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Ask HN: Reading materials for someone looking to get into the startup world

11 points by MrMike 15y ago

I've been an entrepreneur for many years, with both successes and failures. I love it. Some of my friends who have been 9-5ers for years have asked me for recommendations on articles/blogs/books to read about taking the plunge into the startup world. Embarrassingly, I've come up blank off the top of my head, and I don't have enough time to fully vet all the stuff that pops up in Google to make sure I'm not doing them a disservice. So, HN, I turn to you. Off the top of your head, what reading materials would you suggest for a typically non-tech person that is looking to jump into our world?

brackin 15y ago
It depends what they're looking for: Facts, insights or opinions and news on startups. Here's a list of items which i've always liked. To be honest you can get so much just from reading Hacker News. Books: Founders at Work The Lean Startup The Four Hour Work Week Hackers & Painters Getting Real - 37 Signals/Jason Fried F'd Companies (Maybe not crucial but helped me think about startups needing to fulfill a need/fix a problem). Articles: http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html http://thestartupfoundry.com/ http://avc.com http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/ http://steveblank.com/ http://onstartups.com/ Market (Raw startup information/links): http://betali.st/ http://angel.co Interview Specific: http://foundation.bz http://mixergy.com http://thisweekin.com - TWI Startups or VC are both good shows. YC Startup School Videos (Not exactly interviews but great). Startup News: http://thenextweb.com http://techcrunch.com http://readwriteweb.com http://venturebeat.com http://gigaom.com Update: YC also has a library of information here too: http://ycombinator.com/lib.html http://ycombinator.com/lib.html
- MrMike 15y ago
  Thanks. I should have been more clear: The resources I was hoping to find would be the intro to entrepreneurship - the crazy up and down world of startups - type of literature.
  - seymores 15y ago
    :-D bad plug, but http://bestbooks100.com http://bestbooks100.com
revorad 15y ago
I would actually strongly advise against reading. Vicarious entrepreneurism is a real trap. It's better to start building or selling something. If your friends have any flair for business at all, tell them to open up a Shopify store and sell something. I actually recommended this to a friend who asked me the same question your friends asked. She's got a growing online jewellery business now. And she's keyed into the startup literature when she needs it.

11 points by MrMike 15y ago

brackin 15y ago

It depends what they're looking for: Facts, insights or opinions and news on startups. Here's a list of items which i've always liked. To be honest you can get so much just from reading Hacker News. Books: Founders at Work The Lean Startup The Four Hour Work Week Hackers & Painters Getting Real - 37 Signals/Jason Fried F'd Companies (Maybe not crucial but helped me think about startups needing to fulfill a need/fix a problem). Articles: http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html http://thestartupfoundry.com/ http://avc.com http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/ http://steveblank.com/ http://onstartups.com/ Market (Raw startup information/links): http://betali.st/ http://angel.co Interview Specific: http://foundation.bz http://mixergy.com http://thisweekin.com - TWI Startups or VC are both good shows. YC Startup School Videos (Not exactly interviews but great). Startup News: http://thenextweb.com http://techcrunch.com http://readwriteweb.com http://venturebeat.com http://gigaom.com Update: YC also has a library of information here too: http://ycombinator.com/lib.html http://ycombinator.com/lib.html

MrMike 15y ago
Thanks. I should have been more clear: The resources I was hoping to find would be the intro to entrepreneurship - the crazy up and down world of startups - type of literature.
- seymores 15y ago
  :-D bad plug, but http://bestbooks100.com http://bestbooks100.com

revorad 15y ago

I would actually strongly advise against reading. Vicarious entrepreneurism is a real trap. It's better to start building or selling something. If your friends have any flair for business at all, tell them to open up a Shopify store and sell something. I actually recommended this to a friend who asked me the same question your friends asked. She's got a growing online jewellery business now. And she's keyed into the startup literature when she needs it.