

Best Books For a Startup? - jasonlbaptiste

I think this is an interesting topic. Most likely it's been done already. Anyway, here's my list:<p>- Monk and the Riddle- Randy Komisar (You HAVE to read this, it puts it in the right perspective. Randy is a genius)<p>- Paypal Wars<p>- Founders at Work- Jessica Livingston
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tonyvt2005
Founders at Work (of course)

"Best Practices"-type books that cover the tools and technology the startup is
using, whether its Textmate, Unix, Subversion, whatever. Becoming more
efficient is never a bad thing.

I'd also add books on management and dealing with people:

\- The Art of Speedreading People - Tieger

\- Behind Closed Doors - Rothman, Derby

\- The Mythical Man Month - Brooks

\- Most if not all the books on Joel Spolsky's "MBA Curriculum":

[http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FogCreekMBACurriculum...](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FogCreekMBACurriculum.html)

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jasonlbaptiste
WOW, Joel Spolsky's list is great. A lot of books on there that I didn't
mention above that I've read. Funniest book title:

Difference between God and Larry Ellison... is that God doesn't think he's
Larry Ellison

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dennykmiu
I am writing my own ... Survival Guide for Bootstrapping Entrepreneurs

<http://www.startupforless.org>

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huhtenberg
A nice compliment to the books is a "startup dot com" documentary. It has a
lot of dot-com era specifics, but it is very enlightening nonetheless.

<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256408/>

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jasonlbaptiste
for sure, really good movie. theres also a movie on kozmo called edreams. that
i havent seen yet :-(.

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larryfreeman
1) Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell (very interesting ideas)

2) Innovator's Dilemma (for understanding what can work well)

3) Inside Intuit (for a great business story)

4) Eric Sink on the Business of Software

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jasonlbaptiste
heres the google books full version of inside intuit. this book looks awesome:

[http://books.google.com/books?id=lRs_4U43UcEC&printsec=f...](http://books.google.com/books?id=lRs_4U43UcEC&printsec=frontcover#PPR9,M1)

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Flemlord
High Tech Start Up - John L. Nesheim

Crossing the Chasm - Geoffrey Moore

One Minute Manager (but only if you've never had management experience)

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jsmcgd
I'm surprised that 'Getting Real' hasn't been suggested yet, perhaps it has
something to do with the recent backlash against 37signals. Anyway I'll stand
by it. Fantastic book. I might even go as far as to say 'essential'.

<http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php>

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davidw
It's definitely worth reading, but not worth paying for since you can read it
for free on their site.

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richesh
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

[http://www.amazon.com/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-
Others/dp/140...](http://www.amazon.com/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-
Others/dp/1400064287/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205679800&sr=8-1)

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jk4930
For the German readership: "Cash Code" by Tritsch and Kohlhammer. It has a
focus on the legal and administrative stuff around a startup.
<http://www.cashcodeportal.de/>

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ojbyrne
I have a book left over from my b-school days that I often dip back into. It's
called "The Entrepreneurial Venture" and it's sort of like "Founders at Work"
if that had been written by Harvard Business School professors.

[http://www.amazon.com/Entrepreneurial-Venture-Practice-
Manag...](http://www.amazon.com/Entrepreneurial-Venture-Practice-
Management/dp/0875848923)

I know that in this group it probably provides an alternative perspective.

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davidsickmiller
It looks like nobody else has recommend one book I particularly like: Startups
That Work: Surprising Research on What Makes or Breaks a New Company by Joel
Kurtzman and Glenn Rifkin.

It combines a large quantitative study on startups with highlights from case
interviews. The book's claims are generally backed by empirical evidence,
which is something missing in many other entrepreneurship books.

David Sickmiller

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jasonlbaptiste
Wow, how could I forget this one:

eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work by Randall
Stross (San Jose State Professor, Writes for the Times Occasionally, etc.)

Seriously, this is a really open approach to how Benchmark Capital approached
investments in eBay, Webvan,etc. I believe it's available on itunes as an
audiobook as well.

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hooande
I recommend "The Design of Everyday Things" (formely "The Psychology of
Everyday Things") by Donald Norman. It's kind of dated and it's focused on
product design, but it has some very good ideas about making products that are
easy to use and understand.

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paulkafasis
I'd also highly recommend The Monk and the Riddle - I don't think I've ever
seen it suggested elsewhere, but I recommend it to everyone.

I found PayPal Wars to be a bit dull, and the author a bit smug.

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projectileboy
This might be only tangentially related, but I dig "How To Be Rich" by J. Paul
Getty. He talks a lot about how he built Getty Oil, and about what's important
in business and in life.

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falsestprophet
The New New Thing

Founders at Work

Hackers and Painters

How To Get Rich

Competitive Strategies

The Intelligent Investor (or Security Analysis)

Liar's Poker

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DarrenStuart
Steven Levy is great, I would add his Crypto book as well.

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falsestprophet
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_Analysis>

Different kind of security, but I'll check it out.

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dedalus
The New New Thing(<http://www.wwnorton.com/catalog/fall99/newnewthing.htm>)

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mixmax
"How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie.

This book should especially be read by those that aren't good with people.

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edw519
Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki

How to Get Rich - Felix Dennis

Differentiate or Die - Jack Trout

and of course...

Founders at Work - Jessica Livingston

Hackers and Painters - Paul Graham

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maryrosecook
Insanely Great - Steven Levy. About the building of the original Macintosh.
Extremely inspiring and interesting.

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gcheong
Bootstrap - Kenneth L. Hess

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cmm324
The Adventure of Leadership by Hap Klopp is a great weekend read.

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DarrenStuart
I think news.yc needs a search.

Heres some we added 3 days ago :p

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=135185>

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moog
google: books site:<http://news.ycombinator.com>

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sonink
If They Say No Just Say Next by John Fuhrma

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daleharvey
Smarter Ventures - Katharine Cambell

