I have no idea how to run a company. Is there a book that covers some of what that means?
Ask HN: What's the best book for a tech guy who's becoming CEO?
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Re: Ask HN: What's the best book for a tech guy who's becoming CEO?
#2You should probably find someone who does know how to run a company. You learn that through a long process of increased responsibility and mentoring on the job, not from a book.
It won’t matter if the company consists of you calling yourself CEO, but it will matter if other people’s incomes and future depend on your ability to manage a company.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book for a tech guy who's becoming CEO?
#3What's the context:
CEO of a small bootstrapped laundromat doing revenue of $300k a year with 1 employee?
CEO of a mid stage startup with a few million in revenue and dozens of employees?
CEO your own side projects with no revenue but aiming for revenue?
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book for a tech guy who's becoming CEO?
#4I found “The personal MBA” by Jeff Kauffman to be a good start in that it provides a good foundational mental model to build on top of
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book for a tech guy who's becoming CEO?
#5You need a mentor, not a book. Ask your network or people you trust to refer you to one. Do not feel bad about confirming or sanity checking their advice with others on your journey. Bad advice is worse than no advice, and it is challenging to suss out what will have value and what won’t.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book for a tech guy who's becoming CEO?
#6Please ignore the guy who's saying "you need a mentor, not a book". Sure, get a mentor because that's easier to consume than a book. But in addition do read everything you can on it. I don't have a special suggestion, this is just general advice.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book for a tech guy who's becoming CEO?
#7Get a really good COO and keep on hacking
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book for a tech guy who's becoming CEO?
#8https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Founder-Painfully-Honest-Startup...
Lost and Founder by Rand Fishkin goes in deep about the challenges of leading a company. It felt honest and truthful and talks about the implications of each choice they made in tech and marketing.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book for a tech guy who's becoming CEO?
#9The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz. Maybe not the kind of book you wanted, and not too relevant unless you're running a billion dollar company. But it's a good read and inspired me to get out of a lost startup and into an acquisition.