A book for each of the 7 stages of your startup
Suraj Talreja
September 23, 2024
‧
3 min read
I'll be honest here. I'm not a voracious reader. However, every now and then, I try and get my hands on a few books that seem particularly interesting in my current phase of life. Gaining insights into trends from case studies and shared experiences has always been my biggest takeaway from regular reading. Plus, I don't have to look into a screen. Yes, I'm a paperback kinda guy (sorry, Kindle). Here's a round up of my favorite books, broken down by stages of starting up.
What makes a good idea? What is a tangible value proposition? How can you go about executing it? And, why will you win? Zero to One lucidly answers all these questions.
Convinced with your idea but not sure how to go about it? Jeremy Harbour, in Go Do!, gives you a step-by-step guide on how to validate your idea and sell to potentially early adopters (even before building your product).
This masterpiece by Eric Ries will blow your mind and bust many myths (common ones and the others just in your head). On his journey, you will learn how to get to a minimum viable product (MVP) in the most resource optimal fashion.
Now that shit's got real, you will have multiple hats to wear—sales, customer relations, support, payment collections (god bless Stripe for subscription collections). And some not-so-happy early adopters. This classic, originally printed in 1936, still doesn't fail to strike a chord. The book is by far the most honest and humble breakdown of human relationships and how we can get the most out them.
In the world of business, you are going to be up against professional negotiators. But Chriss Voss gives you enough artillery in your arsenal to always emerge victorious. Spoiler alert: you will learn a brand new F word, and it's way more powerful than the one you are currently thinking of.
You are hardly ever going to be alien to difficult situations on your entrepreneurial journey. Ben Horowitz provides you with a manual of life hacks for almost every hard situation. Personally, I keep checking in on certain chapters from time to time.
We've signed up for exponential growth. The million dollar question is how to get there. Chris Yeh and Reid Hoffman dissect the question with highly relevant examples of the most recent successes.
If you're not much of a reader, try consuming content in any way you like—audiobooks, podcasts, videos or even Instagram channels. There's a lot of great content out there that I would hate for you to miss out on. Also, if you'd like to know what I'm currently reading just head over here. And if you have any book suggestions for me, fire away.
P.S. Thanks for reading and don’t hesitate to try Classcard if you have a few minutes.