Guy Kawasaki explains to Jeff Berman why companies like Apple must proactively disrupt their existing successful product lines.
Insight
Kawasaki: If Apple and Tim Cook cannot take moral stands, nobody can
“Your moral compass should exist at a higher level than, how can I make the most money? And so you may have to, you know, you may have to take stands. And to take an extreme example if Apple and Tim Cook cannot take a stand, who can? Who can? You're the most fr…”
Insight
Kawasaki: Sequoia's best investments are unproven teams in unproven markets
“If you talk to someone like Mike Moritz of Sequoia will tell you that the richest vein for Sequoia's investments, and there's no company, no VC that has, you know, created such value as Sequoia. It's two people creating the product that they want to use. They …”
Insight
Kawasaki: VCs demanding rigid return projections are usually giving soft rejections
“Many times when, if you face, like, rigid recommendations for, I need your internal rate of return, I need your return on capital, I need this kind of projection. In a sense, the investor is telling you no, and is trying to put these fences up in front of you,…”
Insight
Kawasaki: Truly interested VCs overlook flaws and reframe weaknesses as positives
“If an investor is truly interested in your business, they're not going to throw these fences up in front of you. What they're going to be thinking is they do not have a world-class team, but I at Kleiner Perkins or Sequoia, I can tap the greatest talent in the…”
Opinion
Kawasaki: AI is bigger than PCs, chips, social media, and internet combined
“To me, AI is, is a bigger deal than personal computers, chips, social media, internet, all combined.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Kawasaki: AI will soon evaluate business plans in 30 seconds
“I would think that pretty soon you'll just be able to stick a PowerPoint or business plan into an AI model, and 30 seconds later, it'll give you a thumbs up or thumbs down.”