If you only want to read one book about entrepreneurship, my personal view is that "The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything" written by Guy Kawasaki is the ONE.
You can read most part online from Google Book at http://books.google.com/books?id=-gXlwJnnNoEC&lpg=PP1&dq=label%3A%22entrepreneurship%22&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=&f=false
(picture courtesy of Nike)
THINK BIG. Set your sights high and strive for something grand. If youʼre going to change the world, you canʼt do it with milquetoast and boring products or services. Shoot for doing things at least ten times better than the status quo. When Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com, he didnʼt build a bookstore with a paltry 25,000 more titles than the 250,000-title brick-and-mortar bookstores. He went to 3,000,000 titles in an online bookstore.
FIND A FEW SOULMATES. History loves the notion of the sole innovator: Thomas Edison (light bulb), Steve Jobs (Macintosh), Henry Ford (Model T), Anita Roddick (The Body Shop), Richard Branson (Virgin Airlines). History is wrong. Successful companies are started, and made successful, by at least two, and usually more, soulmates. After the fact, one person may come to be recognized as “the innovator,” but it always takes a team of good people to make any venture work.
POLARIZE PEOPLE. When you create a product or service that some people love, donʼt be surprised when others hate you. Your goal is to catalyze passion—pro or anti. Donʼt be offended if people take issue with what youʼve done; the only result that should offend (and scare) you is lack of interest. Car design is a good example of the love-versus-hate reaction; consider the bifurcation of peopleʼs reactions to cars such as the Mini Cooper, Infiniti Fx 45, and Toyota Scion xB. People are either devoted fans or relentless critics, and thatʼs good.
DESIGN DIFFERENT. Depending on what management fad is hot, you might be tempted to believe that there is only one ideal way to design products and services. This isnʼt true. There is no single best way. Here are four different and valid approaches—and I am sure there are more.
HUNGRYPEOPLE'S PRINCIPLES
HungryPeople Thinks BIG. We want to start a conversation with everyone on the planet. We want to hear YOUR voice, we want to hear from YOU! YOU should talk to us!
HungryPeople is always looking for soulmates. Check out the profiles of those we've interviewed so far.
HungryPeople believes everyone has a GREAT IDEA. YOU can be the Next Big Thing. That's why we want to start a conversation with YOU. It's at the core of our philosophy that everyone is born with a gift. Everyone is born a genius! If YOU have something to say, we want to hear it!
HungryPeople is different. We feature both sides of the issue. We offer the best of both worlds. If YOU think you've failed in life, think again – millions before YOU have been there and lived to change the world. YOU can too!
Also check out our other post entitled Great Ideas for Starting Things (GIST).
There's a very interesting section from Guy Kawasaki's book The Art of the Start and that's the concept of GIST – short for Great Ideas for Starting Things. It's a wonderful way to get ideas and YOUR business going. It's also a great way to start a movement (like HungryPeople).
GIST
[ GREAT IDEAS FOR STARTING THINGS ]
1 MAKE MEANING. The best reason to start an organization is to make meaning—to create a product or service that makes the world a better place. So your first task is to decide how you can make meaning.
2 MAKE MANTRA. Forget mission statements; theyʼre long, boring, and irrelevant. No one can ever remember them—much less implement them. Instead, take your meaning and make a mantra out of it. This will set your entire team on the right course.
3 GET GOING. Start creating and delivering your product or service. Think soldering irons, compilers, hammers, saws, and AutoCAD—whatever tools you use to build products and services. Donʼt focus on pitching, writing, and planning.
4 DEFINE YOUR BUSINESS MODEL. No matter what kind of organization youʼre starting, you have to figure out a way to make money. The greatest idea, technology, product, or service is short-lived without a sustainable business model.
5 WEAVE A MAT (MILESTONES, ASSUMPTIONS, AND TASKS). The final step is to compile three lists: (a) major milestones you need to meet; (b) assumptions that are built into your business model; and (c) tasks you need to accomplish to create an organization. This will enforce discipline and keep your organization on track when all hell breaks loose—and all hell will break loose.
HUNGRYPEOPLE'S GIST
HungryPeople is about conversations. In fact, we would LOVE to have a Conversation with YOU.
HungryPeople is for YOU! That's our mantra! At HungryPeople, there's always a “table” for YOU. You'd never go hungry when YOU'RE here.
HungryPeople is always ON 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
HungryPeople's Business Model is simple – it's FREE (read Chris Anderson's book entitled FREE).
HungryPeople's MAT is simple: to start millions of conversations with YOU about stories, about people, about ideas, about life every single day.
Learn more on Guy Kawasaki's work at http://blog.guykawasaki.com/.
