Guy Kawasaki, the renowned Apple evangelist shares his top tips on how to become a great evangelist and how to leverage your success. This segment is part of a longer interview which took place in front of an audience of over 500 on July 7, 2010 at UC Santa Cruz Extension, and introduced my upcoming course in Green Entrepreneurship. First up: I asked Guy for TIPS ON EVANGELIZING
“The starting point for a great evangelist is to have a great product….” e.g. the Apple iPad: how hard could that be? Guy Kawasaki
“The thing that has made me successful is that – unlike a lot of people – I’m willing to grind it out.” ie long hours, hard work. Guy Kawasaki
On leveraging your success
“With a psych(ology) degree and a marketing background (diamonds), I’m living proof that you can fool most of the people all the time. I’m also living proof if you do one thing right (evangelize the Mac) – you can live off your reputation for decades.” Guy Kawasaki
Please check back soon for more interview segments with Guy on social media, increasing your followers on Twitter ( to 200,000+) and other wisdom from the author of The Art of The Startand 8 other books on business and entrepreneurship.
On November 17, I attended the CleanTech OpenAwards Gala at the Masonic Center in San Francisco and enjoyed keynotes from Lesa Mitchellfrom the Kaufman Foundation, Bill Weihl, Google’s Energy Czar and Nancy Pfund, of DBL Investors.
Minutes after his company was picked as the National Award Winner. I sat down with Scott Hublou, co-founder of EcoFactor. His three-year-old start-up has created an energy management systemfor the home that uses weather data to optimize heating and cooling. Scott claims savings of between 20 to 30% are achievable. Sounds pretty attractive in this tough economy, and the judges thought so too.
How did the CleanTech Open and its mentoring help you?
“It forces deep thinking around various different business models. Because there are actual deadlines, it’s kinda like being back in school again where you have to have deliverables… You’re presenting to your peers and potential investors, so you always want to make a good impression… think about sustainability, and good market strategies.”
In this second part of Heidi Roizen’s interview, she talks about her Silicon Valley career and her new venture; she has some good advice for entrepreneurs.
Working at Apple in the 90’s, the work/family balance
How she became a venture capitalist
The challenges of working from home
Pursuing your passion as a business
Dealing with doors slamming in your face
Keeping the ball moving forward
Why the Roizen family is going green
To listen to Heidi’s interview about Skinny Songs and her new bookclick here
“Music is a powerful motivator..if it weren’t it wouldn’t be used on sports, in religion and frankly, in marketing, to sell you things.”
On getting professional input from George Daly (CEO of About Records)
“Ultimately the music wasn’t going to be motivating if it was a pain to listen to. It needed to sound just as good as…Pink or Rascal Flatts or Kerry Underwood.”
On writing lyrics
“George said to me one day, ‘you write poetry, but we need lyrics.’ He’d call me and say, you have five minutes to fix that..and I’d have to think about what’s a different way to say that… that would fit better in the cadence of the music.”
Inspiration for “You da boss”
“I want a fun upbeat song to listen to when I’m tempted to reach for that cookie…Instead of making this sad preachy music about ‘don’t touch that’, let’s make it fun hip hop like MC Hammer and have some fun with the spirit and the spunk of this idea.”
On her theme song, Skinny Jeans
“It’s a woman’s affair with a pair of pants…every woman can relate to that piece of clothing you used to love to wear…your aspirational clothing…and now there’s a little too much of you to fit into it and you’d like to go and regain that love again.”
On her Silicon Valley Career
“It’s a portfolio career: a nice balance between the creative fun endeavor and the traditional; the roots of where I came from and where I want to still continue to work.”
On marketing a product
“You get up every day and say: what am I going to do today to move the ball forward?”
On her legendary tenacity
“I believe in tenacity, but I also believe in learning and if you’ve approached twenty companies and you get the same feedback, then it’s not worth approaching company no. 21.”
On being an entrepreneur
“I am an optimist by nature and that serves me well. For any entrepreneur, you’ve got to have that sense of optimism because if you didn’t, you wouldn’t get up in the morning and do it.”
To listen to Heidi’s interview on entrepreneurs click here
To listen to Heidi’s interview on Skinny Songs click here
I interviewed LinkedIn director, April Kelly, at the Women In Technology International (WITI) conference in Silicon Valley. She’s a former PayPal executive who describes herself as an effervescent leader and energetic coach. I asked her:
– why is it worth joining a (biz) social networking site like LinkedIn?
– tips on building our brand and optimizing our online profile?
– how can you rebrand yourself and build a new career using LinkedIn tools? (April has some great ideas for you if you’ve lost your job, or are looking for a new opportunities)
She outlines how to use “recommendations” and “answer” forums to build your reputation and establish your expertise online. Checkout her online profile if you need inspiration.
