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Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition
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More uncommon common sense from the bestselling author of "The Art of the Start."
In Silicon Valley slang, a bozo explosion is what causes a lean, mean, fighting machine of a company to slide into mediocrity. As Guy Kawasaki puts it, If the two most popular words in your company are "partner" and "strategic," and "partner" has become a verb, and "strategic" is used to des ...more
In Silicon Valley slang, a bozo explosion is what causes a lean, mean, fighting machine of a company to slide into mediocrity. As Guy Kawasaki puts it, If the two most popular words in your company are "partner" and "strategic," and "partner" has become a verb, and "strategic" is used to des ...more
Hardcover, 474 pages
Published
November 1st 2008
by Portfolio
(first published October 30th 2008)
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Showing 1-30
Guy Kawasaki is an entertaining writer, a curious mind, and most important, a straight shooter.
So much of business, especially the business press, is filled with abstract hype. Cheerleading for a specific style of doing things, or reverse engineering the possible causes of some outcome --- but without including all of the information about people who took the same steps, but did not come up with the outcome described. Basically, much of the business press --- especially the popular stuff, is nic ...more
So much of business, especially the business press, is filled with abstract hype. Cheerleading for a specific style of doing things, or reverse engineering the possible causes of some outcome --- but without including all of the information about people who took the same steps, but did not come up with the outcome described. Basically, much of the business press --- especially the popular stuff, is nic ...more
I was skeptical of this book because the author, Guy Kawasaki, is a member of the Silicon Valley pundit class of which I am always skeptical. He also seems to be a member of the subspecies that has coasted for the last 20 years based on one gig at one high-profile company; the Bay Area tech community is overflowing with people who answered phones for a few years at Microsoft, Sun, etc. and have since parlayed that into a vague executive bio and a string of 80 failed startups. I actually enjoyed
...more
Another of Guy Kawasaki’s excellent handbooks for startups. He dispels many myths and provides practical steps to starting and growing a business. The chapters are short but thought-provoking, and will enhance your “entrepreneurial quotient” whether you sell products or services.
Kawasaki expands on the lessons of The Art of the Start, which I found very worthwhile (read my review). In addition to his ample firsthand experience, Kawasaki includes interviews with experts, research from recent stud ...more
Kawasaki expands on the lessons of The Art of the Start, which I found very worthwhile (read my review). In addition to his ample firsthand experience, Kawasaki includes interviews with experts, research from recent stud ...more
Škoda papíru! Je to kompilát všech knih, které kdy Kawasaki napsal. Pokud jste už nějkou knížku od něj četli, tahle bude jen nudné opakování. Pokud jste od něj nic nečtli doporučuji spíš The Art of the Start.
Unfortunately you can't rate books zero stars so Guy Kawasaki got that going for his piece. General and vague tips & tricks is the name of the game when Kawasaki rambles on for page after page about how bad it is to hire shitty people for shitty pay from craiglist, no shit sherlock. If you read this and thought you've come away with some insightful advice you're probably not cut out for business.
Kawasaki, Guy (2008) Reality Check, Portfolio, The Penguin Group, New York, NY. This book is a bible for Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs. Read it, enjoy it, and put its advice into practice in your startup. Guy Kawasaki tells it like it is and is a great source of insight into what goes on behind the scenes in Silicon Valley.
This book is like a bible for entrepreneurs. The first and only read is never sufficient as the book has too many takeaways. When relevant situation permits, you will flip through this book again and again just to grasp your reality.
Straight to the point and plenty of tough needed love. 5 stars for the comprehensive information.
Straight to the point and plenty of tough needed love. 5 stars for the comprehensive information.
Jul 13, 2011
Gari
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
nonprofit-management
While the focus is on Apple, Silicon Valley, tech firms, and start ups, Guy Kawasaki shares many gems of wisdom for those out to change the world or help a nonprofit succeed.
This book slaps your face and wake you up to check the reality! Really worth to read!
tl;dr - It's easier to monetize a book than a blog
Caveat: I read this as an audiobook, so what I gleaned is different than if I'd read it.
The first forward was enough to tell me this is a brogrammer's roadmap for the brogrammer's daydream: be rich and feel smart. Not an auspicious beginning.
The middle and the end didn't get much better. Clocking in at a hundred chapters, it was clearly 20+ months of weekly blog posts printed out and bound together with a staple. The chapters written by the autho ...more
Caveat: I read this as an audiobook, so what I gleaned is different than if I'd read it.
The first forward was enough to tell me this is a brogrammer's roadmap for the brogrammer's daydream: be rich and feel smart. Not an auspicious beginning.
The middle and the end didn't get much better. Clocking in at a hundred chapters, it was clearly 20+ months of weekly blog posts printed out and bound together with a staple. The chapters written by the autho ...more
At the end of the book, Guy shares a commencement speech he gave 10 years prior to writing the book. I think he should have opened with this, as most of the advice seemed geared towards newly graduated young professionals. While there were a few good takeaways, if a business owner, a manager, or an employee over 30 doesn’t grasp 99% of these concepts intuitively, the book is most likely to go in one ear and out their other.
3 Stars due to the lack of mind-altering concepts and the incessant lists ...more
3 Stars due to the lack of mind-altering concepts and the incessant lists ...more
If I wanted to be a serious entrepreneur (think s-corp or c-corp level, not LLC) this is a fabulous, fabulous book to get the right strategy and expectations. It really is a mini-MBA in a book. It's comprehensive and thorough, while also being succinct. I'd say this is the better book to read than Art of the Start, but you should probably go to both for reference.
Guy is very honest and provides in-depth experiences and interviews for insights into the lessons he teaches. It’s a must-read for those interested in entrepreneurship or facing challenges in following the entrepreneurial path.
This book has a lot of good advise but is too big and now feels dated. Not worth reading IMO
I just wish I had read this when it came out.
Great advice, not wild about the format. Give it a bit and you'll surely find relatable and necessary business advice.
Best two chapters: Top 10 Lies Entrepreneurs Tell VCs; Top 10 Lies VCs Tell Entrepreneurs. (Back to back)
I've long followed the writings of Guy Kawasaki, the heralded Apple evangelist-emeritus-for-life. When we finally met at the recent Web 2.0 Summit, he surprised me by handing me a copy of his fresh-off-the-presses book, Reality Check: The irreverent guide to outsmarting, outmanaging and outmarketing your competition. So disclosure: I have a soft spot for authors who know how to leverage the blogosphere.
A reality check is exactly what the tech industry needs at this time of economic turmoil, and ...more
A reality check is exactly what the tech industry needs at this time of economic turmoil, and ...more
There are rare moments when you come across a book that has so much of content, logic & wisdom squeezed into its pages, you do not feel you have done justice to the book by reading it just once. Books like The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, The Element by Sir Ken Robinson and Influence by Robert Cialdini. To my biggest surprise, I would be adding Guy Kawasaki to this list - at least for now.
Who is Guy Kawasaki
No, he is not the founder of Kawasaki Speed Bikes or the Owner of the Brand Kawas ...more
Who is Guy Kawasaki
No, he is not the founder of Kawasaki Speed Bikes or the Owner of the Brand Kawas ...more
I would recommend everybody that is into entrepreneurship (and not only, but it's hard to speak for others as I'm biased) to read this book - twice. First right away to get the initial understanding of how things really (thus the name) work and then few months/years later to see how much of advice you've ignored :-/
I read it only as the second case, having been entrepreneur-ing for more than 4 years. And I wished I read it back than, 4 years ago, when I bought the book. Oh damn laziness.
The mai ...more
I read it only as the second case, having been entrepreneur-ing for more than 4 years. And I wished I read it back than, 4 years ago, when I bought the book. Oh damn laziness.
The mai ...more
Readers will welcome the use of bold face to highlight key points. This device will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of those key points later. I especially appreciate the inclusion of several interviews throughout the lively narrative. They include those of Fred Greguras on key legal issues in raising funds (Pages 51-59), Chip and Dan Heath on why only a few innovations "stick" and most don't (Pages 130-138), Kathleen Gasperini on marketing to young people (Pages 168-175), Garr Reyno
...more
As promised earlier this week, here are my reviews of two more Kawasaki books.
Reality Check (2008) starts off as an updated mash-up of Rules for Revolutionaries and The Art of the Start – there are entire chapters from each republished here. To be honest, this put me off a bit because I was expecting all new material and wasn’t warned of this recycling on the cover or in the introduction. Not that the advice isn’t sound, it was just annoying to re-read the chapters almost word for word. If you h ...more
Reality Check (2008) starts off as an updated mash-up of Rules for Revolutionaries and The Art of the Start – there are entire chapters from each republished here. To be honest, this put me off a bit because I was expecting all new material and wasn’t warned of this recycling on the cover or in the introduction. Not that the advice isn’t sound, it was just annoying to re-read the chapters almost word for word. If you h ...more
FANTASTIC! Really irreverent, but soooooo true! In my experience starting companies, selling companies, living through a poor acquisition and subsequent failure of a company, turning around a suddenly failing company, as an employee, sales person, cash manager for a newly public company, marketing publication author, being personal friends with big VC guys, as well as what I now term "angel investor" (thanks Guy!)and consulting for other small businesses, I am laughing and agreeing with Guy on e
...more
They say mentors are a critical entrepreneurial element. Why? Because old people know lots of tricks and shortcuts. They've solved lots of the same problems before. They have keys to more doors. They are well-equipped to sniff out stupidity. Their knowledge can clear the fog of war. So why doesn't every aspiring entrepreneur just go find one? In short, typically a lack of connections, social capital and/or mutual financial interest.
Kawasaki is a coveted mentor in the Valley, so it's pure gold to ...more
Kawasaki is a coveted mentor in the Valley, so it's pure gold to ...more
Guy's collection of short articles provides an excellent broad-strokes foundation for working in the world of tech software companies.
I'm sure many of the lessons are applicable to other industries, but so many of his lessons, examples, and points struck home for me precisely because they were so immediately relatable.
While Guy does offer his fair share of unrelatable "celebrity" stories, and makes a point to name drop Steve Jobs in multiple chapters, the lessons within are nonetheless invaluab ...more
I'm sure many of the lessons are applicable to other industries, but so many of his lessons, examples, and points struck home for me precisely because they were so immediately relatable.
While Guy does offer his fair share of unrelatable "celebrity" stories, and makes a point to name drop Steve Jobs in multiple chapters, the lessons within are nonetheless invaluab ...more
One of the best reviews that could be written for this book has already been written.
This is basically a (re-)packaging of his blog, which points to his prolific output.
A lot of it might be dated, common-sense, and applies to starting up in America.
The book is interesting and offers short bytes of common-sense for situations you might encounter in your professional life. And as life proves, common-sense is rarely that common.
If you prefer to read from a book, go for it, otherwise it's all there ...more
This is basically a (re-)packaging of his blog, which points to his prolific output.
A lot of it might be dated, common-sense, and applies to starting up in America.
The book is interesting and offers short bytes of common-sense for situations you might encounter in your professional life. And as life proves, common-sense is rarely that common.
If you prefer to read from a book, go for it, otherwise it's all there ...more
If you have read other books from Guy or, follow him on Twitter or, read his blog, you will probably think that there isn't any new content. That isn't completely true. However, those who take this book to get introduced to Guy will have mind blowing content. Even in these troubled times, the snippets around startups, VC funding, presentation, business plans and communication are well rounded even if fairly radical.
Words aren't minced. Bushes aren't beaten around in this. Typical in-your-face st ...more
Words aren't minced. Bushes aren't beaten around in this. Typical in-your-face st ...more
I received it as a promotional gift for buy Enchantment from Guy Kawasaki
Useful manual for entrepreneurs. There is a part of the book very focused on start-ups. How to raise venture capital, who do you need to have in your team, etc...breaking all the myths and all the classical errors that start-ups do.
Rest of the book is useful for anyone who is involved in a business environment.
Although content is really helpful, I found the book not that much engaging as others. Maybe a lack of flow between ...more
Useful manual for entrepreneurs. There is a part of the book very focused on start-ups. How to raise venture capital, who do you need to have in your team, etc...breaking all the myths and all the classical errors that start-ups do.
Rest of the book is useful for anyone who is involved in a business environment.
Although content is really helpful, I found the book not that much engaging as others. Maybe a lack of flow between ...more
If you are:
1. A person who just started his/her own business, or,
2. A person who's thinking of starting one, or,
3. A person who's already started it but is wondering what it takes to be successful,
then, this book is for you. It's a wonderful book, especially for entrepreneurs and a guideline (and sometimes a checklist) drawn from the author's personal experience of success and failures from various businesses and from others in the same boat.
It's a wonderful book and a must read for anyone who' ...more
1. A person who just started his/her own business, or,
2. A person who's thinking of starting one, or,
3. A person who's already started it but is wondering what it takes to be successful,
then, this book is for you. It's a wonderful book, especially for entrepreneurs and a guideline (and sometimes a checklist) drawn from the author's personal experience of success and failures from various businesses and from others in the same boat.
It's a wonderful book and a must read for anyone who' ...more
Really uneven. There are some brilliant chapters. But there are also some cheap and easy listicles that could've been copy-pasted from the lovechild of Buzzfeed and Techcrunch. There were guest-authored chapters that felt like thinly veiled plugs for the guest authors' businesses. And there was plenty of brilliance and wisdom interspersed throughout. Overall, really enjoyed this read. I just wish it had been more focused and better edited. Also, I got really tired of the "Bull-shiitake" euphemis
...more
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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 ...more
I attended Iolani School where ...more
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