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Ask HN: Must-Read Books for Startups?
126 points by dmazin 80 days ago | hide | past | favorite | 74 comments
I recently read The Mom Test, and I learned something critical: before investing in your idea, talk to potential customers to see if anyone wants it or not.

While this might seem obvious, it wasn’t to me. The first time I started something in my 20s, I was so enamored with the idea and its potential that I didn’t validate it!

So, The Mom Test is obviously crucial reading.

There are so many other books and resources out there. Which of them would you consider crucial? Which contain crucial lessons?




I was going to mention The Mom Test when I saw the title of your Ask HN, so I'll dive a bit deeper because it's IMHO the most important book I read when starting my current startup[0] and it's what took us to first sale before the MVP was even available.

> before investing in your idea, talk to potential customers to see if anyone wants it or not.

I would reframe this a bit, otherwise someone not familiar with the book will take from your quote the exact opposite lesson from the one taught in The Mom Test. I believe the main lesson from the book is:

- Don't talk to people about your ideas

- Ask people about their actual use cases and frustrations

- Figure out where they're struggling, investing effort and money. Let them talk

- Don't ask people about your idea and don't ask them if they want it or not. You're only trying to validate the problem.

Questions to ask:

    What's the hardest thing about [doing this thing]?
    Tell me about the last time you encountered that problem...
    Why was that hard?
    What, if anything, have you done to try to solve the problem?
    What don't you love about the solutions you've tried?
[0]: https://www.onetake.ai (an autonomous AI video editor for SMBs)


>don't ask them if they want it or not

After reading the book my understanding was to not even ask this question. See if they have already tried to solve the problem by looking for another app or going to excruciating lengths to solve it another way. If yes, then they will probably buy your product.


You are saying the same thing as the quote :)


Not knowing the book, but this sounds a lot like a scientific mindset where people try not to bullshit themselves.

This is good advice, many people who start out only see what they want to see. Yet, this can go into the other direction as well, where people tie themselves to the result of one poll or survey as they have lost touch with their customer base completely.

As always: if people tell you about their problems aand things they dislike those things are real even if they don't make sense. If they tell you how to solve it they are most likely wrong.


Strong +1 - the book is also very concise and full of practical advice. I wish we've put the learnings into practice even earlier in the process of building fragmentapp.io


I second this recommendation for early startups. We learn from tons of lean books that customer discovery is crucial to not build the wrong thing, but this book gives very practical ways to do that well. Most recent useful read for me. Still in the lean canon, a great complementary read could be lean marketing, as validating your sales channel is of an equal importance of validating your PMF.


The first 25 pages of Steve Blank's Four Steps to the Epiphany (here's a PDF for some Stanford class [1]). Sounds very similar to The Mom Test, but presented from a much different angle. It diagnoses the startup failure mode of excessive focus on product over customer understanding. It hit me like a freight train after my first startup failed. His detailed examination of downstream consequences in other areas of the business, like sales and marketing, are just uncannily accurate to how they played out in my business.

Validate, validate, validate. "That's really cool" is not validation from a customer. "That's really cool. I want it. How much does it cost?" is validation from a customer.

[1] https://web.stanford.edu/group/e145/cgi-bin/winter/drupal/up...


"The new business road test" - John Mullins "Will it fly" - Pat Flynn

"Start marketing" - Rob Walling (https://robwalling.com/assets/ebook.pdf) I recommend the article on "Why Startup Founders Should Stop Reading Business Books" ;)

https://youtu.be/19WpIbBhxJU

(don't know where I got this...)

Ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.

  Explanation:
  AWFUL IDEA           -1
  WEAK IDEA             1
  SO-SO IDEA            5
  GOOD IDEA            10
  GREAT IDEA           15
  BRILLIANT IDEA       20
  
  NO EXECUTION         $1
  WEAK EXECUTION       $1000
  SO-SO EXECUTION      $10,000
  GOOD EXECUTION       $100,000
  GREAT EXECUTION      $1,000,000
  BRILLIANT EXECUTION  $10,000,000
To make a business, you need to multiply the two.

The most brilliant idea, with no execution, is worth $20.

The most brilliant idea takes great execution to be worth $20,000,000.

That’s why I don’t want to hear people’s ideas.

I’m not interested until I see their execution.


This is from "Anything You Want" by Derek Sivers.

Take what he says with a pinch of salt. He stumbled across an idea with high PMF, so a lot of what he writes is due to survivorship bias and luck.

If people are knocking your door down for your product you can afford to make mistakes. It also doesn't mean your advice is worth much since there's little guarantee you can repeat your success.


> He stumbled across an idea with high PMF

Ideas don't have product-market fit. Products do.

And for your product to fit the market takes an incredible amount of execution. Especially in tech startups!


Idea as multiplier of execution is an idea I encountered at https://sive.rs/multiply


It depends on your startup's stage. If it doesn't exist yet (and based on your submissions, it doesn't), you can start after reading The Mom Test. You might also want to read The Lean Startup.

However, you can read a dozen books and still be stuck in the research phase. Reading alone doesn't create your startup. If you understand The Mom Test and apply its knowledge, you're ready to start.

Be cautious of advice from people who have read hundreds of books on starting a startup - they may not have had the time to actually create one.

Go validate your idea, and (hopefully) start building. Good luck!


Yeah, you can think of running a company like playing sports of some sorts. You can spend all your life reading about it, but if you don't go out and practice vehemently, you're not going to be any good.


A bit unconventional, but I think Wheeler's Understanding Variation followed by Deming's A New Economics teach people how to interpret past and future in a way that makes both exploration and exploitation more effective.

I would not want to go through life not having read those -- much less run an early-stage company!


I recently read Deep Work by Cal Newport and while it isn't specifically about startups it does offer a crucial insights into doing work that is valuable (potentially also monetary valuable). Startups can be run in 1000s different ways, in particular solo-startups, but common for them is that they solve a difficult problem, and that requires deep work.


It is a must read in my opinion.

Having seen so many waste away their time chasing the dream without little knowhow, I can't recommend this book enough.


Doing a Job by Admiral Rickover: https://govleaders.org/rickover.htm

This one-pager guide never fails to set me straight whenever I feel like I've lost my way.

If you have more time - I recommend reading everything Rickover has written, it'll serve you throughout life.


The Cold Start Problem by Andrew Chen, if your startup idea is in the "networked product" domain. I have re-read that book 3 times now, its that good


This. A friend recommended it and it was SUPER insightful


The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz

This is probably one of the best

Shoe Dog - Phil Knight. A great read about the struggles of how Nike started. But was left unsatisfied as the book ends with the company going public but doesnt cover its ascension in the late 80s/90s and how that went down.


I second The Hard Thing About Hard Things


The Incerto series by Nassim Taleb, specially The Black Swan and Antifragile. It is hard to make predictions, specially about the future, some good heuristics may be of help.


I would recommend The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. It’s a classic that introduced the MVP concept to the world.

And for a bit of different approach, Make by Pieter Levels. This also recommends trying a lot of ideas and seeking what sticks, but perhaps with a more straightforward approach.


I think "The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It" is a good book for the mindset and some of the processes around how to build the engine that is your business.


This book was the subject of an episode of the cortex podcast: https://www.relay.fm/cortex/21

I'm curious if you think think their take on the book was fair? (I realize that that's a lot to ask). Their basic take was that the book had some good ideas but was bizarrely written and much too long.

I haven't felt the need to read it myself since they summarized what they believe to be the valuable parts of the book in the episode.


It's more suited to traditional businesses. Startups are somewhat different though some principles are universal.


While I am not in the startup world, I feel like "Continuous Discovery Habits" by Teresa Torres would be a great read covering a similar topic. It talks about how to manage the business needs vs customer needs and focusing on outcome vs output. About continuously engaging with customer to validate your assumptions, etc.

In general anything on Human Centered Design could be useful.


I like this book, but am curious if you've seen any third-party case studies written about using her framework?

I tried to use it a while back but found it a bit bureaucratic for a startup. Felt better-placed for large orgs with distinct product management teams.


I can see that, I take it mostly as a source of inspiration, I don't think we will apply it literally.

But going through the process of creating an experience map was so interesting, it helped us realize how little we knew about some parts of the user experience. And the idea of regularly engaging with users is very appealing to shorten the feedback cycle. Sometimes there are little things you could do for cheap that add a lot of value, I am hoping this will help find them more efficiently.


I would argue if you are looking for the "right books" you are already going down the wrong path. Having built a successful startup (and some failed ones) the most important truths came from putting on the blinders and getting fully immersed in the problem space. Keep your ears open but your eyes focused.

Too many founders get wide-eyed by the structure-less nature of building a startup and try to look for adult supervision, either from mentors, advisors or books. Be your own mentor and trust your own judgment. Always take outside advice but never let it override your internal compass. At best, a book will give you a minor nugget and is usually not worth the time and attention.


Paul Graham’s essays are well regarded, and I think they include all of the advice others gave mentioned here from other books

https://paulgraham.com/articles.html


Too many people fall into the trap of over consuming knowledge.

The only knowledge that matters at the end of the day is experiential: the kind that is learned by doing.

The kid who ships a product to a dozen users, learns and iterates with determination and focus, will have learned far more than the intellectual reading and waiting for the right opportunity to strike.

Of course there is value in intellectual knowledge, but most are far from the optimal balance - too skewed towards the intellectual vs. engaging with, and learning from, reality.


Books are an efficient way to transfer the experiential experience others have already gained over into your own reality.

I agree that direct experience is more powerful, but with zero reading, you don't know what you don't know. People can over-read, and I've seen inexperienced management teams pass books around like candy instead of leading and doing, but there is a healthy balance where you read some, do more, and grow.


Agreed. My point was that most of us are far from the optimal - in the direction of overconsumption vs. actually doing.

Ofc this is difficult to show with clear evidence. It's my intuition based on observing myself and conversations with other builders.


If you've read the right books, you will be motivated. I started a startup after binging through Paul Graham's essays and The Startup Owner's Manual; it made the whole idea of a startup seem like an easy step-by-step process. Some people do the same after reading CTCI and applying for FAANG.

I'd argue too many read the simple books. You have to slog through the tough content, actually apply the content to your work, and find a book that fixes the next problem you hit.

Action is the spark that ignites the fire, but knowledge is the fuel. I've worked almost 10 years in startups and I wish the people who ran them read books other than Rich Dad Poor Dad.


Read “The ultimate sales letter”. This is an older book by a very successful copywriter. It has made me so much money and provided so much success (still does). I read it every year.


“Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth”

Someone in your startup needs to have read this. It’s a discussion of the different sales channels.


Thank you for recommending this! I have ordered this book just now, but from the preface, this is the book I have been searching for


Even companies without a sales force (atlassian) has a way to get the word out.

But most companies without sales will die.


Listen the Founders podcast. Then you can learn from multiple great business books.


I think you need to be careful thinking that the books will be the most valuable input you can get as a Startup. The most basic skill of any business is to "Sell what people want to buy", as Paul Graham puts it.

If you just sit and think about that, it encapsulates almost everything that is important about a business: To sell, people need to know about the product/business (marketing), you have to build it (development) and you have to sell it (sales). But you put good people in those roles and they will do their jobs but still not make much money. Why? People need to want to buy it and the main driver for that is a balance of a Customer-focussed Product Manager as well as a DNA of what the company is about and what it is offering. You want to make things customers want but they don't always know what they want and you might be selling something different, in which case your marketing message might be off.

The books might say "Always be closing" or "Marketing is everything" or "Deliver junk and iterate" and these are all partial truths but they can also come at a cost to other more effective parts of the business.

As the CEO, your job is to supervise those various levers/teams/departments so you need to know enough about them to understand if they are working, if the person running them is the right person and whether the changes you need to make are big and small!

p.s. I enjoyed the Mom Test but I think if you have an open mind, a lot of that stuff you would work out just from experience.

Good luck.


"If you like that, you're gonna love this." (Private Hudson in "Aliens", 1986) - Ash Maurya, "Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works". Try to get your hands on a preview of the upcoming 3rd edition (10 years newer than the 2nd edition).


"Fall in love with the problem and not the solution", Uri Levine (founder of Waze and Moovit)


+1


All the 'founder attitude' book recs are probably a good idea, but I would recommend supplementing with some VC and investing vehicle stuff, such as Secrets of Sand Hill Road and The Power Law, especially if that seems unimportant and tedious. Understanding your options and what the incentives are for investors will help you better understand where you are likely to be aligned and where you have to be careful.


My list:

1. The mom test (already mentioned) - idea validation 2. Zero to one by Thiel - contrarian original thinking 3. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz - Operating lessons 4. Paul Grahams essays and pretty much all content put out by YC

Beyond this it’s all about the nature of the founder and where /how you see value


I would recommend The Power Law[1], especially if you don't have any exposure to the startup/VC ecosystem. Contrary to what should be the ideal case, a founder needs to cater to VCs and their perspective of looking at products, just as they must cater to users.

I feel like I would have saved myself a lot of stupid conversations if I had the context this book provides.

[1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61403389-the-power-law


Same as ever by Morgan Housel, also the author of the Psychology of Money. This book is not directly related to startups, but I have read it, and it is full of timeless lessons that could apply to startups, like planning pessimistically yet dreaming optimistically, the compounding effect, and many more. I think it could set you in a good mindset for startups, especially in the early stage, though I think this book could resonate with anyone. It’s quite new, but it’s one of the best reads of mine this year.


startup owner's manual should cover 80% of what you need to know


Yes and the book is like 800 pages


I‘d recommend 'the right it' by Alberto Savoia [1].

> Pretotyping is a set of tools, techniques, and tactics designed to help you validate any idea for a new product quickly, objectively, and accurately. The goal of pretotyping is to help you make sure that you are building The Right It before you build It right.

[1] https://www.pretotyping.org/


I recently read this. It's brilliant. Not immediately aimed at a new startup but important to keep in mind when evaluating who to include on your board and how to weigh their advice as well.

https://www.unchartedblue.com/how-to-kill-your-tech-company-...


OP,

You can start by reading this post:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41545495


just read Jason Cohen's blog - asmartbear.com.

pretty much a Free MBA / Founder school.


did you become a founder?


I highly recommend "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries, which offers good insights into building a successful startup through continuous innovation.


It's good to get a mindset but it's not enough on its own. It doesn't offer practical guidance


0 to 1


I read it very long ago. However, my feeling was that it's for VC funded companies and only companies who are looking to become a billion dollars corporation whereas personally, I would have been happy with the multi-million business


The startup playbook. All the basics: https://playbook.samaltman.com/

The Startup Owner's Manual: https://www.amazon.com/Startup-Owners-Manual-Step-Step/dp/09...

Nobody seems to recommend this because nobody has finished reading it, but it's meant to be acted on, not finished. There are literally checklists. It's also hard to get a soft copy, but th soft copies are useful for printing out the checklists. Paul Graham has changed the definition of a startup, but I still love the one from here - the goal of a startup is to have a scalable and repeatable business model.

Startup=Growth, by Paul Graham https://paulgraham.com/growth.html

I'd recommend the whole site, and many do. But start here. Many don't understand that startups are about growing assets, not revenue. And exponential is a funny word for "very slow". If you wanted to grow to a million dollars, do anything but a startup and don't raise VC money. But this shows how the math works.

High Growth Handbook: https://growth.eladgil.com/

And this is what you read after you get past 10 employees. Who to hire next, how to manage. There are tons of people who talk about how to get Product Market Fit, but few who talk about how to build an engine to turn PMF to money. There's tons of podcasts but consider this book a collection of the best ones.


On my phone but: The Business Model Canvas, Getting Real.


Crime and Punishment and Machiavelli


Couple of my favourites: building a story brand, obviously awesome and the saas playbook.

There’s good advice in this thread that is cautioning about getting stuck in research mode. There’s only so much you can get from books. You need to try and fail at some point.

My recommendation to this point is to not treat the books as a set of “how tos”, instead use them to develop a model of the world to test your instincts against.


Getting Real, 37signals


It's a bit outdated but still very Relevant


One man’s wilderness


Just study an MBA.


Probably the worst advice in the whole thread


LOL. You think business is so easy you can pick it up in a weekend from a couple of books?


It's just a ton of opportunity cost (50-80k + multiple years) and irrelevant skills at the early stage. It's not like an MBA makes you 100% successful (or even a lot more likely). So the common wisdom is you might as well take that time and money and just do it.

If your ultimate goal is to be a startup founder, there is no reason to put that as a pre-requisite. If it is to "be in business" or to have a backup plan, then sure.


Part time remote it's more like £10-15k.

The point is so you don't waste your time because you've got no idea about strategy and end up building things with no real potential.

It's easy to waste multiple years on side projects that are fundamentally flawed from the start.

Of course an MBA is no guarantee of success, but why do we bother with any education? Hopefully to learn skills and make better decisions.

It's funny how few people here would say a CS degree is a waste of time, but apparently studying business is.

It seems to be some special kind of hubris many programmers have. They're the "clever ones" because they do the building, and sales, marketing, strategy, etc is all so easy or irrelevant it's not worth studying.

Still, ignorance is bliss. You don't know what you don't know.


The question is not whether education is important. It's not even about whether an MBA is important or useful. It is: Is an MBA the best education for a company with 1-3 people for an extended period of time? Many of the organizational design tools, finance, accounting, etc., you learn there are, again, irrelevant for a period of time until the company reaches some sort of scale, which most don't.


If you lack the skills to determine a strategy then yes, it's important. Do you need to study it all before starting a business? No. That's why I recommend a self paced part time course where you can choose the most useful modules first.

Strategy, marketing and entrepreneurship are, judging from the posts on here, most lacking. Study those then get started. Study the other modules as you go.


Which I guess was the point of the post, that those "modules" can also be books on those topics from the professors that teach classes at the best MBA schools in the world.

10-15 pounds instead of 10k-15k pounds. If you are the kind of person that needs to be in a (remote) classroom to learn and that is worth 1000 times more, then great. Whatever one needs to do to achieve the goal.

The worlds information is all on the internet. If you don't need the credential, the connections, or the learning structure, everything is free and can be consumed in a perfectly personalized way.

Personally, I would argue that, after a certain point, if you need to pay to get access to that sort of structured environment to learn it's going to be pretty hard to start a company that is, by definition, purely in unstructured space. Also continue to learn because knowledge in those areas is not static, and the things that are just basic foundational info.




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