Ask Slashdot: What Are Your Favorite Books On Entrepreneurship? 87
An anonymous reader writes: There are excellent well-known books like Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson and Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, but I find some of the lesser-known books about tech entrepreneurship very interesting, like A Triumph of Genius about Edwin Land of Polaroid or Riding the Runaway Horse about An Wang of Wang Laboratories. Also, there's Fast Forward by Lardner about VHS/Betamax. What books regarding entrepreneurship would Slashdotters recommend?
After over thirty years of start-ups... (Score:1)
I've noticed the only quality that helps is insane confidence. There is no correlation between intelligence and a good idea. The only thing that helps is having enough money to make it to the buy-out.
Re: After over thirty years of start-ups... (Score:2, Insightful)
This. Just make it long enough until you can get bought out.
Re:After over thirty years of start-ups... (Score:4, Interesting)
Completely relevant recent XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1827/ [xkcd.com] (Survivorship Bias)
i.e. there's plenty of people that have done the same initial things as anyone who wrote these books and didn't get lucky. You might as well read a book on how someone won the lottery.
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Re: After over thirty years of start-ups... (Score:2)
What, are you 12? If you want a vacation, take a fucking vacation. If your employer has a problem with that, find a new employer. Stop whining about life, and make grown up decisions.
Re: After over thirty years of start-ups... (Score:1)
Yet ultimately, that was your choice.
You don't live in North Korea. You have options; exercise them!
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Success is mostly down to dumb luck: being in the right place at the right time. Things like intelligence, talent and ability have a role to play also. You need to be able to recognise the opportunity when you see it, you needs to have the knowledge and skills to exploit it, and you need to have that feeling of "entitlement" - but there are plenty of people out there with all the skills and talent, who don't make it. If you have worked for any length of time as a software developer, you know this is true, b
Well obviously there's only one answer (Score:5, Funny)
Trump: Art of the Deal
Rework (Score:1)
Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson of 37 Signals.
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I would add "Microserfs" and possibly "The Circle" to that list.
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Yeah, "Microserfs" and "The J Pod". Plus the CBC JPod TV series if you can find a copy.
"The Circle" is typical Dave Eggers. I couldn't finish it.
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"The Circle" is typical Dave Eggers. I couldn't finish it.
Fair enough.
Trump! (Score:1)
So many good books. The best books.
Trump: The Art Of Building Walls To Keep Bad Hombres Out
Space Merchants (Score:3)
Where the Wild Things Are (Score:3)
Being an entrepreneur is about being willing to fail, and recovering after you realize you made a mistake.
The classics (Score:1)
Lest Darkness Fall
Lord Kalvan of Other when
Conrad Stargard
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
King David's Spaceship
Have Spaceship, Will Travel
Dune
Man of Gold
Riverworld
Re: The classics (Score:2)
Don't read a book (Score:5, Insightful)
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Don't read a book. Go start a business. "Entrepreneurship" books are largely useless, in my opinion (as a successful entrepreneur).
While I can definitely respect the sentiment, I also like to do a bit of research on things before jumping in. Talking with entrepreneurs (both those are/were successful and those who weren't), I did like The Opportunity Analysis Canvas as a way to help one see the opportunity in the first place (something with which I continually struggle).
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My Favorite (Score:3)
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+1.
The franchise prototype model is really the way most businesses should be run. It certainly is for PAAS and SAAS based businesses.
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FYI, there are a dozen or more titles starting with "The E-Myth..."
Maybe narrow it down?
That's easy... (Score:1)
Freakonomics by Dubner and Levitt. Assuming you already know the mechanics of being in business, the most important lesson you need to know is that people respond to incentives, but they rarely respond in the way you anticipated.
I can't imagine why anyone would want to emulate Steve Jobs. He died because he believed in woo-woo quack cures. I realise that denying reality is valued in the entrepreneur business, but surely that's why you should stand out.
Simply The Best... (Score:2)
The Incredible Secret Money Machine.
There is no other book like it.
https://www.amazon.com/Incredi... [amazon.com]
Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure (Score:2)
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And speaking of books that focus on successful persons: don't bother. Apple wasn't successful because Steve decided to only wear black turtlenecks. Oracle didn't beco
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On that note, it'd be rude not to mention Boo Hoo.
Creativity Inc. (Score:1)
I really enjoyed Ed Catmull's book about Pixar. As someone who has worked in the games industry for over 10 years, I wish this book were recommended reading for everyone running a studio.
All I ever needed. (Score:2)
TTL Cookbook by Don Lancaster.
Okay, I started back in the late 70s.
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High-tech Ventures by Gordon Bell (Score:2)
The examples are a bit dated but people keep making the same mistakes ... My main take-away is pretty simple: build a team and manage your costs. The more of your company you manage to hold on to, the more control you keep while you are there and the more you get when you leave.
Extraordinary Popular Delusions ... (Score:2)
the underbelly of entrepreneurship (Score:2)
My last two reads in this area were The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon (2013) and When Genius Failed (2000), both of which I found highly engaging.
Is that what you were looking for?
On my near-term list is The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers (2014).
Perhaps that's more what you're after.
I also liked The Man in the Machine [youtube.com] (2015).
High Tech Startup (Score:1)
by Nesheim. He goes through the steps from idea to IPO/buyout. a few good practical tips, such as think about how you will make money/cash out, how to go through the various rounds of VC and angel investor funding, and the one I think some people forget which is a takeover plan where you the mad scientist will step aside and let a professional management team take over, in return for money. The core of the book talks about unfair advantage which is definitely worth thinking about in depth. The eventual
The Art of The ... (Score:2)
... Pussy Grab by ghost writer for Donald Trump.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Drucker (Score:2)
"Innovation and Entrepreneurship" by Peter Drucker really makes you think about what your product aspirations should be.
I'm also fond of "Almost Perfect" http://www.wordplace.com/ap/ [wordplace.com]
and "Peopleware" by DeMarco and Lister
and "The 10 Day MBA" by Silbiger
IMO, a successful entrepreneur needs some basic business sense in addition to whatever product the idea might be.
Reading some boring books and trying a few low-risk ventures can prep you for the big swing.
OK, here are a few... (Score:1)
The Big Four (Score:2)
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
My favourite entrepreneurship books (Score:1)
How it goes wrong:Commodore, A Company on the EdgE (Score:4, Interesting)
Unfortunately, Jack Tramiel never really evolved into a big company player and kept small practices like starving suppliers etc. going. The later nepotism didn't help much either. This is a fascinating book of how a company that should have become what Apple is today, with tech way ahead of its time, fell into ruin. Well worth the read.
Here is my list, of the top of my head, ... (Score:2)
... and in no specific order:
The 4-Hour Workweek
The 100$ Start-Up
The Lean Startup
The one on my list that I haven't read yet:
The hard thing about hard things
Up the Organisation by Robert Townsend (Score:2)
Treat people well, don't lie, don't be a bureaucrat. Not a single thing about beanbags, strange hairstyles and flat whites (whatever they are?) in there either.
Paul Graham: Hackers & Painters (Score:2)
Too transient, how about redoing it as a poll? (Score:2)
I've been reading a lot of these books over the last few years and would even be glad to contribute a few comments, but... Too transient to justify the effort. How about redoing it as a poll? The current poll has been basically dead for a week or two, and this would seem to be a much more interesting topic.
You could get the top candidates at random, but I'd recommend using Amazon to get the bestselling examples for the top 4 or 5 slots and collect the others in the comments.
Seems to be a problem with the Co
"start your own business" from entrepreneur mag. (Score:1)
I am hoping to learn enough to get a working business, but it competes with other priorities in life. In addition to reading from a variety of sources and just thinking, I bought a few business books based on amazon reviews (the "quick MBA" type). The best by far was "start your own business" from entrepreneur magazine. It was loaded (really, not a buzzword) with practical things like how to choose what form of corporation (and when/whether to bother), how to choose a name (& how much to bother), kin
Batman (Score:2)
Who cares? (Score:2)
I can't imagine a more boring subject. Entrepreneurship is definitely not News for Nerds. *yawn*
Creativity, Inc. (Score:1)
The Discovery of Freedom (Score:2)
by Rose Wilder Lane. Discusses why entrepreneurship has thrived only twice in human history: for the Saracens in the middle ages and in the US from the late 1800- mid 1900's (and up to present).
Best of management (Score:1)