The Art of the Start
by Guy Kawasaki · first published 2004
61% recommend33% neutral6% critical
Why HN recommends it
Brief, practical startup guide covering pitching, marketing and funding; suits first-time technical founders, especially those seeking outside funding, and it motivates readers to get back to work.
Common criticism: Some find it superficial, like repackaged talk slides
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A new product, a new service, a new division, a new anything—where there's a will, here's the way
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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…Escher, Bach - Hofstadter Metamagical Themas - Hofstadter Joel on Software - Spolsky Code Complete - McConneli The Mythical Man-Month - Brooks No Silver Bullet - Brooks The Long Tail - Anderson The Art of the Start - Kawasaki
on “ASK HN: Hacker Bibles” ↗…programming book", I would prefer to mention some of my favorite business books. They helped me become the programmer I am much more than any programming book. Differentiate or Die - Jack Trout Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki Controlling Software Projects - Tom DeMarco You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar - David Sandler Carnegie - Peter Krass Do More Faster - Brad Feld and David Cohen…
on “What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?” ↗I liked Guy Kawasaki's "The Art of the Start" (http://www.amazon.com/Art-Start-Time-Tested-Battle-Hardened-...) because every time I picked it up, it motivated me to put it down and get back to work. I am kind of surprised to see Steve Blank's…
on “A Startup Reading List” ↗…are starting a new project. Get the "Why?" right and the product will define itself. This is true for building companies as it is for building great products. A must read for every entrepreneur. 9. Art of the Start (Guy Kawasaki) -Getting ready to pitch? read this! Also watch Guy's many presentations/talks on YouTube. A good companion book- "Pitch Anything" By Oren Klaff !Escaping Reality! 1. Hatching Twitter…
on “Ask HN: Books you wish you had read earlier?” ↗Read The Four Steps to the Ephiphany by Steve Blank, and The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki for starters...
on “Why Should I Start a Startup?” ↗…explaining how there are many different vectors along which you can compete, and explains how choosing which vector you're going to compete on is fundamental to defining your business and market. The Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki. Lots of good basics on startups Differentiate or Die - Jack Trout, Steve Rivkin. - Title says it all. It's Not The Big That Eat The Small, It's The Fast That Eat The Slow - Jason Jennings…
on “Ask HN: As a technical founder what is the best business book you've read?” ↗That's a lot of questions, and most of the answers are "it depends", or there's more than one right answer. I'd suggest you consider reading The Art of the Start[1] by Guy Kawasaki, The Four Steps To The Epiphany[2] by Steve Blank, and High Tech Startup[3] by John Nesheim. Between those, they cover a big chunk of the basic stuff you need to know. The Founder's…
on “Ask HN: How do you startup? ” ↗…they aren't telling you to pursue a different strategy than they did with no specifics.' I didn't think I needed to do so, since I assumed everybody here has read all of pg's essays, seen Guy Kawasaki's Art of the Start, and read a few other useful books about startups. While everybody who's built a business (I'm on my second) has at least a few things to teach others in the same boat...I didn't want to clutter up the…
on “OK, you've convinced me. I'm coming to join you.” ↗…know so far: 1. Start or join, very early, an Open Source project. 2. Work on it for several years. Get millions of downloads and millions of users. 3. ... 4. Profit! "> seen Guy Kawasaki's Art of the Start I hope you're kidding about that. " Of course not. Guy's a great motivator. Can't start a business worth crap (see Truemors), but he has a lot of good stuff to say about marketing, salesmanship, morale-building,…
on “OK, you've convinced me. I'm coming to join you.” ↗…consider that a triumph. I'm not begrudging him success with Truemors. I, unlike a lot of folks here, think very highly of Kawasaki. I found his books inspiring and occasionally educational, and his Art of the Start presentation is awesome. But I think it's too early to call it a success at 150k page views per month...the 250k users thing doesn't quite gibe with the 150k page views...that would mean that almost…
on “Kawasaki and Truemors: The stupidest idea ever? Not anymore.” ↗Programming Collective Intelligence - O'Reilly Media Toby Segaran Art of the start - Guy Kawasaki The art of war - Sun Tzu
on “Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?” ↗I think it is also helpful to understand one's own motivation for picking up a given business book. For example, Kawasaki's Art of the Start is very useful for most startups, but invaluable for those chasing external funding. But Porter's Competitive Strategy is less useful (note: not necessarily <i>useless</i>) for a startup…
on “How to read a business book” ↗…http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321525655/103-6148611-3957... http://blog.duarte.com/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596522347?ie=UTF8&tag=... You should also find a copy of Guy Kawasaki's "Reality Check" or "The art of the start". Even if you don't have enough time to push through the whole book, just read the chapter on pitching. Should be very helpful.
on “Ask HN: advices for presenting a project” ↗…Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury The Game - Neil Strauss The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand Four Steps to the Epiphany - Steve Blank Business @ The Speed of Thought - Bill Gates The Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki
on “What is the book that has completely changed your way of thinking?” ↗…customers. That's a frikkin' gold mine of information. Learn to stop working when it isn't working. Try it, fail, stop, step back and look for an easier way or different way. One book I found useful is the Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki. Pitching Hacks buy the guys at Venture Hacks is a good read, too.
on “Ask HN: Please help, can't expand fast enough” ↗