Rules For Revolutionaries: The Capitalist Manifesto for Creating and Marketing New Products and Services [Paperback]

Guy Kawasaki (Author), Michele Moreno (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 3, 2000

Guy Kawasaki, CEO of garage.com and former chief evangelist of Apple Computer, Inc., presents his manifesto for world-changing innovation, using his battle-tested lessons to help revolutionaries become visionaries.

Create Like a God

Turn conventional wisdom on its head-create revolutionary products and services by analyzing how to approach the problems at hand.

Command Like a King

Take charge and make tough, insightful, and strategic decisions-break down the barriers that prevent product adoption and avoid "death magnets" (the stupid mistakes just about everyone makes).

Work Like a Slave

Get ready for hard work, and lots of it. To go from revolutionary to visionary, you'll need to eat like a bird-relentlessly absorbing knowledge about your industry, customers, and competition--and poop like an elephant--spreading the large amount of information and knowledge that you've gained.

Filled with insights from top innovators such as Amazon.com, Dell, Hallmark, and Gillette and rich with hands-on experience from the front lines of business, Rules for Revolutionaries will empower you--whether you're an entrepreneur, engineer, inventor, manager, or small business owner--to turn your dreams into reality, your reality into products, and your products into customer magnets.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist at Apple Computer and an iconoclastic corporate tactician who now works with high-tech startups in Silicon Valley, is back in print with his seventh book: Rules for Revolutionaries: The Capitalist Manifesto for Creating and Marketing New Products and Services. Entertainingly written in collaboration with previous coauthor Michele Moreno, it lays out Kawasaki's decidedly audacious (but personally experienced) strategies for besting the competition and triumphing in today's hypercharged business environment. The book is divided into three sections, whose titles alone epitomize its thrust and tone. The first, "Create Like a God," discusses the way that radical new products and services must really be developed. The second, "Command Like a King," explains why take-charge leaders are truly necessary in order for such developments to succeed. And the third, "Work Like a Slave," focuses on the commitment that is actually required to beat the odds and change the world. A concluding section is filled with entertaining and inspirational quotes on topics like technology, transportation, politics, entertainment, and medicine that show how even some of our era's most successful ideas and people--the telephone, Louis Pasteur, and Yahoo! among them--have prevailed despite the scoffing of naysayers. --Howard Rothman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

If music (Big Yellow Taxi) and television (That '70s Show) can look to the 1970s as a source of current inspiration, why not business books? That's the implicit argument of Forbes columnist Kawasaki's (How to Drive Your Competition Crazy) new book, which tries to capture the attitude of Apple Computer some two decades ago, when its goal was to make "insanely great products." This tone doesn't occur by accident. Kawasaki was director of product development at Apple. To his credit, Kawasaki, who now runs garage.com, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, succeeds in being inspirational as he lays out his three steps to success: "Create Like a God," "Command Like a King" and "Work Like a Slave." Each section is filled with dozens of ideas about how to approach a market differently, and he gives pithy examples of how firms ranging from bicycle companies to Internet enterprises applied one of the three steps on their way to market. But while long on inspiration, Kawasaki is short on "how to." He has sprinkled the book with "exercises," but they are primarily there for comic relief, rather than instruction (e.g., "The next time a telemarketer calls you at home, ask for his phone number and tell him you will call him back that night"). Ultimately, however, these shortfalls probably don't matter. Kawasaki gives entrepreneurs and team leaders battling entrenched corporate bureaucracies more reason to keep up the fight. It is very hard not to like a book whose major theme is "don't let Bozosity grind you down."
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness; 1st Pbk. Ed edition (May 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 088730995X
• ISBN-13: 978-0887309953
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (125 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,068 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #24 in Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Marketing > Product Management

More About the Author

Guy Kawasaki is the author of twelve books. He was the chief evangelist of Apple. He has a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from UCLA, and an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

His latest book is APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur--How to Publish a Book. Kirkus, the toughest reviewer in the business, said this about APE, "Essential reading (and reference) for modern authors, regardless of experience."

Kawasaki was born and raised in Hawaii. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with Wife 1.0, four kids, one dog, two chickens, three lizards, and two turtles.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Kawasaki always on target February 15, 2000

By Tom Gibson

Format:Hardcover

Guy has always done an excellent job of collecting information and dispersing it in an entertaining and educational way. His latest book is no exception. What makes Guy's books useful is that they are not filled with extra stuff. In other words, he presents just the facts, in as few words as possible. You don't have to read two pages to figure out the point he's trying to get across. Reader's of his other works will recognize some familiar themes such as how to treat the customer. As an added bonus, Guy presents "required" reading at the end of each chapter -- a wonderful collection of other works that are relevant to the topics discussed. And while the book uses the software industry as frequent examples, it is really for every business, high tech, low tech, no tech. Highly recommended reading.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is what you need to read if you want to succeed. April 8, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

It doesn't matter if you're already on the barricades or just a Walter Mitty dreaming of turning your garage into a factory, you'll want to read this book. Actually, you'll need to read this book. It tells you how "create like a god, command like a king, and work like a slave" (no, Kawasaki didn't write that himself but he was smart enough to quote one of the best: Brancusi). Better than telling you though, Kawasaki shows you with plenty of examples for each stage of this process. And unlike a lot of the business books I read, this is not just a book about marketing, product development, etc., etc. Kawasaki relates each stage of this 3-step process to a broad audience and always shows the important principles behind each. For once, I can honestly say that the subtitle of a business book is truthful (a manifesto for creating and marketing new products and services). In fact, it may even be a bit limited. I've gleaned information from here that I've found very useful just for the everday business of living.

This is definitely on the top shelf of my library.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars A Book of Cliches and Fluff June 19, 2006

By Steve Johnson

Format:Paperback

If you are interested in the entrepreneurial world, you might find this book an entertaining read. However, if you are an entrepreneur or want to be one, this book is most likely not going to help you.

I have read so many business books (including books on start-ups) and invariably with the exception of a couple of books, those for start-ups are of low value and do not provide sufficient information desperately needed by entrepreneurs.

With so many fluff books on start-up companies and entrepreneurs, there is a great need for more in-depth how-to books. This one certainly has not bucked the trend. It seems that so many of the reviewers are just so proud and honored to speak of Mr. Kawasaki's previous stent with Apple or his garage.com firm (which I still do not think he is sure what their mission is) that they have not given the book a truly subjective and unbiased review.

When reviewing a book for entrepreneurs you should ask yourself the foillowing question:

Does the book really show you how to be successful? Is the information so valuable that you will study it and take notes or refer back to it for future use?

There are very few sources of valuable education for entrepreneurs anywhere. Therefore it is important that the authors of these books provide what is left out in business schools. Traditional business topics are covered well in business schools so there is more room for business fluff books. Despite this fact, there are still many books on traditional business topics.

In contrast, for entrepreneurs, the only source of education is the book market so you should stay away from fluff books or motivational type books, all of which teach you nothing.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Definitive Guide to Building Revolutionary Products and Companies July 6, 2006

By Josiah Mackenzie

Format:Paperback

Revolutionary products and companies outperform their competitors by completely changing the way things are done -- not by doing the same thing better. Perhaps the best book on this subject is Rules for Revolutionaries by Guy Kawasaki.

The book is based on 3 principles:

1) Create like a god

"Develop revolutionary products and services by analyzing how to solve current problems."

First, Guy walks you through the 3-step revolutionary thought process that leads to breakthrough product creation. It's very practical, and if followed, will generate amazing ideas for your business.

Next, Guy introduces you to a concept he calls, "Don't Worry, Be Crappy." Simply put, don't worry about perfecting a product before sending it to market. Focus on getting your product quickly to the market, but be ready to make constant improvements based on user feedback. He says effective companies have a circular built-in system for continuous product perfection, rather than viewing the product life cycle as linear. It's not how good you can make your product the first time, but rather how quickly you can respond to feedback after it launches.

Finally, Guy explains DICEE -- a formula for creating great products. If you've ever wondered what makes Apple products so attractive, it would be beneficial for you to examine this formula and evaluate how it can be added to your own products.

2) Command like a king

"Take charge with strategic decisions that break down barriers of product adoption."

For any revolutionary product, there will be barriers to overcome. Here, Guy gives us 5 common ones: Ignorance, Inertia, Complexity, Channel, and Price.... The revolutionary entrepreneur anticipates this, and uses one or more of the book's 6 "barrier busters."

Interestingly, after removing barriers to adoption it then becomes necessary to form new barriers to retain users. These "positive" barriers, if developed correctly, can also promote the creation of "customer evangelists" -- people that love your product so much they act as an unpaid sales force for you.

3) Work like a slave

"Relentlessly absorb information from your environment, then spread the knowledge you've gained."

The revolutionary keeps up to date by viewing the situation from different viewpoints, spending time with typical users, and then gaining information from those encounters. Businesspeople that stay (physically) close to their target customers are more likely to produce successful products.

Guy also reminds his readers that if a new concept will be an inevitable long-term success, the best strategy is to focus on gaining market share rather than reaping big profits initially. While obvious in concept, startup cashflow reality often makes companies do the opposite. He uses the example of Apple and Microsoft in the 80's -- Apple unwisely choose a fat profit margin at the expense of long-term market share.

For any entrepreneur wanting to make a difference, I would highly recommend Rules for Revolutionaries. The book is highly readable, and Guy Kawasaki's entrepreneurial experience at Apple Computer and later as CEO of seed capital firm garage.com is evident throughout. Read more ›