The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything

Kawasaki is credited with inventing and then popularizing the concept of secular evangelizing, a kind of marketing, and he held the post of chief evangelist at Apple in the 1980s. He's started three companies, invested in 10, and advised clients including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Nike, and Audi. He's written 13 books and gives more than 50 keynote speeches a year, on topics ranging from innovation to social media.

"The Art of the Start 2.0" condenses his experiences into a neat handbook that's crammed with tips and tools to help you get your idea off the ground, whether that's a new business or an internal project.

This book is a revised version of "The Art of the Start," published in 2004. But it's more than a revision – it's 64 percent longer than the first and it's been updated to reflect the huge shifts in technology, marketing and financing that have created a fertile ground for entrepreneurs.

So who's this book for? "The Art of the Start 2.0" is for anyone who wants to launch a start-up, turn an idea into a viable venture, or grow a fledgling organization, be that for profit or non-profit. It's also relevant for "intrapreneurs" – people trying to launch an idea from within a company or organization. But Kawasaki's background is in technology and this book is best suited to entrepreneurs in the tech world who are looking to raise capital.

So keep listening to learn how to spot a gap in the market, how to finance your start-up, and how to pitch your venture to potential investors or clients.

"The Art of the Start 2.0" is a practical, fast-paced, hands-on book that's pretty compact, given the amount of ground the author covers.

Kawasaki wants his readers to come away with information they can act on. He writes in a straight-talking, no-nonsense style and a casual, often humorous tone.

There are short exercises throughout the book, so readers can apply what they've learned to their own venture, whether that's a new start-up or an internal project. And there are lists of questions at the end of each chapter that cover potential pitfalls and the things we may be thinking, but not saying. Kawasaki calls these Frequently Avoided Questions.

He quotes extensively from other authors and experts, and if you want even more information, the e-book version has hyperlinks to videos, articles and other references.

"The Art of the Start 2.0" touches on a huge range of topics, from the nitty gritty to the big picture. You'll learn the recommended font size for PowerPoint presentations, but you'll also hear how to start a venture that has meaning and makes the world a better place. You'll discover the optimum length of an email pitch, but you'll also hear it's OK if the first version of your product is cringe-worthy. The important thing is to get your idea off the drawing board.

So let's look more closely at a few of the author's tips, beginning with the book's first chapter on how to come up with an idea for a new venture.

You may think you need to be a genius or have hugely ambitious goals to come up with a successful concept. But the author says great companies and innovative products are often the result of asking very simple questions.

One such question is, "Therefore, what?" This is a good question to ask when you spot a trend. Say you notice that everyone has a phone with a camera and Wi-Fi is everywhere. If you ask, "Therefore, what?" you might reason that everyone can take and upload photos and share them. If you ask the same question again, you might imagine an app that lets people share photos, rate other people's photos, and write comments. You may have come up with Instagram, if it hadn't been invented already.

Another question you can ask is, "Isn't this interesting?" When we're curious, we often discover unexpected things. Take Post-It Notes. A chemist called Spencer Silver was trying to make glue, but instead he created a substance that barely held paper together. He hadn't set out to make Post-It Notes, but his curiosity led him to develop them.

Frustration with the status quo can also lead to great inventions. Ferdinand Porsche couldn't find the car of his dreams, so he decided to build it himself.

Similarly, the question, "It's possible, so why don't we make it?" has produced some great products. Motorola invented the first mobile phone back in the 1970s, at a time when the idea of a portable phone was incomprehensible to most people.

You can also stumble upon a good idea by looking at the market leader's weak spot. Maybe the industry frontrunner is committed to one way of doing business, or isn't fulfilling its customers' needs. Perhaps it's resting on its laurels and not innovating. There was a time when people drove to Blockbuster stores to pick up and return videos – until Netflix allowed people to stay on the sofa.

Kawasaki also includes one question we shouldn't ask: "How can we make a boatload of money?" The desire to get rich isn't a great place to start, but if your service or product is meaningful and meets a need, you're bound to make money.

We think these questions are really useful for budding entrepreneurs – and intrapreneurs – who are scoping out gaps in the market or who have a seed of an idea. We particularly like the way Kawasaki backs up each question with references to a number of companies, mixing up theory with real-world examples. There's plenty more information in this first chapter, including how to pick a business model, write a mantra, find co-founders, and test your idea to see if it could be a winner.

Let's say you've been laid off and are thinking of starting a business. How will you fund it? Kawasaki has a whole chapter on The Art of Bootstrapping – running a business on minimal funds. There's some great advice there on keeping costs low, but we're going to look more closely at the chapter on fundraising.

Access to financing has changed dramatically in recent years. Crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo and Kickstarter have made it much easier for small entrepreneurs. They allow lots of people to pool modest amounts of money to help ventures get off the ground.

Kawasaki offers readers a quick overview of these platforms and some tips to get started. The first step is to create a short video for your product or service, making sure it's as captivating and energizing as possible.

You'll want to put a lot of effort in here – the quality of your video could make or break your venture. The key is to include a personal touch. Did you or a friend or family member have an unmet need? Maybe you wanted a better way to fix flat bike tires, or a gadget to help you track your health and wellbeing.

Once you have your video, you'll want to hit social media hard – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and all the other social networking platforms. Tap all your contacts and wage a guerrilla-marketing campaign to get the word out.

The second most important step is to offer some great rewards or mementos to donors. Think about including investors' names in the credits on your upcoming documentary. Promise autographed copies of your book when it's finished, or the right to name a character. Offer discounts once your product or service hits the market. Or give away tote bags and T-shirts.

Remember, you're asking people to take a risk on you, so you need to reward them. You can also build confidence in your venture by showing prospective investors how you plan to spend their money. Keep your investors updated as your venture progresses and make sure you deliver on your promises.

Of course, crowdfunding is best suited to smaller projects. If you need tens of millions of dollars of funding, you'll have to look for bigger investors. Kawasaki has covered this too, with tips on how to woo angel investors and on what to say, and not say, to venture capitalists.

We like that Kawasaki covers three different sources of financing, even if it means parts of this chapter won't be relevant to everyone. It's easy to skip the section on venture capitalists if this doesn't apply to you. And if you are going after investment, you'll want to read around the subject more, but this book will get you started and the author also points to other sources of information.

Let's now jump to Kawasaki's tips on how to deliver a fantastic presentation to potential investors, clients, or partners.

Kawasaki's core message here is to be prepared and don't leave anything to chance. Show up to meetings with your own projector, two laptops and a USB drive loaded with your presentation, as well as printouts in case nothing works.

Once there, ask your audience how much time you have. This shows you respect their time and helps you plan your pitch. Of course, it's a good idea to agree to this when you're setting up the meeting, and then confirm it once you're in the room.

Next, find out the three most important pieces of information your audience wants to know. Again, this helps you structure what you're going to say – you might be able to leave some bits out of your planned presentation, or you may find you have to cover something you assumed they already knew.

Finally, ask if it's OK to run through your presentation and answer questions at the end. Your pitch will flow better without interruptions.

Your audience wants to know what your start-up or internal development project does, so get to this fast, within the sixth minute. Kawasaki says keep your message simple and try to avoid jargon. Short statements like ‘we sell software' or ‘we teach disadvantaged children' work well.

The author suggests practicing this with friends by setting a one-minute timer and explaining what your venture does before the bell goes. Ask your friends to write down what they heard and then compare answers. What message did they receive?

Kawasaki also has some very specific advice for structuring a presentation, which he calls the 10/20/30 rule. Use 10 slides, finish your pitch in 20 minutes, and use 30-point font if you're using a projector.

The author says a large font size is best because most investors are older and have deteriorating eyesight, but this won't always be the case. So use your discretion here. If you know your audience, you can choose a font size that's appropriate and fits with your concept.

What's more useful is the author's advice on how to use slides. He says treat them as your anchor point, but never read them. You want your audience to listen to you, rather than read what's on the screen.

Kawasaki offers several other tips here, from using a dark background for slides to convey seriousness and substance, to including bullet points that build one by one.

Some readers will love this level of detail, but others may find it too prescriptive and even unhelpful, or perhaps best suited to the tech world. For instance, a florist's business or a health start-up may prefer a lighter background on slides. Again, you can use your common sense. The author's heard hundreds of pitches across a range of industries, so he knows what works, but we all have personal preferences, whether we're giving or receiving presentations.

We like the practical nature of Kawasaki's advice and his attention to detail, but he can be very directive, and some readers may disagree with a few of his points. Some suggestions in other parts of the book are also surprisingly obvious – don't use capital letters in emails, he says. And there are a number of tables and exercises we didn't find useful.

But if you can ignore these niggles and skip any irrelevant sections, we think you could get a huge amount out of this book. There are some real gems in here that'll help entrepreneurs – and intrapreneurs – of all shapes and sizes and across a range of industries.

We also think you'll come away feeling encouraged and inspired. Kawasaki writes with passion and optimism. He really wants you to learn from his mistakes, give it a shot, and, hopefully, succeed.

"The Art of the Start 2.0" by Guy Kawasaki is published by Portfolio Penguin.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Thanks for listening.