In the US, venture capital funds will back projects with between $30m and $50m "It is much harder to raise $3m. Most venture capitalists won't read a business plan unless the entrepreneur is introduced to them by a contact."Kawasaki's team screens proposals and, if necessary, does extra work on the business plan before they go to potential backers. This is an important part of the process: venture capitalists will look at smaller ideas if they know they have come from a reliable source.The screening process, though, is rigorous. Garage sees around 12,000 proposals a year, and takes on just 50 to 60 companies.

Garage makes its money through a combination of fees and equity stakes in the new business. Equity is not only a practical way for startups to pay for services - it also cements the relationship between Garage and its businesses.According to Kawasaki, there is no fixed time for companies to stay "in the garage". However, the closest relationship is in the first six months "We become shareholders, so the relationship never ends. But the first six months of coaching, building the team and funding is the most intense," he says. As well as funding, Garage services can range from recruitment to helping companies find premises and fitting them out.

"Venture capitalists are not giving entrepreneurs $5m to go and buy furniture," he says.For Kawasaki, the motivation for being involved in Garage is to help entrepreneurs make a better start "At Apple, I had to preach a religion [the Macintosh]. Here, the platform is a lot broader."He thinks that entrepreneurs have a different outlook from the wider population They are natural risk takers "Entrepreneurship is not for everyone," he concedes. In the US, however, the climate for business startups is still friendlier than it is in Europe. In North America, people he sees are often on their second or third startup. In the US, failure in business carries less stigma than it does in the UK "People care less about your history in the US," he says. "Making mistakes is one of the best ways to learn."Failures do happen, but there are ways to avoid the worst pitfalls, Kawasaki says.

"There are some common reasons why Internet businesses fail," he says. "If there is one principle to designing a good site, it is not asking someone to do something you won't do yourself. This means no slow sites, and no forms that need 65 separate pieces of information to complete."Kawasaki also believes that European entrepreneurs could have an edge, as long as they have faith in their own ideas. Too many businesses try to emulate US ideas, and that does not always work. "Companies in Europe should stop trying to do the US version of a European idea," he says.