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MySQL Conference – The next keynote with Guy Kawasaki

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Without missing a beat at MySQL Conference 2007, we moved from Marten’s keynote to The Art of Innovation by Guy Kawasaki.

Extremely fun and entertaining. His 10 points.

1. Make Meaning

  • “To change the world”
  • To a VC, do not say “you want to make money”, that is understood. You will attract the wrong team.

2. Make Mantra

  • Not a Mission statement (50-60 words long), but 2 or 3 words.
    • Wendy’s – “Healthy fast food”
    • Mike – “Authentic Athletic Performance”
    • FedEx – “Peace of Mind”
    • eBay – “Democratize commerce”
  • Create a mantra — Why do you exist?

If you get stuck try the Dilbert mission statement generator.

3. Jump to the next curve

  • Not 50% or 100% better, but “Do things 10x better”

4. Roll the DICEE

  • “Create great stuff”
    • Deep: Fanning (Reef) Sandal that open beer bottles
    • Intelligent: BF-104 Flashlight (Panasonic) (takes 3 sizes of batteries)
    • Complete: Lexus
    • Elegant: Nano (Apple)
    • Emotive: Harley Davidson (They generate strong emotions)

5. Don’t worry, be crappy

Get it out there.

6. Polarize people

People love it or hate it.

7. Let a hundred flowers blossom

  • People that are not your target market are using it.
  • Take the money, ask the people why you are buying, ask what you can do better.

8. Churn baby, churn.

Ok to ship stuff with crappy stuff in it, but important to continually revised and improve.

9. Niche thyself
With a nice graph.

  • Vertical — Ability to provide unique product or service
  • Horizontal –Value to customer
  • bottom right — Price
  • top left — Stupid
  • bottom left — Dotcom
  • top right — X You need to be High and to the right.
  • Fandango — It’s either Fandango, or Clubbin.
  • Breitling Emergency – watch
  • Smart car – park perpendicular
  • LG Kimchi refrigerator

You need to be like the President of the United States – You need to high and to the right. Got a great laugh from the crowd.

10. Follow the 10/20/30 rule

Innovative, you need to pitch for what you want.

  • The optimum number of slides in 10 slides.
  • Given the slides in 20 minutes.
  • Use 30 point font

11. Don’t let the bozos grind you down

A bonus to our friends in the community.

  • “I think there is world market for five computers”
  • “This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” –Western Union 1876
  • “There is no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home.” — Digital Equipment Corp 1977
  • “It’s too far to drive, and I don’t see how it can be a business.” – Guy Kawasaki – Bozo (The company was Yahoo)

Guy commenting on his lost opportunity with Yahoo — “It only covers the first billion, it’s the second billion that pisses me off.”

Read more about Guy at his website Guy Kawasaki.

The Art of Innovation. If you a copy of slides, send an email to [email protected]