Twas the night before launching… the New(ish) Founder Book List
I’ve put a complete list of the best books for early-stage founders based on the questions you’re facing here. It’s easy to digest and hopefully a great resource.
I also put them in holiday poem form for some reason below. Very tough to digest, and probably way less helpful. You should definitely ignore this and just read this list. But, I had a long layover and really liked the cooooostanza joke, so:
Twas the night before launching…
Twas the night before launching, and you looked through your stack,
No notifications were stirring, eery silence from Slack,
Your social posts were queued up in Buffer with care,
In hopes that favorites, likes, and claps soon would be there.
You were ready, you declared, yet you felt no enjoyment,
Just a pit in your stomach you hoped was the soylent,
You wouldn’t fail this time, you mustn’t, you shouldn’t,
You’d prove ’em all wrong when they said that you couldn’t,
This was your time and you knew it — you’d studied all the OG’s,
From Blank on to Thiel, Paul Graham on to Reis,
You’d read about innovators, their dilemma’s a treat,
(Your second favorite dilemma, Nelly’s not getting beat),
Your growth plan? Simple. You’d make your own luck,
You were Hooked getting Traction, Made to Stick really stuck,
How to keep their attention? Contagious was a bonanza,
You’d embed all the triggers, you’d be cooooostanza.
And then there was Seth, he gets his own stanza,
Who’s the (marketing) boss? It ain’t Tony Danza,
He helps you daily, teaching you how to commit,
Most important of all, he’ll show you when you should (and shouldn’t) quit.
Pricing? Much harder. People make no damn sense,
We’re Predictably Irrational, lucky Predictable Revenue’s so dense,
And blogs, oh the blogs! You subbed and they came,
You opted-in, you followed, you called them by name:
Now, Zhou! now, Bryce! now, Wilson and Suster,
On, First Round! On Feld! Write all the posts you can… muster?
(Is it “sus-ter” or “soo-ster” who writes those essays?
In the words Shawn Spencer, I’ve heard it both ways),
These help you build something meaningful, something your customers love,
And maybe Tacklebox can help, (couldn’t not have a plug)
