Kawasaki to College Moguls: 'Niche Yourself' Like Dell

Guy Kawasaki (Garage Technology Ventures) recently spoke at a University of Pennsylvania technology conference. The title of his presentation: "The Art of Innovation.”

The latest edition of Knowledge@Wharton states this “amounted to a 10-point manifesto on how to make something of value for customers.”

Interested? Grab a pen and a pad...

1. Make meaning, not money.
2. Make a mantra, not a mission statement.
3. Jump curves.
4. In product design, "roll the DICEE."
5. Don't worry, be "crappy."
6. Polarize people.
7. Let 100 flowers blossom.
8. Churn, baby, churn.
9. Niche yourself.
10. Follow the 10-20-30 rule when pitching to venture capitalists.

Here are a couple highlights from Kawasaki's list of "commandments":

"3. Jump curves. Innovating is harder than just staying a little bit ahead of competitors on the same curve...Kawasaki noted how in the days before refrigeration, the ice industry consisted of ice harvesters in cold climates using horses, sleighs and saws to collect ice outdoors during winter months...Then came 'Ice 2.0' -- factories that could freeze ice anywhere...Finally came 'Ice 3.0': home refrigerators.

Of course, none of the ice harvesters got into the ice factory business, and none of the factories got into the refrigerator business. That's because 'most organizations define themselves in terms of what they do,' he said, 'instead of thinking 'what benefit do we provide the customer?' True innovation comes when you jump curves, not when you duke it out for 10% or 15% better.'

9. Niche yourself. Find your place, Kawasaki urged. He showed a simple X-Y graph, with the usual four quadrants mapping the variables 'Uniqueness' and 'Value.' A product or service does not need to be unique if it delivers value. That, he said, is how Dell [founded by Michael Dell during his freshman year at the University of Texas] won market share selling computers. In the lower left quadrant of his X-Y graph he placed many of the me-too dot.com companies of the late 1990s that were low value and uninspired. But in the upper-right quadrant were high value, unique products and services...'The upper-right-hand corner is the holy grail of marketing,' he said. 'It's where meaning is made, it's where money is made, it's where history is made.'"

Got it? For more, go to Knowledge@Wharton.

Related links:

• How to Change the World (Kawasaki's blog)
• Dell
• "Dell planning for aquisition: WSJ" (ET, 6/11/09)
• Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship (UTexas, Austin)
• IC² Institute (UTexas, Austin)
• McCombs Entrepreneur Society (UTexas, Austin)
• Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs