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I've come to realize the same thing. Like the author, I've been programming since I was an early teen and that was pretty much all I did for years. I would love

by jmt_ 10y ago

I've come to realize the same thing. Like the author, I've been programming since I was an early teen and that was pretty much all I did for years. I would love to break into the software market but realized that I only think like an engineer and not so much like a business man. I've been mainly interested in the design, implementation, and theory of software rather than thinking of what software that people would and have had a tough time thinking in the business mindset. Do you, or other HN readers, have any resources that they would recommend for engineering minded people to better understand what goes into building a business? Just started reading Zero to One and am enjoying it so far.

mindcrime 10y ago
Do you, or other HN readers, have any resources that they would recommend for engineering minded people to better understand what goes into building a business? Read The Four Steps To The Epiphany by @sgblank, and The Art Of The Start by Guy Kawasaki. Zero To One is a good book, but it isn't as much about the "nuts and bolts" of actually building a business. TFSTTE is very much "nuts and bolts". It is, IMO, about as close as you can get to a "paint by the numbers" guide to building a business. There is a newer version of TFSTTE, retitled The Startup Owner's Manual. It is also good and while it is, in many ways, "just" the second edition of TFSTTE, there's enough new content that it should probably count as a separate book. I'd actually recommend reading both.
Denzel 10y ago
"The E-myth" by Michael Gerber is the single most helpful book I've ever read on transitioning your thinking from engineering-focused to business-minded. Specifically, the difference between the Technician, the Manager, and the Entrepreneur. I read it on the recommendation of an ex-Google engineer turned failed-entrepreneur, here on HN. He said that a The E-myth described all the failures he had encountered trying to start-up his own software company after leaving Google. And that he wished he'd read it before he took the leap. Do yourself a favor, and pick it up as soon as possible.
- mrcabada 10y ago
  Will totally check that book, thank you!
- daveguy 10y ago
  There are about 20 e-myth books. Is there a specific title?
  - kalmi10 10y ago
    The author's name is right there in the comment.
    - Cymen 10y ago
      Oddly, that doesn't help much as the same author wrote multiple books with very similar titles.
    - radley 10y ago
      The author has written 20 books in the "E-Myth" series dating back to 1990.
    - ci5er 10y ago
      Well, yeah. Since then the author has kind of Tom Clancy'd the joint up with a whole lotta more titles.
  - praveenster 10y ago
    I suspect it is this one based on the summary at Amazon "Michael Gerber's The E-Myth Revisited should be required listening for anyone thinking about starting a business or for those who have already taken that fateful step. The title refers to the author's belief that entrepreneurs--typically brimming with good but distracting ideas--make poor businesspeople." https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0887307280 https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0887307280
  - ci5er 10y ago
    This is the 2nd (or later, somewhat re-written) edition of the book referenced: - https://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-About/dp/0887307280/ https://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-Abo...
metafunctor 10y ago
If you're an engineer looking to try bootstrapping a business (as opposed to going the venture capital route), try the “Startups For the Rest of Us” podcast. Start from the beginning. Or startupbook.net for mostly the same content in book form. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. Traction by Gabriel Weinberg.
- purerandomness 10y ago
  I found the Art Of Charm podcast to be really more to the point. And of better quality, business-wise and voice-wise. Tried the "Startups for the rest of us", couldn't keep listening to their random chit-chat, the informational value per minute is really too low.
  - metafunctor 10y ago
    Interesting, thanks for the pointer! Doesn't look like it's a business podcast at all (but a “how to pick up chicks” podcast?), but maybe I'll check an episode or two. Back when Startups For the Rest of Us was new, I found it to be a pretty good value/minute compared to other podcasts I could find at the time (2010). The episodes start with a useless 5 minutes of chit-chat, but the other 15 minutes was pretty solid.
  - fuqted 10y ago
    You like Art of Charm but don't like random chit chat? Makes no sense from what I've heard of them. Anyway, I've listened to more than enough Lifestyle Biz / General Entrepreneurial stuff. TropicalMBA.com and EmpireFlippers.com are my favorites (newer TMBA is going a little downhill. They've sold their business and are kind of figuring out what to do at this point). There's also the Smart Passive Income podcast (SPI). Nathan Barry (on his self named site) has a few good podcasts as well. He started an email marketing software biz that began out of a blog challenge a few years back. Also, I've YouTubed the fuck out of Silicon Valley (I live in the Bay Area..and if anyone's local and in the same position as op let's talk). PandoMonthly has plenty of interviews, most are ~2013 though. This Week In Startups has some fun Travis Kalanick interviews and a few Sacca interviews (including a new one featuring his VC partner). Greylock Partners (LinkedIn founder's VC) has a Stanford class up... and last but not least (though there are also plenty more) there is Y Combinator with plenty of videos. Google Sam Altman and Jessica Livingston. They have a lot of interviews not on the channel. Startup School goes live on the site. You can find it under "School" on Paul Graham's site. Oh yeah, and Gary Vaynerchuck. Personally, I've consumed plenty of this stuff. I have a good idea for a date coaching (again, if you're local and curious.. or just curious, talk to me) which I may or may not pursue. I started learning to code a couple months ago. Just got rejected from Hack Reactor and MakerSquare this past week (...fun) and now I'm going to continue learning, going to meetups and start making things while doing whatever interests me on the side and trying to work a job as little as humanly possible.
throwmenow_0139 10y ago
The best way to solve this is to find a business partner who is also a good friend of you. The best freelance teams I know contain extroverts who connect with the clients (and sometimes develop) and god-like developers who do the heavy lifting. You shouldn't underestimate the effort to get a client and do proper project management and budgeting, it's easier with a good friend who knows his business stuff.
- fuqted 10y ago
  "The best way to solve this is to find a business partner who is also a good friend of you" Seconding this notion. It's one step closer to bringing things to irl

by jmt_ 10y ago

mindcrime 10y ago

Do you, or other HN readers, have any resources that they would recommend for engineering minded people to better understand what goes into building a business? Read The Four Steps To The Epiphany by @sgblank, and The Art Of The Start by Guy Kawasaki. Zero To One is a good book, but it isn't as much about the "nuts and bolts" of actually building a business. TFSTTE is very much "nuts and bolts". It is, IMO, about as close as you can get to a "paint by the numbers" guide to building a business. There is a newer version of TFSTTE, retitled The Startup Owner's Manual. It is also good and while it is, in many ways, "just" the second edition of TFSTTE, there's enough new content that it should probably count as a separate book. I'd actually recommend reading both.

Denzel 10y ago

"The E-myth" by Michael Gerber is the single most helpful book I've ever read on transitioning your thinking from engineering-focused to business-minded. Specifically, the difference between the Technician, the Manager, and the Entrepreneur. I read it on the recommendation of an ex-Google engineer turned failed-entrepreneur, here on HN. He said that a The E-myth described all the failures he had encountered trying to start-up his own software company after leaving Google. And that he wished he'd read it before he took the leap. Do yourself a favor, and pick it up as soon as possible.

mrcabada 10y ago
Will totally check that book, thank you!
daveguy 10y ago
There are about 20 e-myth books. Is there a specific title?
- kalmi10 10y ago
  The author's name is right there in the comment.
  - Cymen 10y ago
    Oddly, that doesn't help much as the same author wrote multiple books with very similar titles.
  - radley 10y ago
    The author has written 20 books in the "E-Myth" series dating back to 1990.
  - ci5er 10y ago
    Well, yeah. Since then the author has kind of Tom Clancy'd the joint up with a whole lotta more titles.
- praveenster 10y ago
  I suspect it is this one based on the summary at Amazon "Michael Gerber's The E-Myth Revisited should be required listening for anyone thinking about starting a business or for those who have already taken that fateful step. The title refers to the author's belief that entrepreneurs--typically brimming with good but distracting ideas--make poor businesspeople." https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0887307280 https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0887307280
- ci5er 10y ago
  This is the 2nd (or later, somewhat re-written) edition of the book referenced: - https://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-About/dp/0887307280/ https://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-Abo...

metafunctor 10y ago

If you're an engineer looking to try bootstrapping a business (as opposed to going the venture capital route), try the “Startups For the Rest of Us” podcast. Start from the beginning. Or startupbook.net for mostly the same content in book form. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. Traction by Gabriel Weinberg.

purerandomness 10y ago
I found the Art Of Charm podcast to be really more to the point. And of better quality, business-wise and voice-wise. Tried the "Startups for the rest of us", couldn't keep listening to their random chit-chat, the informational value per minute is really too low.
- metafunctor 10y ago
  Interesting, thanks for the pointer! Doesn't look like it's a business podcast at all (but a “how to pick up chicks” podcast?), but maybe I'll check an episode or two. Back when Startups For the Rest of Us was new, I found it to be a pretty good value/minute compared to other podcasts I could find at the time (2010). The episodes start with a useless 5 minutes of chit-chat, but the other 15 minutes was pretty solid.
- fuqted 10y ago
  You like Art of Charm but don't like random chit chat? Makes no sense from what I've heard of them. Anyway, I've listened to more than enough Lifestyle Biz / General Entrepreneurial stuff. TropicalMBA.com and EmpireFlippers.com are my favorites (newer TMBA is going a little downhill. They've sold their business and are kind of figuring out what to do at this point). There's also the Smart Passive Income podcast (SPI). Nathan Barry (on his self named site) has a few good podcasts as well. He started an email marketing software biz that began out of a blog challenge a few years back. Also, I've YouTubed the fuck out of Silicon Valley (I live in the Bay Area..and if anyone's local and in the same position as op let's talk). PandoMonthly has plenty of interviews, most are ~2013 though. This Week In Startups has some fun Travis Kalanick interviews and a few Sacca interviews (including a new one featuring his VC partner). Greylock Partners (LinkedIn founder's VC) has a Stanford class up... and last but not least (though there are also plenty more) there is Y Combinator with plenty of videos. Google Sam Altman and Jessica Livingston. They have a lot of interviews not on the channel. Startup School goes live on the site. You can find it under "School" on Paul Graham's site. Oh yeah, and Gary Vaynerchuck. Personally, I've consumed plenty of this stuff. I have a good idea for a date coaching (again, if you're local and curious.. or just curious, talk to me) which I may or may not pursue. I started learning to code a couple months ago. Just got rejected from Hack Reactor and MakerSquare this past week (...fun) and now I'm going to continue learning, going to meetups and start making things while doing whatever interests me on the side and trying to work a job as little as humanly possible.

throwmenow_0139 10y ago

The best way to solve this is to find a business partner who is also a good friend of you. The best freelance teams I know contain extroverts who connect with the clients (and sometimes develop) and god-like developers who do the heavy lifting. You shouldn't underestimate the effort to get a client and do proper project management and budgeting, it's easier with a good friend who knows his business stuff.

fuqted 10y ago
"The best way to solve this is to find a business partner who is also a good friend of you" Seconding this notion. It's one step closer to bringing things to irl