Early Days Resources To Jumpstart Growth in 2023
As we wrap up this year, many people are looking to kickstart their journey or shift to higher gear next year. The end of the year is a time to start reflecting on the past and prepare for the future. As part of looking back to look forward, I’ve been reflecting on my journey as a founder and what got me to where I am today. When my journey started many years ago, there were certain books and resources I found very useful. Reflecting on them today, their fundamental principles are still relevant. Although some approaches have changed, many contain tactics that are still very effective today.
It’s easy to forget the basics, but they contain uncomplicated nuggets for growth. In no particular order, here are ten classic books and resources that will help you on your journey:
Patrick McKenzie’s Greatest Hits on Building Software:
Patrick McKenzie has been writing for nearly two decades, and he shares his top essays here. Much of his writing is focused on engineers and working with engineers as you build your startup, marketing, SEO, and other timeless pieces of information. He goes deep on essential topics, and his writing is timeless. Even though he focuses on engineers, anyone can get value from his work.
Start Small, Stay Small by Rob Walling:
This book is a developer’s guide to launching a startup. However, you don’t have to be a developer to get good value. This is a particularly good read if you’re bootstrapping your startup. The book intentionally avoids the topics that are only relevant to venture-backed startups and instead focuses on what you need to know if you’re self-funded or bootstrapping.
Do More Faster by Brad Feld and David Cohen:
Techstars lessons to accelerate your startup. Brad Feld and David Cohen co-founded Techstars in 2006. Techstars has since become one of the most well-regarded accelerators in the game, and this book shares key learnings from the program. You’ll learn from the personal experiences of Feld, Cohen, and a number of Techstars participants.
The original version of this classic was published in 2010 but now has a 3rd edition. Product-market fit is everything for the early-stage startup, and Running Lean gives a clear framework to find it. Following Maurya’s methodology will keep you from wasting time, money, and effort on ideas that don’t work. This approach helped me in my earliest days, but it continues to influence how I work today.
Smart and Gets Things Done by Joel Spolsky:
For non-technical founders, finding technical talent can be a major challenge. This book can help you navigate the process of finding the right person to build your product. Joel Spolsky uses his experience to distill the hiring process into simple nuggets of wisdom. At the end of the day, it will teach you how to identify great engineers, even if you aren’t an engineer yourself.
Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh:
This book left a strong impression on me about customer happiness as a path to building sustainable growth and a great business. Tony Hsieh served as the CEO of Zappos for over two decades and consistently prioritized the customer over everything. This book shares the lessons he learned throughout the process and provides a great foundation for building your company’s culture.
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout:
This is a classic, and I wish I had read it earlier in my journey. As you make decisions on how to communicate about your product, you need the wisdom of this book. It will teach you how to market the value and vision of your product, not just its features. Read it twice, three times if you have to.
The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack and Bo Burlingham:
This is an inspiring success story. The management framework developed here isn’t a perfect fit for every business, but it is worth learning about. It’s also a story of how incentives drive behavior. Understanding incentives and human behavior is going to be critical to your success. Reading this book will help guide how you understand incentives.
Paul Graham (founder of Y Combinator) has been writing on his website for years. He covers a broad span of startup topics, and there’s much to learn from his writings. I find myself going back to some of his most classic essays, like Do Things That Don’t Scale. Whatever the question you have, Paul has likely written about it in a novel way. Turn to these when you need concise wisdom.
The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber:
There are lots of great books about building systems and thinking in systems. This was the first one I read, and got me on a great path. It’ll take you through the lifecycle of your business and help you build operational frameworks for success. This one got a mention in my Goal Setting and North Star Metrics post because it played a major role in sharpening my focus on my business and becoming methodical on my path to success.
Bonus books: Many books have generally impacted my thinking, and it’s hard to pick. Here are two as a bonus: Mindset - The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck and Titan - The Life of Rockefeller by Ron Chernow. Let me know if I missed any classics that have informed your founding journey.