Babson Commencement Speech, 5/20/00
"So You Want to be an Entrepreneur"
by Guy Kawasaki
CEO, Garage Technology Ventures
kawasaki@garage.com
Before I begin, let me document the kind of pressure a commencement speaker is under. Before I gave a commencement address a few years ago, I got this email. I've kept it all these years.
Let me read it to you:
"Hi. I play on the wind ensemble, which will be playing at the commencement exercises this month. Our conductor told us that you will be the commencement speaker this year.
This greatly excites me, for as a member of the wind ensemble I have to sit through all of the speakers and try to stay awake, so that I play well afterwards. In past years I read books to stay awake during commencement. I promise not to read a book during your speech."
I will use a top ten format just in case you find me a boring, old geezer. I hope you don't. At least you'll know how much longer my speech will go and when you can start partying.
It is customary to do a speech about lofty things like human rights, society, and empowerment. I'm not a customary guy. The title of my address is, "So You Want to be an Entrepreneur."
10. Embrace the unknown.
In the late 1800s there was a thriving ice industry in this area. Bubba and Junior would cut blocks of ice from frozen lakes and ponds and sell them around the world.
These ice harvesters were put out of business by companies that invented ice factories. It was no longer necessary to cut and ship ice because companies could make it in any city during any season.
These ice makers were put out of business by refrigerator companies. If it was convenient to make ice at a manufacturing plant, imagine how much better it was to make ice and create cold storage in everyone's home.
Interestingly, none of the companies made the transition from ice harvester to ice factory to refrigerator company because they resisted the unknown and accepted the known. If you want to be an entrepreneur, do the opposite: Love, embrace, embody, and create the unknown.
9. Don't ask people to do something that you wouldn't do.
Suppose you made the world's greatest mouse trap--based on a miniature nuclear bomb. You murder mice better than anyone in the history of mankind. However, there are some issues:
You need a PhD in physics to set it You have to drop off the radioactive dead mice 100 miles away It costs $50,000
You wouldn't buy a product like this. Why do you think anyone else would?
Imagine if airline execs flew in coach and ate the food? The world would be a different place. Don't ask people to do something you wouldn't do.
8. Focus on implementation.
During the first fifteen years of my career, I thought that the key to entrepreneurship was the quality of the idea. I was wrong. Good ideas are easy. Even great ideas are easy.
Ideas are the not the key to entrepreneurship. Implementation is the key, and furthermore, the key to implementation is building a great team.
Anyone can come up with good ideas all day long. I'll give you multiple-billion dollar idea right now: create a fast, small, easy to use, bug-free operating system. There you go. Have at it.
And come see me if you can do it and need funding.
7. Don't be paranoid.
If you have an idea, share it, talk about it, solicit feedback about it. Don't hold it close to your chest. Build partnerships and alliances. License it.
This is because, as I said, it's not the uniqueness of the idea that's the key. It's the uniqueness of your ability to implement it.
If you have a good idea, assume that five other people are working on the same thing. If you have a great idea, assume that ten other people are working on it.
I've never met a paranoid entrepreneur who was successful. The successful ones share their ideas, share their equity, share their dreams, and bare their souls.
6. Pursue entrepreneurship for the right reasons.
This is the hardest lesson of all to learn. It may seem to you that the goal of entrepreneurship is a liquidity event as a means to be "happy" and that happiness is predictable:
IPO
Big house
Fast car
Private plane
Happiness is temporary and fleeting. It should not be the goal of entrepreneurship.
Joy is the right goal. Joy, by contrast, is unpredictable. It comes from pursuing interests and passions that do not "obviously" result in happiness. It comes from building a great team, from family, from friends and inexpensive if not free things. It comes from making the world a better place.
So create products or services that you love. That make the world a better place. At the end of your life, God's not going to ask about your market cap. She's going to ask how you made the world a better place.
5. Continue to learn.
Learning is a process not an event. I thought learning would be over when I got my degree. It's not true. Entrepreneurs never stop learning. Indeed, it gets easier to learn once you're out of school because it's easier to see the relevance of why you need to learn.
Don't confuse school and learning. You can go to school and not learn a thing. You can also learn a tremendous amount without school.
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you have to continue to learn.
4. Be brief.
3. Obey the absolutes.
Things change from absolute to relative. When you were very young, it was absolutely wrong to lie, cheat, or steal. As you got older, and particularly when you rise in corporate hierarchies, you will be tempted by the "system" to think in relative terms.
"I didn't cheat as much on my taxes as my partner." "I don't pad my expense reports as much as others." "I didn't cook my books as much as other companies."
This is wrong. There absolutely are absolute rights and wrongs. An entrepreneur is an admired position in society. Therefore, you have the moral obligation to set a high standard.
Think of your graduation as your IPO. All the world is watching, so set a good example.
2. Play to win.
Play to win and don't let the bozos convince you to do anything less. Indeed, the more bozos tell you that you can't succeed, the more you may be on to something.
Playing to win is one of the finest things you can do. It enables you to fulfill your potential. It enables you to improve the world and, conveniently, develop high expectations for everyone else too.
And what if you lose? Just make sure you lose while trying something grand.
The unexamined life may not be worth living, but the unlived life is not worth examining. Make sure your life is worth examining.
1. Enjoy your family, friends, and colleagues before they are gone.
This isn't directly related to entrepreneurship. It's the even bigger picture.
This is the most important lesson of all. Nothing—not money, power, or fame—can replace your family and friends or bring them back once they are gone.
I predict that children ("spinoffs" as we call them in Silicon Valley) will bring you the greatest joy in your lives--especially once, like you, they graduate and pay their own bills.
Bonus
For you graduates who are right now creating companies, I'll give you three bonus tips. This may mean I'll run a little long...but what can they do, take my doctorate back? Notice that they make you give the speech before they give you the doctorate.
Never sell preferred stock to anyone but outside investors.
Always sell restricted stock to founders.
If your lawyer tells you to incorporate in any state besides Delaware, find another lawyer.
If you don't know why these three tips are true, you shouldn't be getting your MBA. Professor Spinelli will meet with you behind this tent after the ceremony.
So....is anyone in the Babson ensemble asleep?
And the question now becomes: Will I fall asleep when they are playing?
-=Vel=-
