Success Quote by Guy Kawasaki

“Evangelism is selling a dream” lands like a friendly provocation, the kind that makes Silicon Valley’s self-mythology sound both noble and nakedly transactional. Guy Kawasaki, who helped popularize the idea of the “technology evangelist” at Apple, is deliberately reframing a warm, almost spiritual word into the language of persuasion. Not “explaining a product,” not “building a market,” but selling: a reminder that belief doesn’t spontaneously erupt around innovation. It’s cultivated, packaged, pitched.

The intent is pragmatic. Kawasaki is telling founders and marketers that the hard part isn’t features; it’s faith. People don’t adopt new tools because a spec sheet is impressive. They adopt because the product is attached to a future they want to live in: simpler, cooler, more productive, more status-bearing, more meaningful. “Dream” is the payload. It’s aspirational, a little vague, and that’s the point: dreams invite the audience to co-author the story.

The subtext is slightly cynical, but not hostile. Evangelism here isn’t religious manipulation so much as a recognition that communities form around narratives before they form around utilities. It also hints at a moral responsibility. If you’re selling a dream, you’re dealing in hope, identity, and belonging - not just conversion rates. In the post-Apple, startup-era context, the line doubles as a warning: when the dream outruns reality, evangelism turns into hype, and the “believers” become casualties of someone else’s vision.