4 books every aspiring startup founder should read

<img alt="Book" height="359" src="http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzExLzA4LzgyL2Jvb2suNDIzOTMuanBnCnAJdGh1bWIJOTUweDUzNCMKZQlqcGc/ea83e938/843/book.jpg" width="640" /><br /> <br /> <section class="article-content" style="-webkit-transition: margin 0.2s; background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 24.7869319915772px; margin-top: 1em; max-width: 625px; transition: margin 0.2s; width: auto;"><div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to be able to juggle several hats at the same time. Identifying a problem and developing a scalable solution is the easy bit. Your initial days as a founder may be spent coding and refining the technical architecture, but then comes a concerted effort on streamlining operations, drumming up sales, and executing a marketing strategy.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> In an ideal scenario, founders already have experience in what it takes to build a company. They might have worked different jobs in the past or have a fancy college degree which will, at the very least, point them in the right direction. But startups are tricky; be prepared to dig deep and get your hands dirty. Fortunately there's a wealth of advice out there from people who've achieved brilliant things and want to give their knowledge to others like them. In no particular order, here are four books every aspiring tech founder should read.</div> <h3 style="clear: left; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.27; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <span style="font-size: small;">1. <em>Zero to One</em> — Peter Thiel</span></h3> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> Peter Thiel needs no introduction. As the co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook, the American entrepreneur has done and seen it all. In his book, which Forbes says "makes you feel superhuman", Peter outlines how great companies are born out of nothing. <em>Zero to One</em> urges founders to look at areas which are underserved and where they can carve out a niche — building a loyal base of customers which you can use as a foundation to scale.</div> <div class="see-also" style="font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase;"> <div class="inline-ad-seealso" style="margin: 0px 18.75px 0px auto; max-width: 625px;"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> Peter knows what he's talking about — after all his net worth is approximately US$2.2 billion. Other chapters in his book talk about the nature of competition, the essence of building products investors will be interested in, and how it's essential to have a great team.</div> <h3 style="clear: left; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.27; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <span style="font-size: small;">2. <em>The Hard Thing About Hard Things</em> — Ben Horowitz</span></h3> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> Ben Horowitz is the co-founder of one of the most recognized names in venture capital —<a href="http://a16z.com/" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Andreessen Horowitz</a>. Prior to his role as a VC, Ben worked at Netscape, eventually going on to build an enterprise software company — Opsware — which was sold to HP for US$1.6 billion in cash. He's been there and done that.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> <em>The Hard Thing About Hard Things</em> outlines Ben's journey in refreshing honesty. It takes you through the highs and lows — an inevitable course for any founder trying to make it big. The book is written more in a personal narrative style but that's a good thing. It goes to show no founder can ever dream of making an impact without having to go through trials and tribulations. There's advice on almost everything you need to do to build a world-class company — acting and thinking like a leader, measuring performance, and focusing on product.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="m!6471" style="color: #00aeef;"></a></div> <div class="microcontent-wrapper" style="clear: left; margin-left: 0px; position: relative;"> <div class="microcontent-shares" data-description="" data-fragment="m!6471" data-image="http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzExLzA2LzJhL2Jlbmhvcm93aXR6LjQwZTZmLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/14671b05/b21/ben-horowitz-tech-in-asia-tokyo-2015-05-720x480.jpg" data-url="http://mashable.com/2015/11/08/books-startup-founder/" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.25s ease; background: rgb(246, 245, 241); height: 0px; left: -47px; opacity: 0; padding: 5px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: opacity 0.25s ease; width: 30px;"> <a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-facebook facebook" href="http://mashable.com/2015/11/08/books-startup-founder/?utm_cid=mash-prod-nav-sub-st#" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease; color: #3b579d; display: inline-block; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-twitter twitter" href="http://mashable.com/2015/11/08/books-startup-founder/?utm_cid=mash-prod-nav-sub-st#" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease; color: #2daae1; display: inline-block; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-google_plus google_plus" href="http://mashable.com/2015/11/08/books-startup-founder/?utm_cid=mash-prod-nav-sub-st#" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease; color: #f02f16; display: inline-block; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-pinterest pinterest" href="http://mashable.com/2015/11/08/books-startup-founder/?utm_cid=mash-prod-nav-sub-st#" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease; color: #bf1e25; display: inline-block; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a></div> <img alt="ben-horowitz-tech-in-asia-tokyo-2015-05" data-fragment="m!6471" data-image="http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzExLzA2LzJhL2Jlbmhvcm93aXR6LjQwZTZmLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/14671b05/b21/ben-horowitz-tech-in-asia-tokyo-2015-05-720x480.jpg" data-micro="1" data-url="http://mashable.com/2015/11/08/books-startup-founder/" data-width="720" src="http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzExLzA2LzJhL2Jlbmhvcm93aXR6LjQwZTZmLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/14671b05/b21/ben-horowitz-tech-in-asia-tokyo-2015-05-720x480.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <br /> <h3 style="clear: left; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.27; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <span style="font-size: small;">3. <em>The Lean Startup</em> — Eric Ries</span></h3> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> Rated as a <em>New York Times</em> best-seller, <em>The Lean Startup</em> teaches founders how to hustle, stretch budgets, and scale operations without burning too much cash. Eric wants you to learn how to be successful without wasting too many resources. The book counts on five basic principles as the cornerstone for success, allowing you to make better, faster business decisions in a landscape where speed and execution is everything. It cites Dropbox as one of the companies which successfully incorporated advice to scale quickly.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> <strong></strong></div> <div class="see-also" style="font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase;"> <strong>SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.techinasia.com/ben-horowitz-tech-in-asia-tokyo-2015/" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none; text-transform: none;" target="_blank">Ben Horowitz on tough decisions, Asia, and why he's not friends with Marc Andreessen</a></strong><div class="inline-ad-seealso" style="margin: 0px 18.75px 0px auto; max-width: 625px;"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> </div> <h3 style="clear: left; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.27; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <span style="font-size: small;">4. <em>Startup Playbook</em> — Sam Altman</span></h3> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> Sam Altman is the president of <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Y Combinator</a> — a Silicon Valley-based accelerator and one of the most prestigious names in the startup world today. The accelerator counts Dropbox, Airbnb, and Reddit as some of the companies that have graduated from its program. It is known for its unnerving focus on urging founders to "build something people want."</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> More than a hundred Y Combinator graduates are worth at least US$100 million or more, with a combined market capitalization of above US$65 billion. Clearly it's doing something right when it comes to mentorship and advice.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> <em><a href="http://playbook.samaltman.com/" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Startup Playbook</a></em> is an effort by Sam Altman to collate all the advice Y Combinator gives its resident companies. The book deals with how to start a company — one that users love and are eager to spread the word about. However, Sam clearly outlines that this is probably the first in a two-book series, talking exclusively about the initial stages of a startup. Scaling, which is also important, will be addressed in the second part — yet unreleased.</div> <ul style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 1.5em; padding: 0px;"> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PennOlson/~3/5KqN7ndnrak/" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;">Network late into the night at Tech in Asia Jakarta with Night Crawl</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PennOlson/~3/1le2xRGnt1k/" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;">As ecommerce booms in India, startups and giants rush to $300b logistics business</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PennOlson/~3/FkTNMTH0Z1A/" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;">5 questions to ask yourself before accepting a startup job</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PennOlson/~3/uPts9WN7Ml4/" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;">DNA-testing startup gets funding injection from Lippo-backed VC, enters Indonesia</a></li> </ul> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> This article originally published at Tech in Asia <a href="https://www.techinasia.com/4-books-aspiring-startup-founder-read/" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;">here</a></div> </section>

4 books every aspiring startup founder should read

To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to be able to juggle several hats at the same time. Identifying a problem and developing a scal...

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