
Founder Books - ashtavakra01
https://postmake.io/books
======
jypepin
I've read most of those books and they are all very nice and worth a read.

The fact that those recommendations are literally everything I've read in the
past few years is probably another proof that we, in the tech industry, live
in a big echo chamber and have no idea what the real world looks like. We all
keep telling each other that every we do is great because, well, we don't know
anything else.

It's a bit sad and I'd love to see some more diversity.

~~~
juskrey
People are what they don't read

~~~
avip
I have no idea what that means but had to upvote because it was so unexpected.

~~~
mynegation
I read it as: if you know some stuff very well already you do not read about
it and conversely that you can spend too much time reading about it instead of
doing it.

~~~
badpun
Interesting! I’ve interpreted it as: your blind spots define you.

~~~
KajMagnus
(Me too, and Occam's Razor makes me think it's probably what the GGGP meant.)

------
povertyworld
I didn't see any sales books. Are there any good sales books? Especially on
details like how to generate leads? Every sales book is like "go into the
office during your key hours for selling and start making calls, then when
you're talking to a prospect do x,y,z". Yeah, great, where do I get this list
of prospects to call? Some books have said to look at publicly available
personnel lists for places you want to sell to and then start cold calling,
determine who the decision maker is for the organization from there, and then
get to that person. Really? Maybe, I guess. Others wave this away by saying
some other person will generate qualified leads through advertising or
something. OK, what if I don't have some other guy to do that? How do I do
that? Any books that make this a little less magical?

~~~
ptrott2017
Doesnt have to be magical. Assuming for enterprise or B2B sales:

Determine who your target customers are by industry/sector ie who is your
product for.

Determine who are the top 1000 companies / orgs in that sector (Linked in/
NAIC codes, SIC codes).

If you have a budget you can buy lead lists from SIC, of you dont have, plan
for about 2 man weeks to put together a good starter list of companies and
prospective contacts.

Once you have your list of companies - id who your prospective user is by
role. e.g. who will use your product? What is a likely job title / role? Use
linkedin to find folks in that role or with that Job title? work out your
value propositiion for your product. Boil it down to 2/ 3 lines.

With a short subset of your initial prospect list. Either cold call / email /
linkedin message your targets with your value prop and work out from there: \-
which contact method works (e.g. email / phone / linkedin) \- who the buyer is
- does your user have purchase power - great you know who to sell to. \- What
is their pricing sensitivity? \- IF they dont have purchase power who does
-either ask (best) or assume next person in the chain - who do they report to.
again identify role/ title and try them.

As you do this your looking to learn how to contact your prospect; who will
use your product? Who will buy your product? What is the purchase process?
What is the price point?

Based on your learning and each iteration of testing your sales hypothesis–
refine your target prospect role/title, refine your value prop, your sales
point, your sales process (to match their purchase process e.g. is it simply
they buy with credit card from your website or does it go through an
enterprise buyer… )

Now go back to your full company list and iterate through using linkedin and
search engine to find folks who match your target role / prospect and enter
these into your prospect list.

You now have a starting sales list. Contact them, qualify and try to make
sales.

If you need further reading see any of the books on this list:
[https://blog.closeriq.com/2018/11/enterprise-sales-
books/](https://blog.closeriq.com/2018/11/enterprise-sales-books/)

and - Transparency sale by Todd Caponi. [https://www.amazon.com/Transparency-
Sale-Unexpected-Understa...](https://www.amazon.com/Transparency-Sale-
Unexpected-Understanding-Transform/dp/1940858801)

Good luck.

~~~
yread
This is a bit like r/restofthefuckingowl.

If you need more concrete guide with what exactly to say during sales calls
try

[https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57daf6098419c27febcd4...](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57daf6098419c27febcd400b/t/5b0b4dc68a922dbfa263b389/1527467516482/Entrepid_How+To+Sell.pdf)

~~~
ptrott2017
Lol yup. very good link on how to do the actual sales call once you have a
list. very Worth reading.

------
Malfunction92
Wow thanks for posting this!

Some more context:

Over the past month, I must've reached out to at least 70 founders and asked
them about some of the books that most shaped their professional careers.
Obviously not a lot of them responded, so I started going through some book
lists (Sivers' and James Clear's lists are great!), the 400+ indie hacker
interviews, and personal blogs, and adding everything I can find.

I managed to get recommendations from a little over 100 founders and makers
heavily involved in the tech scene — all suggestions here come from people who
run or are involved in revenue-generating businesses.

Hope you find this useful! Still would love to get some suggestions from
people like patio11, austenallred, etc so if you're reading this drop me a
message!

------
ssamuli
Looking at first 5 or so pages, I've read a lot of these. Good stuff but seems
very unilateral view on the world and I think could be unhealthy for founders
to focus too much on startups.

Not sure what is the right mix, but some of the most motivating reads for me
were:

\- Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture

\- iWoz

\- The Soul of a New Machine

\- Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

\- Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary

\- The Mighty Micro: Impact of the Computer Revolution

\- Accidental Empires

\- The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy
and How to Restore the Sanity

\- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

~~~
xenator
I know only two from your list:

\- Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary

\- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

These 2 is one of the best books about philosophy and the world of ideas I've
ever read.

------
phillc73
I think some search/browse filters could be incredibly useful too. For
example, I'd be interested in a split between recommendations by founders
running on VC money versus those growing a more organic business, such as
Basecamp perhaps. Or maybe those working on open source products, like Gitlab,
compared to closed source cloud based offerings.

I imagine that there could be interesting things to learn through comparing
the books recommended through such filtering.

~~~
chiefalchemist
Agreed. I feel it would also help to know why they recommended it. One
sentence, no more than two. Sum it up, Twitter stylee.

That said, allow for down-votes would also help to add value. More or less,
"read it, wouldn't recommend it." As it is, 5 recommends looks solid, but what
if there were 10 don't recommend?

~~~
Malfunction92
Re downvotes: the problem with that is sometimes book recommendations can be
very personal or context-dependent. Sure 10 might not recommend, but what if
the recommendations come from people whose background / experience / goals
better align with yours? I included profiles for each founder under every book
for exactly that reason — so you can learn more about them and about what
might have driven these recommendations.

~~~
chiefalchemist
Yes. But what if the same can be said for those who don't recommend? I read a
lot. Most of the time it's time well spent. But I don't recommend everything I
read either.

------
jyriand
I have read or skinned most of the books on the first page. Not really sure
how much I gained from them as it seems that this has become mainstream
knowledge already and you hear about these ideas everywhere.

I'm currently using Joel Spolsky's reading list when I need a good book.
Here's the link: [https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2005/11/22/reading-list-
fog-c...](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2005/11/22/reading-list-fog-creek-
software-management-training-program/)

Lot of good books I didn't even know about.

~~~
xtracto
Great list, thank you.

------
tmaly
I have a few not on first page that I thought should be

Never Split the Difference is amazing for negotiation.

SPIN selling for understanding benefit selling verse feature selling

$100 Startup is a very good summary of techniques. It the next level of
granular detail from 4 Hour Work Week

~~~
gist
> Never Split the Difference is amazing for negotiation.

I have done thousands of negotiations (for vastly different things) and have
been paid to do so. [1] I have never read a single book on negotiations. I can
always tell when someone else has. (Read that again). [2] I could most likely
write a book myself on negotiations and my experiences. The problem is it's a
seat of the pants thing. It's nearly impossible to be able to say what to do
unless you are in the exact situation and reading all the signals. Also it's
creative at it's core so if you are a narrow type thinker you are most likely
not going to be good at it no matter what (very generally). And of course what
you are negotiating for and in particular who you are dealing with and their
motivations are super important to the process. That said I am sure a book can
help with an adversary that is not particular difficult and of course better
than nothing. But like with most other things it is in no way even close to a
substitute for actual experience over time and the right base attributes
personally. Some people just aren't perceptive enough of others emotions and
reactions to be good at it. No way around it. Also their own emotions and the
ability to control them.

[1] The largest fee I made (recently) was close to $200k and I've been paid as
little as $500 (or have done it for free in some cases).

[2] Because their delivery and actions appear canned and predictably fit
another pattern that I have seen in the exact same way over time.

~~~
rargulati
For the inexperienced, what are a few key principles that we can take away
from your experiences?

~~~
gist
Well in brief 'stop reading and start doing'. Now think about all the ways you
can 'practice' at negotiation. You can start by trying to buy things that you
don't even want to buy. Go in and play games with a car dealer when you don't
need a car. As impractical as it sounds try to negotiate for a job that you
don't want. Do it over and over and over again. Don't want to put in that
effort? Well it's like anything else you have to. You would expect to be good
at tennis or playing piano without practice. Now you have to enjoy doing this.
Most people don't. I guess because they don't have good results or positive
feedback. And learn to read people's facial emotions and also how they reply
to emails or how their voice sounds over the phone. That is a large part of
the game. Reading people whatever way you can. Also importantly recognize the
situations where the game is not one you will win because your adversary is a
gambler and will not fall for the typical games or doesn't care if they lose.

~~~
ineedasername
No, don't go in and negotiate with sales people when you have no intention of
buying anything. They are people, trying to make a living, and by wasting
their time you are literally costing them money. It's a selfish move, and if
there wasn't a stigma attached to car salesmen you probably would realize
that. I doubt you would suggest people similarly hone their negotiating skills
by stringing along a series of freelancers on Upwork with phantom projects
that don't exist.

~~~
gist
Oh stop already. There are plenty of situations where people knowingly waste
others time. What happens when you walk into a retail shop with ZERO intention
of buying something? (And in some cases you actually do?). What happens if you
waste the salesman time and then later refer that salesman to someone else who
buys a car? Stop making as if you (or anyone) is so pure and honest and always
does the right thing. (Or is even aware of all of the circumstances and why
something is done).

That said the question is do you want to get good at negotiation not 'are you
a saint who thinks they would never waste someone's time' (which I dispute per
my other thoughts in this comment to begin with).

Guess what? I get a ton of tire kickers for my services that are referred to
me. In some cases I know right off the bat that these people can't afford what
I do and are 'wasting my time'. I still handle them with courtesy and take my
time (knowing that I am wasting it) to help them. In some cases I enjoy doing
so and in other cases I know they will then refer others to me. Many times
these are people that have been referred to me (actually most times). I don't
discourage it either. I know overall it's a good thing not a bad thing.

Auto dealers spend a ton of time to get people into the showroom. Advertising
to sell cars. But did it ever occur to you that just like a restaurant [1]
that is busy they might actually want the foot traffic because it makes things
look popular and encourages others to buy (who are there)? Ever occur to you
that it's good training for the sales person (who runs deals by the sales
manager)?

[1] Restaurants will often trade at less than menu rates to have the
restaurant be busy (even lose on diners) so that others (that are paying full
price) will feel better about eating in a non empty place.

~~~
ineedasername
_Plenty of situations where people knowingly waster others time_ Yeah, I
agree. And it seems like a crappy thing to do. Ubiquity doesn't change that.
And someone that knocks on _your_ door before they know it's not a good fit is
not an apt comparison for what you're advocating.

There's a difference between tire kickers who are curious and maybe have some
low level of interest, like cars, etc. They don't even take much time, because
they aren't going to the negotiation stage that would be so time consuming and
yet be required for what you are advocating. You're advocating for a callous
desire to opportunistically waste someone's limited time for their own
potential gain. You conflate legitimate albeit casual shoppers with people who
are only there in a cynical ploy for self advancement.

The theoretical potential for referrals is a red herring. That same potential
exists in the customer they missed talking to, who might actually buy a car,
that they lost because someone thought it would be educational to waste their
time. Do you know anyone who has sold cars for a living? I do. I grew up with
one I call "Dad". I know _a lot_ about how the industry works, dealership
marketing and promotions, all of it. So you reference _foot traffic_ as a side
benefit to your plan for negotiation experience? Hardly. 5 or 6 of your
students in negotiation a day would be enough to cost salesmen money without
adding to that "we're busy" look the dealership may want.

Otherwise, selling cars tends to be a soul crushing grind. At times it pays
little more than minimum wage for work hours that would rival a dedicated
startup team. The national average places their salary between $22,000 and
$45,000. _That 's with commissions counted in_ and with a work week of 60-70
hours. That's not even counting the off-hours work like delivering a car on a
trade between dealerships that is a dead loss for them. Working in the
industry means making your target one month only to have the dealership owner
change the compensation plan because people were making too much money, and
_actually tells the staff that 's why._ At least that owner was honest, most
don't bother.

Yeah, some salesmen are wildly successful and make lots of money, some sell
high end cars in affluent neighborhoods. But it's like the startup world: for
every success like that, even a mediocre success, there are countless others
that aren't.

So if you want to brush off this type of behavior as no big deal, at least
understand what your really advocating people do. I on the other hand see your
advocacy for this kind of behavior as emblematic of the worst impulses of "all
about me" culture, and the thin end of the wedge towards condoning sociopathic
behavior that looks at other people as merely transactional units there to
provide you with something you want.

------
mck-
Ray Dalio's Principles is becoming my favorite book of the year; despite it
being ~500 pages, there's so much super relevant content to company building
and generally very applicable principles that help with day to day conduct.

While most books I've read are tactical or strategic, this book talks about
the philosophical -- especially recommended for founders beyond the scrappy
MVP stage, perhaps a team > 10

~~~
nlowell
A great book, half very intelligent, half completely insane. Bridgewater must
be a place all its own.

------
idlewords
I was going to say that Kiyosaki is a charlatan and people should steer clear,
but that goes for most of these authors. Keep in mind that founder books are
not written by people who are good at starting a business, but people who are
good at telling stories to wannabes.

~~~
eropple
Was going to say similar. "Don't dig for gold, get others to pay you to tell
them that they'll be successful and cool and attractive for digging for gold."

------
randomsearch
Read a lot of these already, would recommend against the four hour work week.
Plenty of criticism online, and I agree it’s fully justified. The only book on
the list that left a bad taste.

------
kkaranth
I find a lot of these books too abstract. I much prefer books about people and
their methods and accomplishments, as opposed to books that try to distill
what they perceive as common characteristics of "succesful" people/businesses.
Currently I'm reading "The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of
American Innovation" and its quite wonderful.

"Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla" is a good read as well.

------
xenator
I know this is not a popular point of view, but I'm also read a big pile of
these books. And from my perspective (I'm living far from the US) there is a
very big gap between nice theory and the real world. I'm trying to be positive
about things but the real help in my business I've got from different sources.
Maybe this is my own way, but after a few years of studying books like this
from "business" shelf, I barely moved to the place where I'm now.

For example, a few months with a therapist gave me more resources than
hundreds of hours I've spent on videos and "startup books". Best books I've
read in the last 3-5 years was Martian by Andy Weir, and Remembrance of
Earth's Past trilogy by Liu Cixin. Very inspiring for me as engineer. Few
videos about how to organize personal finances on Youtube gave me financial
ground.

~~~
fabiandesimone
Mind sharing the finance videos?

~~~
xenator
It was many months ago, so I did some research now and I think these share the
same ideas. First is about the basic idea of long term financial management
[1], and these two [2] close to me since we also have a big family. Probably
this is a very basic level for many people, but since my parents never had
positive money management habits (my parents family from ex-USSR) it was the
real breakthrough for me.

1\.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJB90G-tsgo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJB90G-tsgo)

2\.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulr1HAaF_JU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulr1HAaF_JU),
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKU5bEf192A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKU5bEf192A)

------
ibudiallo
One book is missing. I've read most of these books and the one that helped me
most as a startup founder is _Disrupted_ by Dan Lyons. Comedy aside it was a
true eye opener.

In the startup silicon echo chamber, you hear the same things over and over
until you start to believe it. In fact, when I read many of these books,
nothing came as a surprise because that's all the startup world talks about
anyway.

Disrupted made fun of the things that I thought were pretty normal. One
example is the culture were building in our own startup. We focused so much on
the right culture fit that we got some of the worst people to work with us.
And we couldn't see that it was all our fault.

Get a book that has an opposing view of your world. From time to time, someone
has to make fun of us or we start to take ourselves too seriously.

------
davidivadavid
Have people been reading the same 10 books over the last 10 years? Those are
almost exclusively content-light business books with a couple insights here
and there. I hope people who pride themselves on contrarianism every other day
have other reading materials.

------
vga805
I am surprised Jocko Willink's books aren't on here. His book on leadership,
Extreme Ownership, is excellent. Intertwined are stories from his time as a
Navy Seal leader and applications of what he learned there to the business
world.

~~~
Datenstrom
I really enjoyed Extreme Ownership especially the story about the BUDS team
leader complaining about always losing because of his team, him being switched
to lead the team that always won previously, and the team that kept losing
making a comeback.

Great book about leadership and entertaining.

~~~
vga805
His follow-up, The Dichotomy of Leadership is almost as good, and his podcast
is a constant source of motivation. I am a Marine so I feel like I am
extremely biased, but, everyone I've shared his work with has felt it equally
as rewarding.

------
Ozzie_osman
This is great. It would be awesome if (validated) people could submit
summaries too!

------
zengid
This might be off topic or contrarian but I've been reading _Company_of_One_
by Paul Jarvis and I really enjoy his thesis that not all tech companies need
to grow into large businesses. You can just have a small single operator
business that focuses on making a better product and more efficient process
instead of growth.

------
cowmix
Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure from Jerry Kaplan is missing. 25 years old
yet ripped from today's headlines.

------
jadbox
Can anyone recommend a good book for small self-funded first time founders?
I'd like a book that has substance with information about filing as an LLC,
non-profit pro/cons, finding your first investor, pitch deck tips, etc. Many
of these books are meant for VC backed founders with 10+ employees.

~~~
technics256
I would look at the stripe atlas guides:

[https://stripe.com/atlas/guides](https://stripe.com/atlas/guides)

------
pushpendra7
Just checked the postmake website, it's great for solo entrepreneur. Thanks
for curating those lists.

------
allie1
Few suggestions that didn't make that list: The Innovator's Dilemma (and
everything by) - Clayton M. Christensen Measure What Matters - John Doerr
Obstacle is the Way - Ryan Holiday Factfulness - Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Hans
Rosling, and Ola Rosling Grit - Angela Duckworth

------
HNLurker2
How do you balance reading about craft and practicing it? Also metathinking?

~~~
Findeton
Go to a city or country where public transport systems are a thing. Read
during your commute in the tube.

------
099812477
Even more recommendations, in addition to those already posted:
[https://www.productgems.io/library/](https://www.productgems.io/library/)

------
topherPedersen
I like the ads actually. Nice piece of content marketing.

------
mukashoo
Read some of these on Blinkist. After reading several dozen Blinkist
summaries, these self help / entrepreneurial books all start to sound mostly
the same. I’d say each book seems to have just one or two key takeaways that
differentiates it from other books in its field.

Thoughts on book summary services such as Blinkist?

