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Guy Kawasaki

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I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1954. My family lived in a tough part of Honolulu called Kalihi Valley. We weren’t rich, but I never felt poor-because my mother and father made many sacrifices for my sister and me. My mother was a housewife, and my father was a fireman, real estate broker, state senator, and government official during his long, distinguished career.

I attended Iolani School where I graduated in 1972. Iolani is not as well known as its rival, Punahou because no presidents of the U. S. went there, but I got a fantastic and formative education there. (Punahou is “USC,” and Iolani is “Stanford”—but I digress.) I pay special tribute to Harold Keables, my AP English teacher.He taught me that the key to writing is editing. No one I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1954. My family lived in a tough part of Honolulu called Kalihi Valley. We weren’t rich, but I never felt poor-because my mother and father made many sacrifices for my sister and me. My mother was a housewife, and my father was a fireman, real estate broker, state senator, and government official during his long, distinguished career.

I attended Iolani School where I graduated in 1972. Iolani is not as well known as its rival, Punahou because no presidents of the U. S. went there, but I got a fantastic and formative education there. (Punahou is “USC,” and Iolani is “Stanford”—but I digress.) I pay special tribute to Harold Keables, my AP English teacher.He taught me that the key to writing is editing. No one in the universe would be more shocked that I have written ten books (or one book ten times) than Harold Keables.

After Iolani, I matriculated to Stanford; I graduated in 1976 with a major in psychology—which was the easiest major I could find. I loved Stanford. I sometimes wish I could go back in time to my undergraduate days “on the farm.”

After Stanford, I attended the law school at U.C. Davis because, like all Asian-American parents, my folks wanted me to be a “doctor, lawyer, or dentist.” I only lasted one week because I couldn’t deal with the law school teachers telling me that I was crap and that they were going to remake me.

The following year I entered the MBA program at UCLA. I liked this curriculum much better. While there, I worked for a fine-jewelry manufacturer called Nova Stylings; hence, my first real job was literally counting diamonds. From Nova, its CEO Marty Gruber, and my Jewish colleagues in the jewelry business, I learned how to sell, and this skill was vital to my entire career.

I remained at Nova for a few years until the the Apple II removed the scales from my eyes. Then I went to work for an educational software company called EduWare Services. However, Peachtree Software acquired the company and wanted me to move to Atlanta. “I don’t think so.” I can’t live in a city where people call sushi “bait.”

Luckily, my Stanford roommate, Mike Boich, got me a job at Apple; for giving me my chance at Apple, I owe Mike a great debt. When I saw what a Macintosh could do, the clouds parted and the angels started singing. For four years I evangelized Macintosh to software and hardware developers and led the charge against world-wide domination by IBM. I also met my wife Beth at Apple during this timeframe—Apple has been very good to me.

Around 1987, my job at Apple was done. Macintosh had plenty of software by then, so I left to start a Macintosh database company called ACIUS. It published a product called 4th Dimension. To this day, 4th Dimension remains a great database.

I ran ACIUS for two years and then left to pursue my bliss of writing, speaking, and consulting. I’ve written for Macuser, Macworld, and Forbes. I call these the “Wonder Years” as in “I wonder how I came to deserve such a good life.”

In 1989, I started another software company called Fog City Software with three of the best co-founders in the world: Will Mayall, Kathryn Henkens, and Jud Spencer. We created an email product called Emailer which we sold to Claris and then a list server product called LetterRip.

In 1995 I returned to Apple as an Apple fellow. At the time, according to the pundits, Apple was supposed to die. (Apple should have died about ten times in the past twenty years according to the pundits.) My job on this tour of duty was to maintain and rejuvenate the Macintosh cult.

A couple years later, I left Apple to start an angel investor matchmaking service called Garage.com with Craig Johnson of Venture Law Group and Rich Karlgaard of Forbes. Version 2.0 of Garage.com was an investment bank for helping entrepreneurs raise money from venture capitalists. Today, version 3.0 of Garage.com is called Garage Technology Ven ...more

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Guy Kawasaki's Blog

A Geek’s Last-Minute Gift List

Here’s a list of stuff that any geek would be happy to receive–even late. I have everything on this list, so I can personally attest to the awesomeness of it.

I sorted them by price from low to high to make it easy for you. Nothing on this list was given to me, and I will NOT earn any affiliate fees. I just want you to have/give cool stuff.

$10. Motion-sensor, light sensitive light bulb. It’s eas...

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Guy Kawasaki’s books

Average rating: 3.84 · 50,086 ratings · 2,190 reviews · 41 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything 3.85 avg rating — 22,076 ratings — published 2004 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions 3.76 avg rating — 9,575 ratings — published 2011 — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition 3.92 avg rating — 5,900 ratings — published 2008 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users by Guy Kawasaki (Goodreads Author), Peg Fitzpatrick (Goodreads Author) 3.65 avg rating — 2,112 ratings — published 2014 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur. How to Publish a Book by Guy Kawasaki (Goodreads Author), Shawn Welch (Goodreads Author) 4.15 avg rating — 2,130 ratings — published 2012 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rules For Revolutionaries: The Capitalist Manifesto for Creating and Marketing New Products and Services by Guy Kawasaki (Goodreads Author), Michele Moreno , Gary Kawasaki really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,125 ratings — published 1999 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us 3.72 avg rating — 910 ratings — published 2012 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	How to Drive Your Competition Crazy: Creating Disruption for Fun and Profit by Guy Kawasaki (Goodreads Author), Michele Moreno 4.02 avg rating — 353 ratings — published 1995 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Macintosh Way 3.90 avg rating — 309 ratings — published 1989 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Selling the Dream 3.94 avg rating — 247 ratings — published 1991 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Guy Kawasaki wrote a new blog post A Geek’s Last-Minute Gift List Here’s a list of stuff that any geek would be happy to receive–even late. I have everything on this list, so I can personally attest to the awesome... Read more of this blog post »
Dec 22, 2018 01:30AM · 1 like · like
Guy Kawasaki liked a quote “He who sings scares away his woes.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Aug 17, 2017 04:11PM · like · more quotes by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Guy Kawasaki liked a quote “Don't blow off another's candle for it won't make yours shine brighter.” Jaachynma N.E. Agu
Aug 17, 2017 03:02PM · 2 likes · like · more quotes by Jaachynma N.E. Agu
Guy Kawasaki and 1 other person liked Nina's review of The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users: "Guy is smart and knows how to create a good book with a solid backbone on most any subject. What makes this book really good is the partner he picked to collaborate with. This seems to be Guy’s m.o. in writing books, and he picked a great co-write..." Read more of this review »
Dec 08, 2014 09:14AM · see review
Guy Kawasaki and 1 other person liked Jo Miller's review of The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users: " The Art of Social Media is filled with a practical and easy to use information. Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick have given us a map to social media, as it is right now. Whether you are new to social media or you are looking to fast track to the..." Read more of this review »
Dec 08, 2014 09:13AM · see review
Guy Kawasaki and 3 other people liked Colleen McKenna's review of The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users: " The Art of Social Media is like a master class in social. I appreciate how Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitpatrick arranged the book and included the option to go deeper with all the hyperlinks. The easy to follow power tips make sense and really provide..." Read more of this review »
Dec 08, 2014 09:12AM · see review
Guy Kawasaki made a comment on Julie Dargis’s review of APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur. How to Publish a Book " Julie, Thanks so much for this kind review. Glad that you liked it so much! Guy "
Feb 02, 2013 09:15AM · see review
Guy Kawasaki joined the group Goodreads Self Published Authors
Nov 02, 2012 09:02PM · like
Guy Kawasaki made a comment on One Shot (Jack Reacher, #9) — Its being widely reported that Tom Cruise is to star a 6' 5" Jack Reacher in the movie adaptation of One Shot " Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher is like Ashton Kutcher playing Steve Jobs... "
Oct 27, 2012 10:33PM

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Quotes by Guy Kawasaki

“Pursuing your passions makes you more interesting, and interesting people are enchanting.”
― Guy Kawasaki

tags: charisma, curiousity, passion

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“Steve [Jobs] proves that it's OK to be an asshole... He just has a different OS.”
― Guy Kawasaki

23 likes

“Steve Jobs has a saying that A players hire A players; B players hire C
players; and C players hire D players. It doesn't take long to get to Z
players. This trickle-down effect causes bozo explosions in companies.”
― Guy Kawasaki

18 likes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
PRSA Philly Book ...: Do you need to swear to enchant people?	1	6	Sep 12, 2011 05:32AM
Challenge: 50 Books: Catherine B's 50 Books in 2011 post	27	52	Nov 30, 2011 12:27PM
Reading with Style: FA11 Reading w/Style Completed Tasks - Fall 2011	662	172	Nov 30, 2011 09:03PM
The Seasonal Read...: Fall Challenge 2011 Completed Tasks - DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS IN THIS TOPIC!	2272	724	Nov 30, 2011 09:05PM
Romance Readers R...: READ-THE-SEASON SUMMER CHALLENGE: E-S-T-A-T-E	182	211	Dec 16, 2011 01:52AM
Romance Readers R...: 2011 A-Z Book Challenge	1175	1245	Mar 18, 2012 02:04AM
Coffee & Books: A-Z Title Challenge (on going)	135	189	Oct 15, 2012 11:09AM
Audiobooks: Headphones/earbuds	177	681	Jul 21, 2013 05:28PM
Coffee & Books: Ananda's Reading List, Challenges and Reviews	15	119	Aug 01, 2013 07:59AM

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Guy’s Quotes

“People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint.”
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs

130 likes

“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.”
― Albert Einstein

tags: adulthood, success, value

6407 likes

“It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.”
― Roy Disney

tags: choices, decisions, values

389 likes

“[A] quotation is a handy thing to have about, saving one the trouble of thinking for oneself, always a laborious business."

(The Record Lie)”
― A.A. Milne, If I May

tags: independent-thought, quotations, quotes

754 likes

“What people in the world think of you is really none of your business.”
― Martha Graham

tags: image, perception, perspective

525 likes

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