About the Author
Guy Kawasaki
I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1954. My family lived in a tough part of Honolulu called Kalihi Valley. We weren't rich, but I never felt poor-because my mother and father made many sacrifices for my sister and me. My mother was a housewife, and my father was a fireman, real estate broker, state senator, and government official during his long, distinguished career. I attended Iolani School where I graduated in 1972. Iolani is not as well known as its rival, Punahou because no presidents of the U. S. went there, but I got a fantastic and formative education there. (Punahou is "USC," and Iolani is "Stanford" - but I digress. ) I pay special tribute to Harold Keables, my AP English teacher. He taught me that the key to writing is editing. No one in the universe would be more shocked that I have written ten books (or one book ten times) than Harold Keables. After Iolani, I matriculated to Stanford; I graduated in 1976 with a major in psychology - which was the easiest major I could find. I loved Stanford. I sometimes wish I could go back in time to my undergraduate days "on the farm. "After Stanford, I attended the law school at U.C. Davis because, like all Asian-American parents, my folks wanted me to be a "doctor, lawyer, or dentist. " I only lasted one week because I couldn't deal with the law school teachers telling me that I was crap and that they were going to remake me. The following year I entered the MBA program at UCLA. I liked this curriculum much better. While there, I worked for a fine-jewelry manufacturer called Nova Stylings; hence, my first real job was literally counting diamonds. From Nova, its CEO Marty Gruber, and my Jewish colleagues in the jewelry business, I learned how to sell, and this skill was vital to my entire career.I remained at Nova for a few years until the the Apple II removed the scales from my eyes. Then I went to work for an educational software company called EduWare Services. However, Peachtree Software acquired the company and wanted me to move to Atlanta. "I don't think so." I can't live in a city where people call sushi "bait."Luckily, my Stanford roommate, Mike Boich, got me a job at Apple; for giving me my chance at Apple, I owe Mike a great debt. When I saw what a Macintosh could do, the clouds parted and the angels started singing. For four years I evangelized Macintosh to software and hardware developers and led the charge against world-wide domination by IBM. I also met my wife Beth at Apple during this timeframe - Apple has been very good to me.Around 1987, my job at Apple was done. Macintosh had plenty of software by then, so I left to start a Macintosh database company called ACIUS. It published a product called 4th Dimension. To this day, 4th Dimension remains a great database.I ran ACIUS for two years and then left to pursue my bliss of writing, speaking, and consulting. I've written for Macuser, Macworld,
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