028: Guy Kawasaki – You only need three people

“You know in a startup, you only need three people. You need someone who can make something. You need someone who can sell it. And you need someone to collect the money. That’s the only three roles in a startup. So which one are you?” – Guy Kawasaki

This was drawn by Apeng. Check out his awesome art blog here.

The quote originates from the Q&A segment of a social media marketing speech that Guy Kawasaki gave at MIT Entreprise Forum 2013. You can watch the speech here, Kawasaki says these words after the 1:21:10 mark. If you are an aspiring web-entrepreneur, then I highly recommend you watch the entire video.

If you have been in the entrepreneurship scene, then Guy Kawasaki needs no introduction. Sometimes cited as the original “Evangelist” for Apple Inc and the Macintosh computer, he was one of the early adopters of Evangelist Marketing. You know how Apple’s products have a die-hard following, who would not only buy Apple products but also tell you in your face that Apple has the best phone or computer? Well, you have Kawasaki to thank for that. He had the foresight to not just turn consumers into buyers, but also into wide spreed influencers. Why not have customers help to sell the product too?

The quote in the comic isn’t directly related to Evangelism Marketing, but to a more basic rule of thumb in entrepreneurship. These three roles have to be filled by the start-up founders. If there is only one founder, then he would have to do all three, as taxing as it is. These are essential roles that need to be filled. If there is no one in the start-up team to do marketing, then it is pretty obvious that the start-up is doomed.

If you want to know more about Evangelism Marketing or Guy Kawasaki’s business wisdom in general, then check out his new book, The Art of The Start 2.0. It was his original classic guide for start-ups, and this new ‘version 2.0’ of the book has been updated for more recent times. The book just came out last month, so do check it out! (See now how I am an evangelist for the book?)