Top 10 for Kawasaki
June 13, 2007

EFI Connect keynoter Guy Kawasaki–an Apple founder turned Silicon Valley venture capitalist and start-up guru–gave a gripping and entertaining recap of his years in software development at the time Apple was launching the Apple II. He is also operating a site called www.trumors.com

Saved By Aldus
Kawasaki really captured the EFI Connect audience’s focus as he recounted from first-hand experience how Paul Brainerd and Aldus PageMaker took the Apple from being a me-too PC doing spreadsheets, database and word processing, to a new realm: desktop publishing, and driving laser printers. From those days the potential of PC-driven imagesetting was born.

Top Ten Lessons of Innovation
Kawasaki listed key points for those wanting to innovate:

Make meaning:
Not “we want to make money,” as a corporate goal, but “Decide how you’re going to change the world.”

Make a mantra
A pithy statement of corporate purpose. Mocking the silicon valley cliche of Half-Moon-Bay-Ritz-Carlton-Offsite-Corporate-Purpose-Sessions, Kawasaki called for a pithy corporate mantra– “Define Your Innovation,” he said, citing the examples of FedEx (Peace of Mind) eBay (Democratizing Commerce) or Nike (Authentic Athletic Performance)

EFI: Print To Win
EFI operatives were clearly reading up on Kawasaki, having moved from the previous “Essential to print,” to the smart, aggressive and assertive “Print To Win,” among the revelations at Connect.

Jump to the next curve
Avoid “duking it out in the same ‘curve,’” said Kawasaki, referring to competing in existing niches as defined by your competitors. “It’s all about jumping curves; that’s where innovation happens.” As an example he described the origins of commercial ice sales, which moved from ice harvesting at lakes, to ice manufacturing in factories, to ice boxes in the home. “No ice harvesters became ice factories; and ice factories didn’t make fridges.”

Roll the DICEE
This is his acronym for product qualities: depth, intelligence, complete, elegance, emotive. “It’s okay to have crappy elements in a product,” Kawasaki said, suggesting you needn’t wait until it is perfect to ship; it’s okay to “ship revolutionary things with elements of crappiness.”

Polarize
“Great products can alienate people,” he said, citing the box industrial Toyota Scion as a love it or hate it product. At least you know you are impacting the market.

“Let a hundred flowers blossom.”
This quote from Chairman Mao suggests there sould be mujltiple streams of product development, and openness to unexpected buyers. “Your planned customer may never be the customer,” Kawasaki said, advising, “Take the money.” Here’s where he detailed the story of the MAC desktop and the unexpected application for a PC as a design tool.

Churn Baby Churn
Provide a unique service or product
Don’t let the bozos grind you down.

Kawasaki’s final point may be better read than heard, and seem obvious. But the most trenchant issue is to “be resistant to the naysayers.” Innovators will be running counter to the received wisdom.

EFI introduced new offerings, some of which were also previewed at On Demand in April. But EFI Connect offers a chance for a longer look.

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Posted by on June 13, 2007 | Comments (1)