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A Startup Reading List

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Re: A Startup Reading List

#2

Post by petercooper »

I look forward to giving some of these a crack! One I wanted to recommend though, which isn't on the list, is Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson. It had a big impact on me in the early days and had me thinking about minimal viable products (and businesses) before that was a thing of its own.

Re: A Startup Reading List

#3

Post by simplimedia »

petercooper wrote: post #2

I look forward to giving some of these a crack! One I wanted to recommend though, which isn't on the list, is Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson . It had a big impact on me in the early days and had me thinking about minimal viable products (and businesses) before that was a thing of its own.

Thanks. It seems we will need to do a second post.

Re: A Startup Reading List

#4

Post by davidw »

I was not really impressed by Ries' book. I don't feel I got much that was actually practical or useful out of it that I hadn't already gleaned from blogs or sites like HN. It seems more like a high level look at what "lean" is.

The book that continues to be the one that has given me the most practical value is "Start Small, Stay Small":

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YH9MMI/?tag=dedasys-20

It is not a "classic" - twenty years from now some of it will look really dated, but right now it has got lots of great advice for someone trying to bootstrap a small business.

One bit of advice from someone who is very much a reader is that sometimes, yes, books can give you good advice, but you've got to take the time to go out and do as well. Lots of stuff you read won't completely make sense until you try and put it in practice.

I publish my own reviews here, although I just mix everything up, so they are not startup specific:

http://davids-book-reviews.blogspot.com/

The Fremont one was fascinating - that guy really got around and happened to be in a number of right places at the right times.

Re: A Startup Reading List

#5

Post by simplimedia »

davidw wrote: post #4

I was not really impressed by Ries' book. I don't feel I got much that was actually practical or useful out of it that I hadn't already gleaned from blogs or sites like HN. It seems more like a high level look at what "lean" is. The book that continues to be the one that has given me the most practical value is "Start Small, Stay Small": http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YH9MMI/?tag=dedasys-20 It is not a "classic" - twen…

Cool- I'll get those books.

Re: A Startup Reading List

#6

Post by ak39 »

simplimedia wrote: post #3
petercooper wrote: post #2

I look forward to giving some of these a crack! One I wanted to recommend though, which isn't on the list, is Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson . It had a big impact on me in the early days and had me thinking about minimal viable products (and businesses) before that was a thing of its own.

Thanks. It seems we will need to do a second post.

Just got this: http://www.builttosell.com/ by John Warrillow.

How did I hear of him? My copreneur and I were discussing the idea of giving shares to our sole employee as performance incentive. She didn't like the idea from the beginning and googled for "real" reasons. :-) She found John Warrillow. This podcast sobered me up a bit:

http://www.startupnation.com/podcasts/episodes/9565/equity-f...

Re: A Startup Reading List

#7

Post by davidw »

ak39 wrote: post #6
simplimedia wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. It seems we will need to do a second post.

Just got this: http://www.builttosell.com/ by John Warrillow. How did I hear of him? My copreneur and I were discussing the idea of giving shares to our sole employee as performance incentive. She didn't like the idea from the beginning and googled for "real" reasons. :-) She found John Warrillow. This podcast sobered me up a bit: http://www.startupnation.com/podcasts/episodes/9565/equity-f...

That's a pretty good book, although in some ways it recapitulates a lot of this one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0887307280/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=de...

Here's my summary of Built to Sell, fwiw:

http://journal.dedasys.com/2011/05/23/summary-built-to-sell-...

Re: A Startup Reading List

#8

Post by djkz »

Personally I've also found that I like to mix a little psychology books into my business readings, here are a couple that I personally liked: Influence - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BD2UUC/ref=kinw_myk_ro_... and What every BODY is saying - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010SKSTO/ref=docs-os-doi_...
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