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Vote for the Book Club's Q3 Book!

Welcome! This is our first quarter doing the book club and we're already halfway through the quarter, so let's get to work ๐Ÿ’ช What book would you like to read?

Put your vote in a comment below by end of day Wednesday, August 21st.

We'll tally the vote and announce the winner. From there, we'll all read the book, and in a few weeks we'll post some discussion threads. Enjoy!

  1. 16

    +1 for The Mom Test!

    1. 1

      was gonna propose douglas adams hitchhiker's guide galaxy but i'd love to read The Mom Test!

      1. 1

        This comment was deleted 5 years ago.

      2. 1

        This comment was deleted 5 years ago.

  2. 9

    Atomic Habits by James Clear had a big impact in my life last year and plan on reading it again this month. Certainly, part of my Top 5.

    1. 1

      Just purchased, thanks for posting. Looking forward to reading this.

  3. 8

    How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis - a sort of hilarious cautionary tale which also has lots of actually good (and rare) advice. I think it does a good job of showing the dark side of going "as big as possible" while also pulling out the important lessons from that world. Plus it's just fun reading, and most people won't have encountered it before since it's not really on the startup book circuit.

    Anything You Want by Derek Sivers - essentially the opposite of the previous suggestion, which shows how a hopeful idealist can win big by simply being a good dude. But which also points out some places where hopeful idealism gets taken advantage of. Busts a lot of myths about the attitude you need to hold in order to be successful, and also super short which makes for a good book club candidate.

    The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber - Written toward small business owners, it is the best book about hiring your first one or two employees/helpers and building repeatable processes which allow you to build a business instead of a job. A slightly goofy writing style, but it makes for easy reading and the core message is bulletproof. (Although perhaps less relevant for a pure tech business. But we have a lot of hybrids here.)

    The New Business Roadtest by John Mullins - Although this book is firmly entrenched in the scalable startup world, it discusses a topic which nobody in the post-lean days seems willing to discuss: idea selection and the quality of the idea itself.

    The Mom Test by me (I'm super biased about this one obviously) about how to get unbiased customer feedback and do customer interviews without wasting your time. Anyway it's super great.

    1. 2

      Anything You Want is one of my favorite books, and its so short I just keep re-reading it

      1. 1

        Yes, love the short form of it. Makes it even better: less time spent, more info/fun

    2. 1

      Yes to Derek Sivers' book, and Mom Test is on my reading list!

    3. 1

      The E-myth has been on my list for a while! Adding The Mom Test to my list as well ;)

  4. 7

    Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
    By Nir Eyal seems like an interesting read.

    1. 2

      Highly recommend this one as well

    2. 2

      Just finished this book, great recommendationโ€‹.

    3. 1

      Sorry, I didn't think it was that good. Lot's of obvious advice (to me), and perhaps you should only read it when you have a full product up and running, with customers, churn and all that. Just so the advice is immediately applicable. I think that was an issue for me whilst reading the book. Hopefully in the case of having a finished running product, it will be a better book :)

      1. 2

        Thanks for the feedback!

  5. 6

    Deep work - Cal Newport
    I'm not sure there is a more important skill as a founder than the ability to produce high-quality, creative, deep work.

    1. 1

      Excellent book, Cal Newport is one of my favorite people

  6. 5

    The E-Myth Revisited - Michael Gerber (It was already mentioned by @robfitz, but just wanted to have a separate entry for the votes to count too ๐Ÿ˜‰)

  7. 5

    +1 You Donโ€™t Have to Be Ruthless to Win

    1. 1

      sounds like an intriguing read!

    2. 1

      I put that on my want-to-read list, too. I rarely read such recent releases, this is going to be interesting!

      Update: Very disappointing. Would not recommend. It's more like a company manifesto and reasons why working at the author's firm is great.

  8. 4

    Factfulness: 10 reasons we're wrong about the world- and what to do about it, by Hans Rosling (it's such a fabulous read that I'd read it again with you if it's chosen)

    It's loaded with fresh data, gets us out of our bubble, energized about the future, and shows us our mental biases and how to progress. With addictive storytelling on top of it.

  9. 4

    Start Small, Stay Small. It's a classic bootstrapping guide and is a bit outdated so there would be lots to discuss.

  10. 4

    The Hard Thing About Hard Things [Ben Ben Horowitz]

    1. 1

      This is one of my favorites. A must-read for any entrepreneur.

  11. 2

    What about the Bible 'Getting Real - the smarter, faster, easier way to build a succesful web application' by 37 Signals. It's many (startup) books in one, except that it's only pragmatic advice. So useful! Should re-read it every year, but where's the time..
    Here's the free copy: https://basecamp.com/books/Getting Real.pdf

  12. 2

    The Seven Day Weekend - Ricardo Semler
    Seminal book on running a business in a contrarian manner - by decentralizing decisions and promoting transparency. Ricardo lay the ground work for the Base Camps of the world.

    1. 1

      OMG thanx I had no idea he wrote a book, I knew his Ted talk

  13. 2

    Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World by Rand Fishkin.
    Really enjoyed the audio version narrated by Rand himself.

  14. 2

    The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant Cardone.

    It was for me a very motivating read, and made me set way bigger goals then I have done in the past. It has had a major impact on my life so far.

    1. 1

      Great book but liked his "Be Obsessed Or Be Average" book more (more practical and motivational for me personally).

  15. 2

    Built to Sell by John Warrillow was an eye-opener for me.

    1. 1

      currently reading this one. Finished his other "Automatic Customer" it's still pretty timeless.

  16. 2

    BTW how many votes or book suggestions can we each make?
    I upvoted the Mom test, suggested Factfulness and I could easily upvote The One Thing, and others suggestions... If one only, I'll go with Mom ๐Ÿ˜ because I haven't read it but know I should.

    1. 1

      As many as you'd like!

  17. 2

    This is one of my Faves "Mind Hacking", It's a kick-ass motivational and self help book for developers and creators: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UDCI3EA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

  18. 1

    Looooove this idea, have we picked a winner (looks like Mom Test)?

  19. 1

    Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, founder of online shoe company Zappos.

    His story of selling a former startup for multiple millions, then enjoys spending the money for a while, rans into someone which he starts Zappos with, from there the whole Zappos rollercoaster begins with big focus on customer service (including some super cool stories around customer service). Super interesting, best (hidden) HR book out there!

    (this is a copy of a former comment on another post, but thought this suggestion would fit here too. Definitely a bit different then most suggested startup books here. This one reads like a charm and is more of a personal founders story)

  20. 1

    Zero to One by Peter Thiel ๐Ÿ“š

  21. 1

    Bootstrapping a profitable SaaS Business - Tyler Tringas

  22. 1

    I'd like to vote but cannot reach to the page

    1. 1

      The page is a link to a separate article with recommendations. Vote by leaving a comment :)

      1. 1

        Ow. I see. I thought there is a poll page or something. Thanks! :)

  23. 1

    Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills by Scott H Young.

    1. 1

      Just ordered the the other day. How did you find it?

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