
Ask HN:  What's the best first business book for a programmer? - techiferous
I'm a programmer and I don't know much about business but I'd like to start my own venture.  What are some good resources (books, websites, etc.) for learning the basics of business?
======
jmonegro
"Founders At Work" by Jessica Livingston

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Founders-Work-Stories-Startups-
Early/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Founders-Work-Stories-Startups-
Early/dp/1590597141) [2] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Livingston>

~~~
techiferous
Thank you. I have that one already and it's top-notch.

------
kaz
The E-Myth (the E stands for Entrepreneur): [http://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-
Revisited-Small-Businesses-Abou...](http://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Revisited-
Small-Businesses-
About/dp/0887307280/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258509013&sr=8-1)

Derek Sivers has a good collection of his notes (and many other biz-centric
books) here: <http://sivers.org/book/EMythRevisited>

His opening line nails it: "Everything needs to be a system. Think of your
business as a franchise prototype. You should be able to hand the "how-to"
manual to just anyone, to do it as good as you."

~~~
lionhearted
> The E-Myth (the E stands for Entrepreneur): [http://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-
> Revisited-Small-Businesses-Abou...](http://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Revisited-
> Small-Businesses-Abou..).

A thousand times yes. I make everyone I'm going to work with read it before
working with them. It really gets to the heart of what businesses do right and
wrong, and how to build an organization correctly based on systems instead of
based on personality. Very important.

~~~
jason_tko
Absolutely yes. Really makes a huge difference to think about things in the
Entrepreneur/Technician/Manager frame, and things make a lot more sense.

------
anigbrowl
I really think you might be best to start off with something like 'Small
business kit for dummies' - not because I think you're a dummy, but because
you say you don't know much about business. Instead of books about motivation,
leadership, negotiation and so on, you probably need something more down to
earth - what your legal options and obligations are, basic accounting and
economics, contracts and ownership of intellectual property, and so forth.

Not to say the other things aren't valuable or important, but it's often the
seemingly obvious stuff that can end up causing you expensive headaches. The
Small business Administration (www.sba.gov) is not that focused towards
startups (because on a national scale, a 'small business' is anything with <
500 employees) but they do have all sorts of handy information on their
website, and it's all free.

------
daleharvey
I would go for 4 steps to the epiphany, it gives you practical steps to follow
to avoid that process of sitting down as a programmer and deciding magically
what everyone wants. (then being dissapointed when you spend x time coding it
and finding out they dont)

------
HeyLaughingBoy
Three of my favorites are _How Much Should I Charge_ Don't remember the
author, but she reinforces the point that most small businesses are
undercharging for their product/service _and_ shows how to solve the problem.

 _The E-Myth Revisited_ kinda starts where the above one ends in that it
points out the tragic flaw in many entrepreneurs: they want to practice their
"craft" to the detriment of the actual business.

 _Growing A Business_ my copy of this disappeared over 10 years ago, but I
still consider it one of the most important business books I've ever read.

And pick up one of the many editions of _The Portable MBA_ at a used
bookstore. Good, basic foundations in Finance, Accounting, Marketing and HR.

------
NonEUCitizen
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In ISBN-10: 0140157352
ISBN-13: 978-0140157352

~~~
Mz
And when you are ready for something more in depth but also research-based, go
with The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator: [http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Heart-
Negotiator-Leigh-Thompson/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Heart-Negotiator-
Leigh-Thompson/dp/0131407384)

 _Getting to Yes_ and _Mind and Heart_ were the two required texts for a class
I had on negotiation. Both are excellent books.

------
jorangreef
Jeff Bezos once said his favorite business book is Built to Last
([http://www.amazon.com/Built-Last-Successful-Visionary-
Compan...](http://www.amazon.com/Built-Last-Successful-Visionary-
Companies/dp/0060566108/)). You can still hear him use language from that book
in recent interviews.

------
paraschopra
Nobody mentioned 'How to Get Rich' by Felix Dennis yet? It is an absolute
must!

------
renkeyes
I'd recommend "Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey A. Moore. It almost perfectly
describes the lifecycle and challenges faced by the two software-product-based
startups that I've worked for.

~~~
blender
+1 The examples are a bit dated but this book still nails it!

------
timothychung
If you are a philosophy person like me, this one is for you:

Classic Drucker: Wisdom from Peter Drucker from the Pages of Harvard Business
Review.

It shows you what and how a pioneer in the field of business thinks of
business itself. Learn from his thinking and learning pattern. They are just
like common sense for business (like DStruc and Algo in programming).

------
amishandroid
I haven't read all of it yet, but so far Peter Drucker's "Innovation and
Entrepreneurship" is an excellent read.

It talks about how to think differently, to turn situations to your advantage
-- beneficially refactoring your views.

It's not really a starter kit, but I don't think I'd want to operate a
business without having read it.

------
byrneseyeview
[http://www.amazon.com/Buffett-American-Capitalist-Roger-
Lowe...](http://www.amazon.com/Buffett-American-Capitalist-Roger-
Lowenstein/dp/0385484917)

This is the best business book I've ever read. Buffett is methodical,
implacable, and brilliant -- but too smart to overthink anything.

The nice thing about Buffett is that being a little more like him will make
you a little more money (unlike emulating, e.g., Gates -- if you want to be
like Gates, you have to be _completely_ ruthless and smart; 90% won't do.)

------
Paton
What kind of business are you interested in?

If internet/tech... read TechCrunch and Mashable. Watch "This Week in
Startups" by Jason Calacanis.

Watch some picthes from TC50. (Click the logos to see their pitch):
<http://www.techcrunch50.com/2009/>

Business Week and Money magazines are decent, but less tech related.

That said, you'll still learn the most by experience. That is, trying things,
making mistakes, and learning from them. There is a learning curve involved,
but if you have the determination you'll be fine.

Good Luck

~~~
krishnakv
I second this. In addition, +1 for Eric Sink.

Also check out "The Knack" by Norm Brodsky and Bo Burlingham.

In the end, though, no book can prepare you for starting up,

------
zavulon
I'm going to go ahead and recommend "4 Hour work week" by Tim Ferris, BUT -
you have to take that book with a big grain of salt. Some of the stuff he's
talking about is fluff, and he's gotten some fair criticism over it - but he
has some invaluable, very practical advice on automation of certain areas of a
business, passive income streams, etc. Personally, I found it very helpful in
moving from "full time job, but want to start my own business" stage to geting
there and doing it full time.

------
jason_tko
Great question.

Firstly, the more I've gotten involved in business over the years, the more
I've come to realise that for any kind of sale requiring human contact,
personal relationships are absolutely paramount.

This is fairly straightforward, but it bears repeating. People will buy from
people who they like. In a situation where a customer can choose between
Vendor A and Vendor B who have similar products and prices, they will choose
the likable Vendor A who is friendly and who they enjoy getting a call from.
This is 100 times more powerful than Vendor B who has 3 additional features
that are really great, but who has made no attempt to establish any kind of
relationship with the customer.

As such, the first book I would recommend would be the classic "How to Win
Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.

Once you've got a handle on that, "Ready, Fire, Aim" by Michael Masterson
talks about the value of moving quickly, selling quickly, and figuring out the
finer details as you're moving along. This was invaluable for me, since I used
to want to have everything pretty much perfect before moving. This was
negative because it took a long time to get anything to market, and also
because theory rarely survives direct contact with reality - the adjustment
period in the first stage of operations is critical to the overall success of
the project. This book also has plenty of enjoyable personal stories and
business anecdotes that make it very readable.

I second "Made to Stick" as a great study on what makes things popular, and
how they become popular.

It's really hard to narrow down more book recommendations actually - I've read
hundreds of books over the years on a variety of topics. What I found I needed
to do, was continuously seek out good books and learn about topics as they
arose.

Generally when it comes to book learning and business, I would recommend this
: figure out your basic plan, and get started.

Once you encounter your first problem, seek help (ideally from both a mentor
and some books).

For instance, you've built a product, now you want to sell it. You hop on
Google Ads and put down $400. You've got a solid click through rate, and 2
weeks later, zero sales.

Time to learn about marketing. Seek out some good marketing books (Your
Marketing Sucks is very good), buy them, read them, and ask your mentor about
them.

Now you're making some sales, and a Sales guy approaches you. He bought your
product, and he likes it. He's interested to become your salesperson. Next you
need to find some good books on negotiation (Getting To Yes). Of course,
you're also going to need to get some advice from a lawyer or a mentor to
ensure that the deal you do is fair and economically sustainable.

Different books will provide all sorts of different benefits and insights
depending on the stage of your business and your level of experience. Book
selection should be a continual process.

Hope this is helpful and best of luck. Please feel free to contact me if you
need anything else.

~~~
techiferous
Thank you for taking the time to write this up. It was very helpful!

------
jhlb
My introduction to the way that businesses work was an "Engineering Economics"
course. It is about how accounting works, i.e. "financial accounting" vs.
"management accounting", the time value of money, what the numbers on a
quarterly report mean, &c. If you find a course syllabus online you can see
what topics are covered, and a find textbook.

Also when I was seeking this type of knowledge, I read chapters 2,3,4 of
<http://pmbook.ce.cmu.edu/> , which I found by looking at a MIT opencourseware
course on project management. The textbook is _about_ construction but the
important aspects transfer to anything.

I think the most important thing is to learn the nuts and bolts. When you get
comfortable with all that, then you can start to think at a higher level.

------
webwright
Made to Stick <http://www.madetostick.com/>

------
jlees
Guy Kawasaki's books are pretty ace for learning the 'silicon valley' style of
business, big picture, etc. I think the first real book I picked up was
something more down to earth though like the Beermat Entrepreneur (UK-
specific) that outlined the whole process quite well from what to incorporate
as to accounting and sales.

------
known
<http://www.netmba.com>

------
credo
One more book for the list .....

The Business of Software: What Every Manager, Programmer, and Entrepreneur
Must Know to Thrive and Survive in Good Times and Bad

Author: Michael A. Cusumano

ISBN-10: 074321580X ISBN-13: 978-0743215800

------
gte910h
MicroISV

Anything by Eric Sink

------
known
<http://personalmba.com/recommended-business-books/>

------
parka
Founders at Work

------
zaidf
Growing a Business by Paul Hawken

------
gcheong
"Bootstrap" by Kenneth L. Hess and "The Knack" by Norm Brodsky and Bo
Burlingham.

------
azgolfer
Secrets of Consulting - Gerald Weinberg and 48 Rules of Power - Robert Greene

------
fara
Hackers and Painters by Paul Graham ;)

------
dnsworks
Pick up a copy of the tried and true, "How To Win Friends & Influence People".
The rest of the fad business books come and go, but this one is a great start
to learn how to interact with people when you're trying to sell them on
"something".

~~~
charlesju
Here is the most important thing about the book. The basic motivation for all
people is to feel important, you can influence people by making them feel
important.

~~~
mahmud
But also hint at your ability to withdraw that confidence in someone if they
don't live up to your expectations. Talk up someone's abilities while showing
your high hopes in them are conditional on their actions.

------
c00p3r
<http://ycombinator.com/lib.html>

------
ecq
Most of the books I read are usually business profiles/bios of
founders/companies.

1) iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business

2) The Google Story

3) The Perfect Store: Inside eBay

4) Paypal Wars

5) Barbarians at the Gate (not tech-related but one of the best business books
of all time)

~~~
tricky
You might also like "The Qualcomm Equation" by Dave Mock. It is the story of a
few engineers in San Diego who got together and used CDMA to transform the
industry.

