Ask HN: Reccommended reading to get up to speed on Hacker/Startup culture

#1

Post by svs » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 6:37 AM UTC

A friend of mine just got offered a top executive position at a tech startup and is in culture shock. In his own words "there are these rooms full of kids and I can't understand what they're saying, and the valuations - they don't add up...", etc. etc. "What am I missing here?"

This guy needs to get up to speed fast on startups, product management, engineering, hacker culture and so on after a lifetime of hierarchical command and control in the financial services industry. What are the most concise and illuminating introductory texts I can refer him to?

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Reccommended reading to get up to speed on Hacker/Startup culture

#2

Post by iamwithnail » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 7:53 AM UTC

Ricardo Semler - Maverick is a good one for non heirarchal approaches. The AES case study of holarchy is v interesting. Swombat's blog (easily findable!) is a trove of material on startups and moving from corporate to startup, as are the Granttree and Escape The City blogs.

Re: Ask HN: Reccommended reading to get up to speed on Hacker/Startup culture

#3

Post by bonn1 » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 7:55 AM UTC

"A friend of mine ..."

Re: Ask HN: Reccommended reading to get up to speed on Hacker/Startup culture

#4

Post by 23david » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 8:01 AM UTC

Uh... major red flag imo. I recommend your friend stays put and finds a way to slowly tiptoe into startuplandia. The job offer he got sounds like it isn't a good fit in a lot of ways.

Some companies are crazier than others... a lot crazier.

Re: Ask HN: Reccommended reading to get up to speed on Hacker/Startup culture

#5

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 8:02 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Reccommended reading to get up to speed on Hacker/Startup culture

#6

Post by Red_Tarsius » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 8:06 AM UTC

I've been looking for an entrepreneur book list for a long time too. I'm not nearly as experienced as your friend, so my books may be too basic.

- Start here: http://www.ycombinator.com/resources/ There are many wonderful articles written by Graham himself.

- The Four Steps to the Epiphany, Steve Blank.

- The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki.

- The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-by-Step Guide for Building a Great Company, Steve Blank and Bob Dorf.

- Zero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future, Peter Thiel.

- ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.

- I haven't read the Founders at work series yet, but everyone seems to find it very valuable.

Re: Ask HN: Reccommended reading to get up to speed on Hacker/Startup culture

#7

Post by Animats » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 8:16 AM UTC

"How Google Works" by Eric Schmidt is a good place to start.

A bigger question is why was he brought in? Does he need to do a turnaround? Has something gone badly wrong?

What stage are they at? Is there a user base? Do they pay, or is this ad based? Who's the competition? What do you have that they don't? First look at the business from a user perspective, then the technology used to service it. If they're not doing something technically hard, the technology end is about keeping the users happy, scaling and not screwing up.

Re: Ask HN: Reccommended reading to get up to speed on Hacker/Startup culture

#8

Post by blingojames » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 8:17 AM UTC

About culture: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html http://blog.codinghorror.com/ And reading random comments on: https://news.ycombinator.com/best and https://news.ycombinator.com/news .

Re: Ask HN: Reccommended reading to get up to speed on Hacker/Startup culture

#9

Post by smt88 » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 8:19 AM UTC

Culture shock is really bad news for a new position or a new hire. It's very difficult to change culture. Your friend needs to be a leader, not someone who is catching up. It's probably not the right place for him to be.

Re: Ask HN: Reccommended reading to get up to speed on Hacker/Startup culture

#10

Post by wwweston » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 8:34 AM UTC

smt88 wrote: post #9

Culture shock is really bad news for a new position or a new hire. It's very difficult to change culture. Your friend needs to be a leader, not someone who is catching up. It's probably not the right place for him to be.

This is an excellent answer.

Not because it's probably true (it's as likely the asker's friend has as much to contribute from a different background as they have to learn for their new situation) but because they're likely to hear more of this from people who'd prefer to occupy an echo chamber, so it's probably best to get a certain thick skin up now.