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Guy Kawasaki (Author) on Lessons from a Life in Technology | #TNW2019 — Transcript

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0:00[Music]
0:10sorry I was a little late there I'm a
0:14software guy software is always late so
0:17I'm welcome my name is Guy Kawasaki and
0:20I live in Silicon Valley I am here today
0:24to talk to you about a book that I just
0:26finished called wiseguy and in this book
0:30I tell all these stories of my life life
0:33in Silicon Valley a life in technology
0:35and it's I'm just so happy to be here I
0:40I've been kicking myself for you know
0:42why did I wait for 14 times before I
0:45came to the next wave this is a
0:47fantastic show so I'm very happy to be
0:50here did you see that your father can
0:53dance did you learn that and yeah did he
0:57embarrass you yeah that's what father's
1:00do trust me so I'm gonna talk to you
1:03today about the lessons from a life in
1:05technology and I'm so happy to be here I
1:09just I like I have never ever come to a
1:13speech on a ferry I have to say it I was
1:15a first for me today so this is a
1:19picture I'll use to explain a little bit
1:21my context this is a picture of the
1:23Macintosh division taken in 1984 I'm in
1:26the far upper left hand corner you
1:28cannot really see me one of the mistakes
1:31I made in my career is that I didn't
1:33stand in the front of this very famous
1:35picture because frankly I had no idea
1:37that Apple would be as successful as it
1:39has become a little bit about this group
1:43of people the Macintosh division it's
1:45probably the largest collection of
1:47egomaniacs in the history of America and
1:49that's saying a lot because as you know
1:51America has a lot of egomaniacs you know
1:55back then Apple was a successful company
1:59already it had the Apple 2 division
2:01which was making all the money because
2:03they were shipping Apple twos and there
2:05was the Macintosh division which was
2:07spending all the money because we were
2:09still trying to complete the Macintosh
2:10but we were such arrogant
2:13people I I look back on those days with
2:17some chagrin we were such arrogant
2:19people we believe that we were hand
2:22selected by Steve Jobs so the rules
2:24didn't apply to us and I'll give you
2:27some stories so the story number one is
2:29you're seeing us in front of the
2:31Macintosh division building we would not
2:33let Apple 2 division employees into that
2:37building so if you can imagine working
2:39for a company where you work for the
2:41same company but you're not allowed into
2:44the building of the company and then the
2:47Macintosh division people quickly
2:48figured out that they were not being
2:50allowed into a building they had just
2:54paid for and so that pissed them off a
2:57great deal and so they came up with this
2:59great joke about the Macintosh division
3:01which is how many Macintosh division
3:03employees does it take to screw in a
3:05light bulb
3:06the answer is one the Macintosh division
3:08employee holds up the light bulb and
3:09expects the universe to revolve around
3:12him is it where's Boris Boris is is
3:20Microsoft a sponsor of this
3:24do you want them to be a sponsor you
3:28don't care okay so the Microsoft the
3:36Microsoft version of this joke is how
3:38many Microsoft employees does it take to
3:40screw in a light bulb
3:41and the answer is none because Bill
3:43Gates has declared darkness the new
3:45standard so arguably the most important
3:50person in this picture is the person
3:51kneeling in the front that's Steve Jobs
3:53holding a Macintosh 128k and one of the
3:57reasons why this photo is so significant
3:59is this is that this is the only known
4:02instance of Steve Jobs ever getting on
4:04his knees for anything in his life
4:07whenever people find out that I work for
4:10the Macintosh division they of course
4:11want a Steve Jobs story all the movies
4:14all the reports all the blog posts all
4:17the everything you've read books
4:19magazines everything you've read and
4:21heard and seen about Steve Jobs is true
4:23he was very difficult to work for very
4:26demanding but just a certifiable genius
4:29and visionary I would not be where I am
4:32today were not for Steve Jobs and there
4:35is nobody in this picture who regrets
4:36working for the Macintosh division it
4:38was a it was a privilege and an honor
4:40so my stop my Steve Jobs story for you
4:43so one day I'm in my cubicle and Steve
4:46Jobs shows up with someone I had never
4:47seen in my life and he says guy what do
4:51you think of this company called nowhere
4:53KN o waa re it was an educational
4:56software company knowledge software and
4:58I said well Steve it's a mediocre
5:00company with mediocre products the
5:02products don't take advantage of the
5:03Macintosh graphical user interface it's
5:06very simplistic arithmetic two plus two
5:08equals four it's not a strategic product
5:11it's not a strategic company don't even
5:14think about it Steve and then Steve says
5:16I want you to meet the CEO of nowhere
5:20so welcome to my life that's what
5:22working for Steve Jobs was like on to
5:27the lessons so I'm 64 years old and it's
5:32taken me this long to acquire all this
5:34wisdom and this is kind of a sweet spot
5:36for me because it took me this long to
5:38acquire it and so previously I could not
5:41write this book and if I wait any longer
5:44I'm gonna forget the wisdom so you're
5:46hitting me right as I got it but before
5:48I lost it so that's what this book is
5:51and I'm gonna give you the top ten
5:53wisdoms of my life
5:55that I hope that you can take and you
5:57can as Steve would say dent the universe
6:00with the knowledge that I've acquired
6:01okay so the first thing that I figured
6:05out as I look back over my life is that
6:08you should always change a losing game
6:11and this became so true for me as I look
6:16back on the life and the decisions of my
6:20great-grandparents and my grandparents
6:22this is a picture of my family my father
6:25is the tallest guy the second guy from
6:28the left my my great-grandfather and
6:33grandparents they came from Japan to
6:36Hawaii they left Japan because of a lack
6:39of opportunity because they could not
6:42progress anymore there was a lack of
6:43jobs so they changed the losing game
6:46they left Japan and they came to Hawaii
6:49and with hindsight
6:51I've now figured out that that's an
6:54attitude for life if you are stuck in a
6:56place where you cannot progress where
6:59the opportunities are not great enough
7:01you cannot sit by and just let things
7:05happen to you you need to change a
7:08losing game second thing that I learned
7:11is that education is the absolute key to
7:14success you know I travel all over the
7:18world and everybody talks to me with
7:20Silicon Valley envy you know how do we
7:22make Berlin the next Silicon Valley how
7:26do we make Austin the next Silicon
7:28Valley how do we make everywhere the
7:30next Silicon Valley and people think
7:32it's about the venture capital
7:34funding it's about the amount of
7:37infrastructure you know is there
7:39cloud-based services are there PR firms
7:42are there ad firms are the recruiters
7:44and my observation is that the most
7:47important thing in an area if you want
7:50to succeed in technology is the quality
7:52of the engineering education get
7:56educated some pictures from my past this
7:58is a picture of my elementary school I
8:00came from a lower middle-class part of
8:02Hawaii Kalihi elementary let's just say
8:05that it's not at the top of the rung of
8:08the education system in Hawaii and the
8:11arc of my life changed because my sixth
8:14grade teacher took my parents aside one
8:17day and they told my parents you know
8:20guy has too much potential for you to
8:23leave him in the public school system
8:24you need to pull him out of the public
8:26school system and put him in a college
8:28prep school and if she had not pulled my
8:31parents aside and told them that and if
8:34they had not listened to her I would not
8:36be here today the key to my success then
8:38was education and in my education this
8:42is a picture of my high school English
8:43teacher his name is Harold kibbles and I
8:47have an insight for you that as I look
8:50back on my life the hardest teachers and
8:53the hardest bosses taught me the most I
8:57think there's a temptation as you're
8:59going through life that you're always
9:01looking for the easy route who's the
9:03easy boss
9:04who's the easy teacher how can I get
9:07through life with doing as little as
9:09possible but as you reach the end of
9:12your life I think you'll come to the
9:13realization that the greatest influences
9:16on your life will be the toughest
9:18teachers and the toughest bosses this
9:20English teacher we would write essays he
9:25would mark up the essays with all the
9:27errors in it and then there was a
9:29three-step process
9:30you had to write the sentence
9:32incorrectly as you did you had to cite
9:35the rule of English grammar that you
9:37broke and then you had to write the
9:39sentence correctly every error required
9:43three steps so you very quickly learned
9:46English Graham
9:47composition is the best teacher I ever
9:50had just like Steve Jobs was the best
9:53boss that I ever had the next thing that
9:56I learned is that motivation is often
10:02dressed up in very highfalutin terms you
10:06want to dent the universe you want to
10:08change the world you want to end global
10:12warming you want to foster world peace
10:15and I need to follow my sword a little
10:18bit I'm going to tell you about what
10:20motivated me and my youth and what drove
10:22me to where I am today so this is a
10:25picture of a bus stop this bus stop is
10:27at a high school in Hawaii called Chi
10:30Mookie Kaimuki is the lower middle class
10:33part of Hawaii right off Waikiki and
10:36when I was in high school I was once
10:41robbed at this bus stop and that was a
10:46very formative experience because when I
10:49was robbed at that bus stop I vowed that
10:52I would study hard and I would work hard
10:54so that I would never have to live in a
10:57place where I could be robbed again
11:00source of motivation number one this is
11:05a picture of a Ferrari Daytona when I
11:09was in college my roommate came from a
11:12very wealthy family from Phoenix Arizona
11:14their backyard was the golf course of
11:17the Arizona Biltmore estates so in
11:21college you sometimes go home with your
11:23buddies so once I went home with him for
11:26a weekend and we went to dinner at the
11:29Arizona Biltmore at the end of the
11:32dinner his mom said guy would you please
11:36drive me home in my Ferrari so I got to
11:40drive this car and I will tell you that
11:44was a life-altering experience to drive
11:49a Ferrari I said this is why you need to
11:52study guy this is why you need to work
11:55hard so while everybody's talking about
11:57changing the world all I wanted to do
12:00was
12:01change the car my third source of
12:05motivation this is a picture of me and
12:09this is a Jackie Chan now it's not the
12:15real Jackie Chan because I have never
12:17met the real Jackie Chan
12:19this is in the wax museum in Beijing and
12:23I hope I don't violate any copyright or
12:26trademark by standing with a wax figure
12:28but this is not the real Jackie Chan so
12:32here's the story so about 15 years ago I
12:35owned the Porsche 911 and I stopped at
12:39this light on El Camino in Menlo Park
12:43I'm in this 911 and I look over to the
12:46left and there's a car with four teenage
12:49girls in it and they're giggling and
12:51they're laughing and they're making eye
12:53contact with me and I'm sitting there
12:55and I'm thinking guy you have truly
12:58arrived teenage girls know who you are
13:03it's because of your work at Apple
13:05you're writing you're speaking that you
13:08founded a hot comm company so I'm
13:12sitting there just totally smug the girl
13:15in the front seat says roll down the
13:17window clearly not a Porsche owner
13:20because you don't roll down a Porsche
13:21window you press a button but anyway I
13:24rolled down my window she sticks her
13:28head out and she says to me are you
13:31Jackie Chan
13:34well you could take that as an insult
13:39but one of my motivations in life since
13:44that day is that one day Jackie Chan is
13:49in his s-class or his Maybach or his
13:55Bentley or his Rolls Royce and he's at a
13:59stoplight in Hong Kong and he looks to
14:02his left and there's a car with four
14:04teenage girls giggling smiling making
14:07contact with Jackie Chan girl in the
14:10front seat
14:11roll down your window Jackie Chan rolls
14:13down the window teenage girl in the
14:15front says to him are you
14:17Guy Kawasaki that's the goal my message
14:22here is that you know what don't worry
14:24about what motivates you just get
14:27motivated next lesson you know I meet
14:32with a lot of young people and a lot of
14:34young people have this very lofty
14:36expectation of how do you get that job
14:39how do you get in and I'll tell you my
14:43experience is that in high tech anyway
14:46it doesn't matter how you get into the
14:50company get in any way that you can
14:54because what matters is not how you got
14:57in what matters is what you do once you
15:01are in and if you get in as a temporary
15:04if you get in because you're delivering
15:06lunches if you get in because you're
15:09testing code whatever it is it doesn't
15:12matter get in any way that you can this
15:16is a picture of the first three
15:17generations of evangelists in the
15:19Macintosh division the guy in the left
15:22is Mike Boyd he's the first software
15:25evangelist he hired me the reason why I
15:30got hired at Apple is not because of my
15:33stellar work experience nor my stellar
15:35educational background PhD in computer
15:38science from Carnegie Mellon anything
15:40like that I got hired at Apple because
15:43Mike Boyd was my college
15:47mate it's his mother who had the Ferrari
15:51Daytona the only reason why I got hired
15:55at Apple was nepotism
15:58it was pure and simple nepotism but you
16:03know what that's how I got in why I
16:06succeeded is for very different reasons
16:09so my message to you as you're facing
16:12employment opportunities thinking of
16:14starting companies thinking of hiring
16:16people don't worry about how people get
16:19in just worry about what they do once
16:22they're in you know I think the current
16:24HR wisdom is that you always look at
16:26people's educational background and work
16:28experience for relevance I'm not saying
16:32you should ignore that but I think you
16:33should add a third variable when you are
16:35hiring or being hired which is do you
16:39love what the company is doing because
16:42when I saw Macintosh for the first time
16:45I was coming from the jewelry business I
16:47literally were slepping golden diamonds
16:50around the United States but when I saw
16:54Macintosh for that first time when I saw
16:57Mac Paint and Mac right for me it was a
17:00religious experience the clouds parted
17:03angel started to sing and the reason why
17:08I succeeded in the Macintosh division is
17:09because I love the Macintosh so I
17:12succeeded despite the lack of the right
17:15education and the like the right work
17:18experience I will also tell you that
17:21I've come to believe the people with the
17:23perfect background education and work if
17:26they don't love what you do it doesn't
17:29matter if they have the perfect
17:31background so the lack of the perfect
17:34background can still make you successful
17:37the presence of the perfect background
17:39can still make you fail just get in next
17:44lesson is the lesson in life that will
17:48help you have a happy life which is
17:51don't look for problems where they don't
17:55exist this is a picture of me standing
17:58in front of a house on Union Street and
18:01an Francisco you see that hedge
18:05so about 16 years ago I lived in this
18:08house this is a very nice house in a
18:11very nice part of San Francisco Union
18:14Street dead ends into the Presidio so
18:16it's a it's a part of San Francisco
18:18called Cow Hollow one of the nicest
18:21parts of San Francisco so one day I was
18:24outside of my house trimming this bogan
18:26Velia hedge trimming it all right
18:29snipping the branches this older white
18:32woman comes up to me and says do you do
18:35lawns also and I said to her so I'm
18:41japanese-americans so you figure I'm
18:43japanese-american I must be the Yard Man
18:45right she goes no no no no it's not that
18:48it's just you were doing such a great
18:50job at trimming the hedge I wanted to
18:53ask you if you also do lawns so right
18:57there there's some wisdom the wisdom
18:59about racial profiling but wait it gets
19:02better
19:03two weeks later my father comes and
19:06visits me I'm third-generation
19:09japanese-american he's second served in
19:12the US Army you know the whole thing and
19:14I tell him this story and I fully expect
19:18him to just go off on her right how dare
19:22she ask you you're the Yard Man does she
19:27not realize that you went to Stanford
19:30that you worked for Apple that you've
19:33written five books but just because
19:36you're Japanese she thinks you're the
19:38Yard Man he did not say that at all what
19:44he said to me was son Japanese guy
19:48cutting a hedge on Union Street
19:52statistically the probability was that
19:56you were the Yard Man so shut up and
20:01don't look for problems where they don't
20:03exist take the high road give people the
20:07benefit of the doubt and since that day
20:10it's been very hard to a
20:13and me don't look for problems where
20:16they don't exist
20:17next thing I learned is about grinding
20:20it out if there is a secret to my
20:24success it has been my willingness to
20:27grind it out I love to work I can work
20:31anywhere at any time
20:33I just need an internet connection this
20:36is a picture of a hoodie this hoodie was
20:39given to the Macintosh division and it
20:42commemorated a spirit and the Spirit was
20:45that we were on a mission a mission to
20:48increase people's creativity and
20:50productivity so in 1982 and 1983
20:55we were working 90 hours a week and we
20:59were loving it because we weren't trying
21:03to simply ship a new personal computer
21:06we were trying to change the world we
21:09were trying to prevent totalitarianism
21:11we're trying to prevent a George
21:13Orwellian 1984 world so it wasn't about
21:17shipping another computer it was about
21:19changing the world and we were doing
21:22this 90 hours a week and loving it we
21:25were grinding it out next piece of
21:29wisdom is to remember your friends this
21:33is a picture of me with Marc Benioff
21:36Marc Benioff is the founder of
21:39salesforce.com
21:40I gave Marc Benioff his first job ever
21:44in his career I gave him a job as a
21:48summer intern when I was at Apple and he
21:51was at USC he spent the summer writing
21:55assembly language program examples for
21:57the Macintosh division fast forward 30
22:00years he is not the intern he is now the
22:04man salesforce.com donated hundreds of
22:09millions of dollars to medical research
22:11and the story I want to tell you is this
22:16so a few years ago the son of Mike boy
22:21the guy who hired me at Apple mother who
22:24owns the Ferrari
22:25the first software evangelist at
22:27Mackintosh Mike boys his son wanted an
22:30interview at Salesforce I sent an email
22:33to mark I said mark do you remember Mike
22:35Boyd she now has a son who just
22:36graduated from college
22:38he was my boss when I gave you your job
22:41at Apple he wants an interview at
22:44Salesforce and Marc Benioff bless his
22:47heart in less than an hour made that
22:49interview happen fast word another
22:52couple years my son graduates my son
22:55says he wants an interview at
22:57salesforce.com sends an email to Marc
23:01Benioff again bless his heart
23:03in less than an hour my son had an
23:06interview at Salesforce and let me tell
23:08you something this was really meaningful
23:10to me because 30 years earlier
23:14I gave him an internship and he never
23:16ever forgot that there are lots of
23:18people in Silicon Valley who would have
23:20not answered that email much less got
23:23than our son's interviews and eventually
23:26jobs at salesforce.com remember your
23:29friends next thing I learned you know
23:33lots of people ask me so what is the key
23:35to evangelism guy you've evangelize
23:38McIntosh now you're evangelizing canva
23:41you know what is the key so I want to
23:44explain a concept called guys golden
23:46touch
23:47guys golden touch is not whatever I
23:50touch turns to gold
23:52guys golden touch is whatever is gold
23:55guy touches this is a picture of the
24:01moment that I met the cofounders of
24:03canva how many of you use canva in this
24:05row yeah so canvas is an online graphics
24:08design service and what it enables you
24:10to do is create great graphics every one
24:12of you can create great graphics a nice
24:15way to think of canva is that you know
24:17in the time it takes you to boot
24:19Photoshop you could finish a graphic in
24:22canva so when people ask me so what's
24:28the key to evangelism is it an outgoing
24:30personality is it the ability to shock
24:33and jive and network is it the ability
24:36to do a great demo is
24:38persistence what is the key to
24:39evangelism the key to evangelism is to
24:44evangelize great stuff because it's very
24:49easy to evangelize great stuff it is
24:52very hard to evangelize crap the key to
24:57evangelism is to find create align
25:01yourself with great stuff evangelism
25:04comes from Greek words meaning bringing
25:07the good news so what an evangelist does
25:10is bring the good news I brought the
25:13good news of McIntosh it makes people
25:15more creative and productive I am
25:16bringing the news of canva it makes
25:18everybody into a graphic designer
25:21so if you want to evangelize something
25:23it starts with that something has to be
25:26good news that it empowers people it
25:29makes people's lives better that it
25:30changes the world next thing that I
25:33learned is you have to continue to learn
25:37you know when I was younger I thought oh
25:39so learning stops when you get your
25:41degree you know you you you get your
25:43degree you you march down in the
25:45commencement ceremony and bada bing bada
25:47bang learning is over now it's just
25:50reaping and it's making money for the
25:52rest of your life and I found that to be
25:55absolutely untrue if you want to
25:58optimize your life you have to continue
26:01to learn I like to use sports examples
26:03so this is me about two years ago and
26:08let's just say if you know anything
26:10about surfing this is not the ideal
26:12position so at the age of 62 I decided
26:18to take up surfing that is roughly 58
26:21years too late and I took up surfing
26:25because my daughter took up surfing this
26:28is a picture of me surfing with my
26:29daughter and the message here is that
26:33you know what surfing is probably the
26:36hardest thing I've ever tried to learn
26:38it is way too late to do it at 62 but
26:42you know what it can be done the message
26:46is continue to learn
26:49learning is a process
26:51it is not an event continue to learn
26:54next thing I learned little peace the
26:57wisdom is in life you have to do what it
27:00takes I'll tell you an example so I once
27:04had a book called enchantment and I ran
27:08a crowdsource
27:09cover contest and so I went on social
27:14media and I told people I'm running a
27:16cover contest submit your cover design
27:19to me and I'm going to pick one and pay
27:22$1,000 for the cover and what happened
27:26was very interesting so a lot of
27:28professional graphic artists complained
27:30that I was exploiting their industry
27:34because what I was essentially doing was
27:36asking hundreds and hundreds of graphic
27:39designers to create covers submit them
27:42to me and I would only pay one so one
27:45person would be adequately rewarded
27:46everybody else I screwed
27:49that's not how I look at it I looked at
27:52it like I am opening it up for true
27:55meritocracy I don't care if you work for
27:57a large firm I don't care if you have a
27:59degree in graphic design I just want a
28:01great cover anybody can enter and so my
28:05attitude was if you want to succeed in
28:07life you do what it takes if if you can
28:11enter a graphic design contest to show
28:14off your talent you enter you know I
28:16speak 50 to 75 times a year many of my
28:19speeches I give for free but the more
28:23you speak the more you speak because
28:26someone here for example may say oh I
28:29heard guy talk at tnw 2019 he would be
28:34very good for my spouse's company's
28:37meeting and so speakers give away
28:40speeches for free hackers and enter
28:43hackathons and so my message here is
28:47that it is not about how you succeeded
28:50you do what it takes and this is an
28:53example this is a picture of me with
28:56Richard Branson Richard and I were in
29:00Moscow together to speak at a conference
29:03Richard comes into the
29:05speaker ready room and he says to me guy
29:07do you fly on virgin and I said Richard
29:12I'm United Airlines Global Service I
29:15don't know how you get to be global
29:18service I don't want to jeopardize my
29:20global service status because if you're
29:23United global service even United
29:25becomes a tolerable airline and when I
29:30said this this is what he did he got
29:34down on his knees and he started
29:37polishing my shoes
29:40other than that picture I've never seen
29:43Steve Jobs get down on his knees for
29:46anybody Richard Branson billionaire
29:49owner of an island wind surfs with
29:51Barack Obama night gets down on his
29:55knees to get another passenger for
29:57Virgin this is the moment I started
30:00flying on Virgin America and the lesson
30:05here is that you know what if Richard
30:07Branson can get on his knees and do what
30:09it takes all of us can get on our knees
30:11and do what it takes now you may be
30:14wondering why is this picture so lousy
30:16and I have to say I completely agree
30:21with you so what happened was I didn't
30:24exactly expect Richard to get on his
30:27knees and start polishing my shoes so
30:29when he did this I handed my camera to
30:32someone in the room I said take this
30:34picture this is such a great moment and
30:36the camera was set to manual focus at
30:39that point and so this person just
30:41picked up the camera and snapped the
30:42picture and one of my big regrets is
30:44that I don't have an InFocus version of
30:47this picture I may have to recreate this
30:49picture one day the point is do what it
30:52takes and this is my last piece of
30:55wisdom for you this is not something
30:57about politics or drugs okay
31:00I'm not suggesting you get high and to
31:03the right in that sense at all I guess I
31:08mean Amsterdam though so maybe the get
31:09high part is okay
31:11so I want to give you what I consider
31:15the only graph you need to chart your
31:20life to chart how you create a product
31:23how you create a service how you
31:25position yourself as an employer as an
31:29employee how you find dates how you get
31:33happily married how you do everything in
31:35life can be explained with this one
31:37chart in this chart there are two axes
31:41the vertical axis measures your degree
31:44of uniqueness your differentiation the
31:46horizontal axis measures the value of
31:49what you bring to the party there are
31:52four corners in this 2x2 matrix some big
31:55consulting firms would charge you five
31:57million dollars to tell you you need to
31:59be in the upper right hand corner you're
32:01getting it free here today at tmw 2019
32:04so let us go through all the corners in
32:07the bottom right corner we have the
32:09corner where you do something useful
32:11valuable you're Michael Dell right you
32:14make Dell computers but you don't want a
32:16Dell computers fundamentally windows on
32:19hardware that any other manufacturer
32:22could buy so yes it's valuable but it is
32:26not unique in that corner you always
32:28have to compete on price same operating
32:32system same hardware you have to compete
32:35on price in the upper left hand corner
32:38that's the corner where you are truly
32:40unique completely differentiated only do
32:44you do what's done in that corner you
32:46own a market that doesn't exist in that
32:51corner you are just playing stupid in
32:54the bottom left corner you are stupid
32:57and it's crowded where you're stupid
32:59because in that corner you have created
33:02something that's not valuable it's
33:03stupid people like me in Silicon Valley
33:05have fun that other stupid companies
33:07that do the same stupid non valuable
33:09thing a great example of this is pets
33:13calm buying dog food online buying dog
33:17food online why was it not valuable yes
33:20dog food was cheaper online
33:22because there's no retailer but you have
33:25to add back shipping and handling so
33:27what you discounted because there's no
33:29retailer you had to add back with
33:31shipping and handling and then somebody
33:33had to be at home when the dead cow and
33:36the can was delivered to your house so
33:38it was less convenient just as expensive
33:40not valuable why was it not unique well
33:44many of you are entrepreneurs so I'm
33:46going to give you a lesson in pitching
33:47this is something you should never do
33:50what I'm about to do
33:52never ever do 300 million Americans
33:56one in four owns a dog 75 million owned
34:00dogs in America each dog eats two cans
34:04of dog food per day and dogs eat every
34:08day we are not talking b2b here we're
34:11talking b2c dogs eat every day more
34:14accurately b2d dogs eat every day
34:18so we take a hundred and fifty million
34:22cans of dog food and with my Rockstar
34:24co-founder how hard could it be to get
34:27one percent of that market that's one
34:29and a half million cans of dog food per
34:31day 365 days a year we're talking 5 or
34:35600 million cans of dog food per year
34:40conservatively speaking worst case and
34:43because of that pitch there was pets
34:45calm my pets calm I pets calm last
34:48minute pets.com discount pets calm there
34:51are 10 ways to buy dog food online less
34:54convenient just as expensive the corner
34:58that you want to be in whether you're
34:59designing a product a service position
35:01yourself in life in dating whatever it
35:04is is that iPod corner in the iPod
35:07Corner
35:08you are valuable and you are unique why
35:11was iPod valuable and unique because at
35:14the time iPod had a user interface that
35:16a mere mortal could operate you could
35:19get a wide selection of music from the
35:21six largest music publishers it was
35:24legal and it was $0.99 those factors
35:30made iPod not only valuable but also
35:34unique and
35:35explains the success of iPod so as you
35:39create your products you create your
35:40servers as you position yourself as an
35:43employer or an employee it's all about
35:46getting high and to the right
35:49how are you valuable and how are unique
35:53if you are valuable but not unique you
35:56will always have to compete on price if
35:58you are unique but not valuable you are
36:02just playing stupid if you're not unique
36:04and not valuable you are stupid and you
36:07are not alone the corner you want to be
36:09in is the unique and valuable corner
36:12that's where history's made margins made
36:16profits made money's made that's where
36:20you dent the universe and this is the
36:24collection of my top ten wisdoms in a
36:28life of technology thank you very much
36:30thank you thank you
36:37where's Boris here thank you
36:46that was an expiring talk I'm proud
36:48you've been a childhood icon for me and
36:52III think it's great that we have the
36:5414th edition and that we could open with
36:56Jackie Chan so there's just a few
36:59questions I want to ask and the first
37:01one is the theme of the conference and
37:04the tagline for our company is the heart
37:05of tech I always thought that the mecca
37:09tuition wasn't really about the
37:10technology but much more about the
37:12humanity can you say something about
37:14that so yeah I think that well certainly
37:17Apple proves this that fundamentally
37:20it's about the emotion it is about the
37:23reaction that I don't think people wake
37:26up in the morning saying I want to buy
37:27tech I think they want music they want
37:30entertainment they want productivity
37:32they want beauty and so I think your
37:34theme fits right in that you have to
37:38separate the features of a technology
37:40from the benefits of the technology and
37:42it's all about the benefits of
37:44Technology yeah yeah and when you left
37:46Apple and someone once asked you know
37:49like why did you leave Apple and then
37:51you said because I started to believe my
37:52own yes which I thought was a
37:54beautiful quote from someone as
37:56influential as that I can you talk about
37:57that self reflection a little bit for
37:59the people in the room like me or might
38:02be able might start to believe their own
38:04well yeah so I left Apple twice
38:07in my career both times to start
38:10companies and so you're part of being an
38:12entrepreneur is you have to be somewhat
38:15delusional you have to believe in your
38:17own because if you didn't
38:19believe in your how can you
38:20possibly get anybody else to believe in
38:22your so I think it's necessary
38:26though not necessarily sufficient
38:28quality of entrepreneurship that you do
38:31have to believe your and but
38:34then you have to make it true and I
38:37think that's one of the keys to the
38:39success of Silicon Valley is that we
38:42believe our own and in many
38:45cases we can also make the come
38:47true
38:47all right last question yes and of
38:50course your you're known as a marketeer
38:51you you popular lies the Evangelist
38:54honest but then now you're a writer like
38:57what's next is the what's next for me
39:00yeah so as I told you I'm 64 years old I
39:04have four children my children are let's
39:08see 25 23 17 and 13 so the 25 and 23 are
39:13out we had two IPOs if you will so the
39:1717 and 13 who's gonna go surfing with
39:21you the 17 and 13 are both living with
39:23us still and I will tell you that I have
39:28come to the conclusion that I need to
39:30spend as much time as I can with them
39:32so I'm not interested in starting any
39:34more companies doing anything more like
39:36that really I just want to spend time
39:39with my kids and surf that's all I
39:42really want to do all right let's go sir
39:44thank you very much thank you great
39:46thank you
39:50[Music]

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