
A Startup Reading List - sweetdee
http://simplifilm.com/startup-reading-list/
======
rxl
This list, compiled by Chris Johnson, includes a book called "Trust Me, I'm
Lying", by Ryan Holiday.

One thing to note is that Chris worked with Ryan and has a close relationship
with him (Chris actually wrote the trailer for Ryan's book).

And judging from Ryan's usual tactics, Chris wrote this list simply to push
Ryan's book, which he cleverly included alongside clear classics like The Lean
Startup, In The Plex, and The Innovator's Dilemma.

Edit: Here are some other tactics cleverly used by Chris/Ryan in the post...

1) they mentioned Ryan Holiday in the first couple paragraphs so that the
reader would have some familiarity with his name and be even more likely to
click through to his book

2) they included Ryan's book early in the list but not as the first, and
specifically after at least one book that you probably haven't heard of, but
that seems credible

3) they marked The Innovator's Dilemma (arguably the most well known book in
the list) as "optional," leading one to perceive that the other books in the
list that aren't marked as optional must be even better

Edit: evidence for Chris and Ryan's relationship...
[https://www.google.com/search?q=chris+johnson+ryan+holiday](https://www.google.com/search?q=chris+johnson+ryan+holiday)

~~~
simplimedia
I sure wish I was this clever.

~~~
rxl
Perhaps, but unlikely. And regardless, I know Ryan is.

Also, yes, I realize that bad press is good press and that this controversy
will probably drive Ryan even more sales, just by virtue of the fact that more
people are talking about his book than would have otherwise. And I don't
really care either way, I'd just prefer that people be in the know.

~~~
simplimedia
So but for you, the folks that read Hacker News would have been fooled by my
ruse.

------
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](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/](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.

~~~
simplimedia
And FYI - this was a list made for AEs to be able to talk to engineers more
quickly and fluently.

------
beambot
YC maintains a pretty solid list:
[http://ycombinator.com/lib.html](http://ycombinator.com/lib.html)

~~~
doublemorph
It's a pretty large reading list though, would be nice to have a list of the
top three to five.

~~~
devcpp
Most of these are essays, which together would make up perhaps one of two
books. Together with the 4 books listed in the books section of that page, I'd
say you have a decent short list.

------
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.

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

~~~
ak39
Just got this: [http://www.builttosell.com/](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...](http://www.startupnation.com/podcasts/episodes/9565/equity-
for-employees.htm)

~~~
davidw
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...](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0887307280/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=dedasys-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0887307280&adid=1CWHFZ38E5E6EXSR7XXZ&)

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

[http://journal.dedasys.com/2011/05/23/summary-built-to-
sell-...](http://journal.dedasys.com/2011/05/23/summary-built-to-sell-
creating-a-business-that-can-thrive-without-you)

------
liquidcool
I liked Guy Kawasaki's "The Art of the Start" ([http://www.amazon.com/Art-
Start-Time-Tested-Battle-Hardened-...](http://www.amazon.com/Art-Start-Time-
Tested-Battle-Hardened-Starting/dp/1591840562/)) because every time I picked
it up, it motivated me to put it down and get back to work.

I am kind of surprised to see Steve Blank's "The Four Steps to the Epiphany"
([http://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Steve-
Blank/dp/098...](http://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Steve-
Blank/dp/0989200507)) omitted. Is that one that everyone mentions, but nobody
reads?

~~~
paul_f
Steve's new book The Startup Owner's Manual being left off this list is
criminal.

~~~
simplimedia
Haven't read it - but I bought it, thanks.

------
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_...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BD2UUC/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title)
and What every BODY is saying -
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010SKSTO/ref=docs-os-
doi_...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010SKSTO/ref=docs-os-doi_0)

------
paulrademacher
> Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: Sarah Lacy |Link | The lessons are
> hidden. Between the lines, it’ it’s THE example of how the Valley press
> thinks. Read it as an observer, don’t take it at face value, but rather try
> and learn what Sarah is about.

This is a great recommendation not just for entrepreneurs, but for _anyone_
wanting to learn what Sarah is about.

------
dudurocha
That's a overall very good list. My only problem with it, it's that, apart
from ocasional ones, only has books that were published since 2011. Where are
the classics? I don't think entrepreunership or leadership is something new
and you can just learn from the new books.

~~~
simplimedia
I mostly agree, I was trying to keep it contemporary.

------
banachtarski
There is this weird catch 22 where I always hear this book or that book or
this or that article is a "must read" for a startup founder. But on the flip
side, I also have no time to read it.

~~~
pc86
I never really understood this mentality. I haven't met anywhere, whether it's
a funded startup founder or the CEO of a Fortune 1k company, or a single
parent with a full-time job, who doesn't have 20 minutes somewhere they can
spend reading.

I can understand if the argument is that it's so far down the list of
priorities that by the time you get to it you'd rather just go to sleep. I get
that. But don't say you're too busy to do it, say it isn't enough of a
priority.

~~~
dbecker
As a matter of semantics, everyone has time.

But, as someone who sometimes reads the types of books recommended on this
blog post, I've found they have usually been a worse use of my time than
writing code.

So, "I don't have time for ___" could be rephrased as "there are better uses
of my time than ___." And I think that's a reasonable point of view in this
case.

------
Legion
Reading 24 books seems like an awful lot of time committed to doing something
other than actually making a product.

One of the books was marked optional, though, so there's that.

~~~
simplimedia
zing. (and yeah, you don't read the damn things cover to cover. Except for my
bondage and my freedom.)

~~~
joelhooks
We homeschool and that was the one off the list I bought immediately for my
kids.

------
stevoo
the links seems to be down ... you can view the cached version here
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6Msq9KS...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6Msq9KSqLU0J:simplifilm.com/startup-
reading-list/+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk)

------
rpicard
I was just looking for a good list like this. Thanks.

------
lucian1900
Transparent top bar is very annoying :(

------
7mediaws
@beambot Thanks for the list.

