Kawasaki: Santa's Lessons in Entrepreneurship
The Find: According to Guy Kawasaki Santa Claus isn't just a jolly, fat man in a red suit, but also a perfect candidate for venture capitalist funding.- The Source: Kawasaki writing on the American Express Open Forum blog.
- Problem. Parents need a method to influence their non-compliant kids throughout the year. This is a universal problem beginning at approximately age three and continuing up to the teenage years.
- Solution. Outsourced bribery via jolly old man who gives candy and toys to nice kids and lumps of coal to naughty ones.
- Business Model. Revenue sharing with toy companies and candy companies, licensing image to retailers, and royalties from multiple movies, songs, and publications.
- Underlying Magic. Ability to deliver toys to all the kids around the world in one night, make reindeer fly with near zero-carbon footprint, enter homes through chimneys, know what every kid wants, and know whether every kid has been naughty or nice. Zero support issues due to omniscience. Completely lead-free materials. Over fifty patents filed.
- Marketing and Sales. Current SEO methods yield 15,700,000 hits in Google. Partnerships with toy manufacturers, candy companies, and retailers to increase Santa's brand awareness for mutual benefits. Deep inroads into western literature. Creation of long-lasting brand awareness by working with grandparents.
- Competition. Jesus or none, depending on your world view.
- Team. Proven CEO with hundreds of years of experience. In addition, there are Mrs. Claus, non-unionized elves, and flying reindeer including one with a red nose. All work for free with no stock options. North Pole production facilities are also free.
- Projections. Total addressable market of two billion children. Conservatively, 1% market share means twenty million children.
(Image of Santa on cell phone by Matti Mattila, CC 2.0)