in my career in advertising: Fred Senn, the legendary behind-the-scenes guy at the Fallon Agency, who recently coauthored a great new book called Juicing the Orange. I highly recommend it; Fred described how he and Pat wrote it in a style “as if we were talking to you at a cocktail party.” Also chatted with Lisa Bormaster, publisher of The Business Journal of the Twin Cities, whom I’d emailed with but never met. And I met Doug Johnson of the U of M’s business development office, now called the Office for Technology Commercialization, which really played a big role in pulling off this whole event. Kudos to him and his associate director, Jessica Zeaske, and to all the sponsors. I say it was an off-the-charts success! And I know Guy was very impressed with the size of the crowd. I also know, after hearing more from him a couple days later, that he will be back….

Our Meetup of Local Developers and Bloggers
A lot of my friends turned out to chat beforehand (and after), as I’d encouraged them to in a blog post a week or two prior. After saying hello to Tom Kieffer, Gary Smaby, Jeff Hinck, and Jeff Tollefson, I ran into lots of the great MinneDemo folks — first Dan Grigsby, then I saw Kim Garretson, Tim Elliott, Asim Baig, Luke Francl, Ben Moore, Bruno Bornsztein, Garrick Van Buren, Rob Metcalf, Jeff Pester, and even an old friend from my BestBuy.com days, Jennifer Kemp. [And I may be forgetting a few — sorry. But it was a busy place!] Another contact from days past, Matt Geiser, is now with a software startup called SuperBuild. All told, it was a fun, if brief, get-together. But everyone seemed really stoked by Guy’s talk — which I knew they would be! (The shot I show here is of Bruno Bornsztein and Luke Francl before the event.) Brunoluke

The ‘Art of the Start’ Talk
Guy’s one-hour speech was fantastic, following his tried-and true “top-ten points with a bonus” technique. Rather than me trying to cover all the great insights, I say just get the book! A few of the keys he presented “for starting up anything” are worth mentioning, however. Point number one, of course, is to “Make Meaning” — not money, meaning. Then the money will take care of itself. And we all loved how he went after mission statements in his next point: “Make Mantra.” That means being able to reduce what you do, the difference you make, down to about three or four words, not twenty or thirty. The Dilbert Mission Statement Generator can do the latter (in corporate speak)! You have to deal with the much more important job of coming up with a mantra. Guy’s third point was especially important, I think, to Minnesota entrepreneurs: “Get Going.” What he said here was that you have to “stop looking for a perfect world.” He also said you have to learn to think differently, and that it’s actually good if you “polarize people…all great products and services do.” (The Mac being one prime example from Guy’s past.) And “find a few soul-mates.” A few is good, he said — because “you must balance off each other, and learn how to prop each other up when you need to.” What I really found fascinating about the admonition to “Get Going” was that it was a great follow-on to Dan Mallin’s announcement of a new initiative in his brief talk before introducing Guy. Getgomnlogo It’s called GetGoMN.com. Click that link now and sign up now to get notified when it launches! (soon) I personally am very excited about this initiative…

And Then It Was Off to Hockey
After some good conversation in the networking that followed the event, the next thing on my agenda was to drive over to Lake Nokomis and shoot some pix of Guy playing hockey! He had mentioned previously at lunch that I could shoot some with his camera, too. So, off I went, only to discover I’d run out of battery! By the time I made a stop to correct that, I arrived too late to catch Guy’s 3:30 game. But I manged to get to his next one, at 9:30 Saturday morning, and took a bunch of shots at that one — starting with the shot you see here. Guyatrink I uploaded several more shots to this Flickr set. And I got to shoot with Guy’s great Nikon camera, too — the coolest digital cam I’ve ever held! Two cameras hangin’ around my neck, and my fingers freezin’! (The wind chill was below zero.) I told him I just pointed and shot as fast as I could — hail mary, baby! Hey, shooting hockey action is not easy! I have a whole new respect for those sports photographers. But, like a monkey at a keyboard, sooner or later, I figured if I just kept shooting, something lucky might happen…. 🙂 Anyway, Guy told me later he liked the photos (or at least tried to make me feel good by saying that!), so maybe we’ll see some of the ones I shot with his camera show up on his blog.

I know Guy had a great time here (and he did get a chance to take in both a Gopher and Wild hockey game with his teammates over the weekend). His appearance was a really great thing for our startup community, and I know the energy of the whole experience will carry on for a long, long time. Thanks, Guy, from all of us here in Minnesota! (Update: he just said in an email, “It was an honor and a pleasure!”)

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MEETUP! Before Guy Kawasaki’s Talk This Friday…

To everyone I know or anyone who reads this blog: meet me at the University of Minnesota McNamara Alumni Center at 11:30 am this Friday, January 19th. Let’s get to the Guy Kawasaki talk early and schmooooze!!! I blogged about the event earlier here. (It starts at 1:00 pm.) The event quickly sold-out, but I’m sure many of you already have tickets. Even if you don’t, show up anyway! You can always try for standing-room-only space, or maybe you can nab somebody’s no-show ticket. Hey, Guy’s worth it! He packs ’em in everywhere he goes. Guykawasakistanleycup

We can talk about all kinds of stuff in advance of the talk: why Guy would come from California when we’re freezin’ our asses off here right now (it’s to play in the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships on Lake Nokomis)….what his topic is (it’s his classic “Art of the Start” talk)….or anything else you want to talk about, including my BlogHaus experience in Vegas last week. And getting there early should help us get locked-in for the best seats, or maybe those of you who need tickets can get on the list early for the no-shows.

Should be plenty of room to gather in the lobby area that’s closest to the auditorium where Guy will speak. (Check the signage on the way in.) And maybe we can even get coffee there…

Please spread the word to your lists and communities!
Let’s show Guy we’re one great startup community here in Minnesota!!! Indicate your interest here on my blog by adding a comment, and I’ll forward the whole thing to Guy beforehand. One of my VC friends tried to get me into a special lunch being held for Guy prior to the talk, with the local U of M muckety-mucks, etc, but I missed the cut. Who cares! This meetup will be lots more fun for me — and you! And maybe we can even continue the blog comments afterwards to tell Guy what we thought of his talk… See ya Friday!

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Guy Kawasaki Is Comin’ to Town

Was I surprised yesterday morning to learn that Guy Kawasaki, master evangelist/author/speaker from Silicon Valley, would be speaking at the U on January 19!  After grabbing tickets for myself and a guest, I immediately emailed Guy and asked him how we could be so lucky to entice him here to Minnesota smack in the middle of winter. [I email with Guy once in a while, and we have a mutual friend in Rich Karlgaard of Forbes. See my coverage of Rich’s latest MN speech.]

Guykuofm

Well, guess what what brings Guy here? [Other than a chance to talk "The Art of the Start."] It’s about pond hockey!  Which has quietly become a really big deal, and Minneapolis is ground zero for this newly revived and now organized sport. I should have known hockey had something to do with this, because I knew Guy was huge into playing the game.  Not that he doesn’t like coming to our state on general principles, mind you. I was instrumental in recruiting him to speak at a MN High Tech Association event several years ago, and I remember hearing him speak here in the mid-’90s when he was still an Apple Fellow. Guy, as you’ll recall, was the original evangelist for the Mac starting in the mid-’80s, which he wrote about in his first two books, "The Macintosh Way" and "Selling the Dream."

So, I asked Guy in my email  if I could do a little interview to use in my blog post.  He was game, so here ya go

Me:  Guy, what did we do to deserve this?
Guy:  I’m playing in the pond hockey tournament. That was the enticement. 🙂

Me:  What’s the gist of the talk?
Guy:  I’ll be talking about "The Art of the Start" — based on my book, of course. It’s my guide for anyone starting anything.

Me:  How long will it be, and what’s the format?
Guy: Sixty minutes, top ten format with a bonus. [If you read Guy’s books or blogs, you know he loves lists of ten.]

Me:  Will you bad-mouth VCs (we hope)?  <ha, ha>
Guy:  I always tell the truth.

Me:  Will you talk story about Steve Jobs and Apple?
Guy:  Yes, a great deal.

Me:  How much will you talk about hockey? Hey, how can you NOT here?
Guy:  Depends on how we’re doing in the tournament. I think I play in a game before I speak.

Me:  Will you have books for sale?  And will you sign my entire collection ?  🙂
Guy:  I should arrange for a bookstore to be there. I’ll try to make this happen. See you soon!

What a guy!  If you haven’t yet registered, act fast — word is spreading. Complimentary tickets for Guy Kawasaki’s talk on January 19th at the U of M are available by RSVPing at www.TheGuestRegister.com/start. You can register yourself and guests at the same time. Or call 888-889-7787, Event #932.  Mucho thanks for this event go to the sponsors: the U of M’s Venture Center, the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Carlson School, the James J. Hill Library, SDWA Ventures, and PR firm Haberman & Associates. I see Haberman is a co-producer of the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships here in January. Way to go, guys!

[By the way, Guy’s latest blog post is an interview of my friend Marti Nyman at Best Buy.]

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A Brief Brush With Guy Kawasaki

Just a little diversion — I’m not done posting about PC Forum yet. But I wanted to pass along an experience I had after PC Forum wrapped up, before I had to drive back to Orange County Airport to return to Minneapolis. I had previously heard that Guy Kawasaki was going to be speaking nearby, at an event called the “Boomer Summit” (about marketing to baby boomers), at the Anaheim Convention Center. So, I Guykawasaki planned my morning so I’d get up real early and do a few hours of email and writing for my blog (it was way too cold to surf, anyway), then pack up and head north from my place in San Clemente to catch Guy’s keynote speech at 12:30. It would be a short drive from there to the airport, I figured. Well, I rushed and rushed and barely made it to the conference’s press room right about the appointed time, only to find out his speech had just ended! Apparently, they’d moved up the schedule. Darn, I’d missed it! Since I’d never actually met Guy — though I’d heard him speak a couple of times, and was instrumental in getting him to speak at a large technology event in the Twin Cities several years ago — I was bound and determined I was actually going to meet him this time (which circumstances had prevented me from doing previously). So, off I tromp, over to the Marriott, where I figured he might still be hangin’ around afterwards talking to folks. And, sure, enough, as I’m walking in and down the hall toward the meeting rooms, here comes Guy right toward me, carrying his briefcase, big smile on his face, slowly starting to make his way for the door. So, I introduced myself, and we had a nice chat as he walked together back to the lobby. After explaining that we had a common friend in Rich Karlgaard, I asked Guy what he spoke about (“the Art of the Start”), and how many were in the audience (200, he was told — many of them entrepreneurs launching businesses to market to boomers). I also asked him about his blog….of course! He seemed like he wasn’t all that impressed with his “gross numbers” so far. So, I asked how many visitors he gets, and he said, “Oh, I have about 10,000 readers.” I said, hey, that’s great. Then, I wished him luck, said I’d catch him somewhere else soon, and we both split. But at least I don’t feel so bad now about my 2000 readers last month. Gee, a fifth of the way to Guy Kawasaki — I’ll take that any day! Guy’s blog, by the way, which he just launched January 1, is here, and I also list it in my blog roll.