4 ms·

Ask HN: Good books on the nuts and bolts of starting up

30 points by ericb 17y ago

I'm looking for good books on the nuts and bolts of starting up. Ideally I prefer things written by someone who has done it a few times. I'm looking for really practical advice rather than something like Founders at Work (good, but not what I'm after). Topics like hiring sales people, how fast to grow headcount, how to structure options, etc. Book suggestions devoted to individual topics are also welcome.

kyro 17y ago
To be quite honest with you, most of these books written by people like Guy Kawasaki, Jessica Livingston, Buffet, etc., are all great, but are pretty much compilations of stories or opinions. I know what you're after, because I was after the same thing not too long ago. I just went to Borders and picked up some text books on the subjects of interest - business, marketing, etc. I'm not sure if you'll be able to find text books on 'how to structure options,' but I'm sure there's some text that Harvard MBA's and the like have read throughout their time in school that covers that topic.
- ericb 17y ago
  I've been disappointed so far too. For example, I read an article about a hard driving sales guy whose rule of thumb was n calls a day, and n appointments and to make them like you within the first minute. I'm looking for books passing on this type of rule of thumb wisdom from entrepreneurs.
ScottWhigham 17y ago
I liked The Entrepreneur's Bible since it provided a great foundation of all the topics. From there, then you can pick and choose. I like Art of the Start, Founders at Work as well for various reasons.
jlees 17y ago
As a followup anything UK specific would be interesting to hear about. I've seen the various 'small business guides' which are good for some topics but not so great on others.
kwamenum86 17y ago
"Engineering Your Startup" is a GREAT guide to all of the nuts and bolts. From analyzing markets, to corporate structure and dynamics, to accounting- it covers pretty much everything.
- ScottWhigham 17y ago
  I got this as a gift a while back and it's okay.
- kubrick 17y ago
  It's got some good stuff, but it's a bit out-dated. Its mindset is maybe 2001-2002 and comes from the point-of-view that the days of the 2-3 person startup being able to compete with large companies is over. It also assumes you're going to want large amounts of capital, immediately, from VCs, and is focused on that process.
ericb 17y ago
Blog suggestions on these topics would be handy, too... Also sales, marketing, accounting for topics...
hwijaya 17y ago
I think things like options and any other legal is a very delicate stuffs and better be done with experts (lawyer, accountant etc). For resources, here are few that i have in the arsenal: Marketing: http://startup-marketing.com/ http://startup-marketing.com/ http://andrewchenblog.com/ http://andrewchenblog.com/ Legal: http://www.thestartuplawyer.com/ http://www.thestartuplawyer.com/ General: http://startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com/ http://startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com/ http://onstartups.com/ http://onstartups.com/ You can ask any topic: http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?biz http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?biz http://news.ycombinator.com/ http://news.ycombinator.com/ Hope it helps.
- kyro 17y ago
  I've also seen some pretty comprehensive answers to questions over at http://www.chuwe.com http://www.chuwe.com.
  - ericb 17y ago
    Chuwe looks pretty cool. I almost didn't click because the domain name didn't look 'serious'.
- sachinag 17y ago
  Also http://startupcompanylawyer.com http://startupcompanylawyer.com for legal.
emilam 17y ago
"Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations" and "Deal Terms - The Finer Points of Venture Capital Deal Structures, Valuations, Term Sheets, Stock Options and Getting VC Deals Done (Inside the Minds)" Both are great books. I would read Term Sheets first, but Deal Terms has a lot of great information when you are getting ready to do VC funding. I guess that is if you do VC funding.
ig1 17y ago
Guy Kawaski's Art of the Start is more practical than FaW but I'm not sure it's practical enough for you.
deyan 17y ago
The Four Steps to Epiphany by Steven Blank - a great manual for creating a successful, data-driven, hypothesis-based, and iterative-heavy startup.
- ochiba 17y ago
  I second this -- I think it's what the OP is looking for. It's published by CafePress, so the fastest and cheapest option is to get it directly from them: http://www.cafepress.com/kandsranch http://www.cafepress.com/kandsranch Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0976470705 http://www.amazon.com/dp/0976470705
tokenadult 17y ago
Not books, but useful online articles, are the articles listed in the Hacker News Library: http://ycombinator.com/lib.html http://ycombinator.com/lib.html
timothychung 17y ago
Stanford's entrepreneurship corner: book list: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/search.html?keywords=book&x=0&y=0 http://ecorner.stanford.edu/search.html?keywords=book&x=... MIT Entrepreneurship center: book list: http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/booklist.php http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/booklist.php "Must have resources for startups?" at StackOverflow.com http://stackoverflow.com/questions/120272/must-have-resources-for-startups http://stackoverflow.com/questions/120272/must-have-resource... "books for startup" at StackOverflow.com http://stackoverflow.com/questions/412677/books-for-startup http://stackoverflow.com/questions/412677/books-for-startup Hope it helps you. :-)
imp 17y ago
The Business of Software by Eric Sink is pretty good. http://www.amazon.com/Eric-Business-Software-Experts-Voice/dp/1590596234 http://www.amazon.com/Eric-Business-Software-Experts-Voice/d...
ochiba 17y ago
Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur is probably the most useful book I've yet read when it comes to startups. Topics covered: Financing maps; Cash flow and risk of early stage ventures; how much capital raise and what to spend it on; getting behind how VCs think (really informative), business plans, valuation of early stage ventures, term sheets, splitting rewards, allocating control, aligning interests (options, vesting, noncompete, IP, etc.). http://www.amazon.com/dp/0071496025 http://www.amazon.com/dp/0071496025 I've read Founders plus a couple of other titles on the subject, but this one really stood out.
JustAGeek 17y ago
"Growing a Business" by Paul Hawken - hands down one of the best books on starting a business I have read. Don't let yourself be scared away by the release date 1988, the advice in there is timeless. Lots of the author's advice can still be found in other books on that topic. http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Business-Paul-Hawken/dp/0671671642/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241895162&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Business-Paul-Hawken/dp/067167... You might also think the title sounds "treehuggerish", I found the book not to be like that at all but very inspiring and useful.
lpolovets 17y ago
Reality Check by Guy Kawasaki is excellent, and covers everything from PR to marketing to legal. Some parts are advice on how to approach various aspects of starting up while other parts are more "nuts and bolts." (on average, the book stays somewhere between those two slants) http://www.amazon.com/Reality-Check-Outsmarting-Outmanaging-Outmarketing/dp/1591842239 http://www.amazon.com/Reality-Check-Outsmarting-Outmanaging-... is e

30 points by ericb 17y ago

kyro 17y ago

To be quite honest with you, most of these books written by people like Guy Kawasaki, Jessica Livingston, Buffet, etc., are all great, but are pretty much compilations of stories or opinions. I know what you're after, because I was after the same thing not too long ago. I just went to Borders and picked up some text books on the subjects of interest - business, marketing, etc. I'm not sure if you'll be able to find text books on 'how to structure options,' but I'm sure there's some text that Harvard MBA's and the like have read throughout their time in school that covers that topic.

ericb 17y ago
I've been disappointed so far too. For example, I read an article about a hard driving sales guy whose rule of thumb was n calls a day, and n appointments and to make them like you within the first minute. I'm looking for books passing on this type of rule of thumb wisdom from entrepreneurs.

ScottWhigham 17y ago

I liked The Entrepreneur's Bible since it provided a great foundation of all the topics. From there, then you can pick and choose. I like Art of the Start, Founders at Work as well for various reasons.

jlees 17y ago

As a followup anything UK specific would be interesting to hear about. I've seen the various 'small business guides' which are good for some topics but not so great on others.

kwamenum86 17y ago

"Engineering Your Startup" is a GREAT guide to all of the nuts and bolts. From analyzing markets, to corporate structure and dynamics, to accounting- it covers pretty much everything.

ScottWhigham 17y ago
I got this as a gift a while back and it's okay.
kubrick 17y ago
It's got some good stuff, but it's a bit out-dated. Its mindset is maybe 2001-2002 and comes from the point-of-view that the days of the 2-3 person startup being able to compete with large companies is over. It also assumes you're going to want large amounts of capital, immediately, from VCs, and is focused on that process.

ericb 17y ago

Blog suggestions on these topics would be handy, too... Also sales, marketing, accounting for topics...

hwijaya 17y ago

I think things like options and any other legal is a very delicate stuffs and better be done with experts (lawyer, accountant etc). For resources, here are few that i have in the arsenal: Marketing: http://startup-marketing.com/ http://startup-marketing.com/ http://andrewchenblog.com/ http://andrewchenblog.com/ Legal: http://www.thestartuplawyer.com/ http://www.thestartuplawyer.com/ General: http://startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com/ http://startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com/ http://onstartups.com/ http://onstartups.com/ You can ask any topic: http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?biz http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?biz http://news.ycombinator.com/ http://news.ycombinator.com/ Hope it helps.

kyro 17y ago
I've also seen some pretty comprehensive answers to questions over at http://www.chuwe.com http://www.chuwe.com.
- ericb 17y ago
  Chuwe looks pretty cool. I almost didn't click because the domain name didn't look 'serious'.
sachinag 17y ago
Also http://startupcompanylawyer.com http://startupcompanylawyer.com for legal.

emilam 17y ago

"Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations" and "Deal Terms - The Finer Points of Venture Capital Deal Structures, Valuations, Term Sheets, Stock Options and Getting VC Deals Done (Inside the Minds)" Both are great books. I would read Term Sheets first, but Deal Terms has a lot of great information when you are getting ready to do VC funding. I guess that is if you do VC funding.

ig1 17y ago

Guy Kawaski's Art of the Start is more practical than FaW but I'm not sure it's practical enough for you.

deyan 17y ago

The Four Steps to Epiphany by Steven Blank - a great manual for creating a successful, data-driven, hypothesis-based, and iterative-heavy startup.

ochiba 17y ago
I second this -- I think it's what the OP is looking for. It's published by CafePress, so the fastest and cheapest option is to get it directly from them: http://www.cafepress.com/kandsranch http://www.cafepress.com/kandsranch Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0976470705 http://www.amazon.com/dp/0976470705

tokenadult 17y ago

Not books, but useful online articles, are the articles listed in the Hacker News Library: http://ycombinator.com/lib.html http://ycombinator.com/lib.html

timothychung 17y ago

Stanford's entrepreneurship corner: book list: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/search.html?keywords=book&x=0&y=0 http://ecorner.stanford.edu/search.html?keywords=book&x=... MIT Entrepreneurship center: book list: http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/booklist.php http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/booklist.php "Must have resources for startups?" at StackOverflow.com http://stackoverflow.com/questions/120272/must-have-resources-for-startups http://stackoverflow.com/questions/120272/must-have-resource... "books for startup" at StackOverflow.com http://stackoverflow.com/questions/412677/books-for-startup http://stackoverflow.com/questions/412677/books-for-startup Hope it helps you. :-)

imp 17y ago

The Business of Software by Eric Sink is pretty good. http://www.amazon.com/Eric-Business-Software-Experts-Voice/dp/1590596234 http://www.amazon.com/Eric-Business-Software-Experts-Voice/d...

ochiba 17y ago

Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur is probably the most useful book I've yet read when it comes to startups. Topics covered: Financing maps; Cash flow and risk of early stage ventures; how much capital raise and what to spend it on; getting behind how VCs think (really informative), business plans, valuation of early stage ventures, term sheets, splitting rewards, allocating control, aligning interests (options, vesting, noncompete, IP, etc.). http://www.amazon.com/dp/0071496025 http://www.amazon.com/dp/0071496025 I've read Founders plus a couple of other titles on the subject, but this one really stood out.

JustAGeek 17y ago

"Growing a Business" by Paul Hawken - hands down one of the best books on starting a business I have read. Don't let yourself be scared away by the release date 1988, the advice in there is timeless. Lots of the author's advice can still be found in other books on that topic. http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Business-Paul-Hawken/dp/0671671642/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241895162&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Business-Paul-Hawken/dp/067167... You might also think the title sounds "treehuggerish", I found the book not to be like that at all but very inspiring and useful.

lpolovets 17y ago

Reality Check by Guy Kawasaki is excellent, and covers everything from PR to marketing to legal. Some parts are advice on how to approach various aspects of starting up while other parts are more "nuts and bolts." (on average, the book stays somewhere between those two slants) http://www.amazon.com/Reality-Check-Outsmarting-Outmanaging-Outmarketing/dp/1591842239 http://www.amazon.com/Reality-Check-Outsmarting-Outmanaging-... is e