Guy Kawasaki on D5
Walt Mossberg:
Let’s talk now about that Truemors story. If I understand it correctly, you successfully launched a new Web 2.0 website, and you did that in no time and without any serious investment. What is the key to the Truemors success?
Guy Kawasaki:
To be exact, I spent $12,107 dollars and 9 cents. In just seven and a half weeks we managed to design and launch Truemors.com. I would easily spent tens of thousand on a project like that just five years ago. Isn’t it incredible?
Walt Mossberg:
Yes, it is. I believe you show to all of us that today anyone who has a great innovative idea can quite easily make it fly. Tell us what the great new idea behind the Truemors.com is?
Guy Kawasaki:
Truemors.com is a way to democratize information. Let’s say, someone wants to leave a rumor that he saw his boss, who’s not handicapped, park his Mercedes in a handicapped spot. He can submit that truemor to Truemors.com. Now anyone can see it and anyone might confirm it or not. We have some rating system in place, so any truemor will go up or down in the news list based on its rating.
Walt Mossberg:
So it is in some way a combination of the news stream with some sort of a social network built around it. Don’t we already have systems like it? I mean digg.com and the like?
Guy Kawasaki:
Yes, I agree, the idea is not that innovative. I did not call it great; you did. I would actually call it quite stupid. What I’m saying is, now you can try many stupid ideas and some of them might work. The more things you throw onto the wall, the more will stick.
Walt Mossberg:
I see. So let’s talk about that fascinating time frame. Did you develop the system from scratch? How much of the site’s success is in technology?
Guy Kawasaki:
We did not develop the system from scratch. We actually slightly modified the WordPress engine. It is all open source, so you can just get it and adapt to your needs. Guys from Electric Pulp did a great job modifying the style-sheets and PHP scripts.
Walt Mossberg:
I see. Interesting. Now, tell me about your marketing of Truemors. How much did you spend on it, if anything?
Guy Kawasaki:
Zero! I did not spend a dollar on marketing. Believe me Walt, no one needs to spend money on marketing websites. They market them selfs. TechCrunch wrote about Truemors three times. Believe me Walt, if you decide to open a new website, do not spend on marketing, it will fly by itself. You won’t have to wait long until the Wall Street Journal has a front page about it.
Walt Mossberg:
I don’t think so. I am not an expert in such things.
Guy Kawasaki:
You do not need to be one. Anyone can do it. Brad Pitt can do it, David Beckham can do it, Prince William can do it. Anyone.
Walt Mossberg:
I see. So what would you say is the most important key to success? Let’s say some guy spent time and money developing his WordDisplay.com or whatever website. How can he make it successful?
Guy Kawasaki:
Just a guy?
Walt Mossberg:
Yes, just a guy.
Guy Kawasaki:
Not a chance. Believe me, I am in the industry for many years. This guy would need a phenomenal new idea and tons of money for development and marketing.
Walt Mossberg:
So, there’s nothing new here?
Guy Kawasaki:
Nothing.
June 7th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
HaHa! How come this fake is so true?!
June 7th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
“Brad Pitt can do it, David Beckham can do it, Prince William can do it. Anyone.”
So funny! LOL
Keep posting Alex.
June 7th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
I like it!
June 22nd, 2007 at 6:16 am
Nice post
July 9th, 2007 at 5:21 am
hi, hi, hi! Beautiful site.