I first heard of Guy Kawasaki when his brilliant college graduation speech passed through my email client several years ago. His speech impressed with his practical insight, entertainment value, and conciseness. I later learned that he had evangelized the original Macintosh while at Apple, which made his book on startups a no-brainer read for me.

The Art of the Start is a quick read, and is written in Kawasaki's entertaining and informative style. It details the lessons he has learned that are relevant to people starting up new businesses, new business units, or developing new products inside an existing company.

Kawasaki covers such topics as: pitching, writing a business plan, raising capital, bootstrapping, recruiting, branding, and rainmaking, among others. I agreed with much of his high-level content--for example, the best way to build a brand is to build a good product--but this book has such good tactical information that I'm going to return this copy to the library and buy one to use as a reference.

It's highly recommended, but you don't have to trust me on that. You can read the first chapter online.