Sep
05
Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days
By
For would–be entrepreneurs, innovation managers or just anyone fascinated by the special chemistry and drive that created some of the best technology companies in the world, this book offers both wisdom and engaging insights—straight from the source.— Chris Anderson, editor–in–chief of Wired Magazine, and author of The Long Tail“All the best things that I did at Apple came from (a) not having money and (b) not having done it before, ever.” —Steve Wozniak, Apple …
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13 Comments
September 5th, 2009 at 4:25 am
The Summary
Jessica Livingston has written an amazing book. If you want to read the stories behind some of the most well known software companies in the last 30 years, you will find it in this book. But Livingston hasn’t just covered the usual suspects (Google, Microsoft), she has included a diverse collection from Steve Wozniak (Apple) to David Heinemeier Hansson (37 Signals), Dan Bricklin (Visicalc) to Blake Ross (Firefox). It covers a lot of ground from the early 80’s software boom to the Web 2.0 starts ups. But there is more than just stories about starting companies, there is real advice from the frontline trenches of software start-ups. Keep your post-it notes and highlighter handy, if you are like me you will be annotating and highlighting a lot!
The Audience
If you have ever considered a start-up you should definitely read this book. It’s like picking the brains of some very experienced entrepreneurs. Anybody that has already tried their hand at start-ups will recognize the value of this book. Most will probably feel like I did, and wish that they had had this book before they started their first company. It could have saved me many painful lessons (both financially and personally). Reading these interviews is like having 32 mentors.
The Details
Like many people I am always a little skeptical of `success stories’. Just because someone did x, y and z, doesn’t mean that I could follow these very steps and be as successful. Just because Aunt Ethel, who lived to be a 100, attributes her long life to drinking a glass of whisky every day, doesn’t mean I can drink a glass of whisky every day and live to be a 100. Instead of a collection of fluffy `creation myth’ stories written about software companies, Livingston has put a lot of thought into how she approached these interviews and has collected some real gems of insights from these entrepreneurs. She has uncovered a gold mine of valuable advice and information about starting a company. As you read these stories you start to see some patterns emerging. Some of these patterns I recognize from my own experiences, but others were new to me. Sometimes you see contradictory advice from different founders; one tells you, you need to focus on the technology and somebody else explains that it’s more important to focus on business/market opportunity. There are definitely multiple paths to starting a company, but some advice is repeated story after story, and these seem to be universal truths.
The Ideas
Here are some of the universal truths that I culled from the interviews:
- Iterate through ideas, the first idea isn’t always the best
- Business plans are important – but be prepared to change it many times
- You need to be naïve – “unencumbered by reality”
- Persistence makes all the difference
- Passion – you need to be really excited about what you are doing and think it’s really important
- Understand and listen to your end users
The book is full of ideas and advice like this.
The Take-Aways
Overall, I can’t say enough good things about this book. Obviously it’s aimed at entrepreneurs, but I know there are going to be many people just interested in the stories behind their favorite companies or people. Personally I loved the interviews with Ray Ozzie, Joel Spolsky, Joe Kraus and Steve Wozniak. I was also fascinated by the stories behind companies like: 37 Signals, Six Apart, del.icio.us and Craigslist. I was even surprised by the story behind `Hot or Not’, it’s not as shallow as you might think.
Entrepreneurs — wanna-be, new and experienced — you NEED to read, think, digest and act on the advice in this book and your next/current entrepreneurial venture will go much smoother.
Kes Sampanthar
Inventor of ThinkCube
September 5th, 2009 at 5:26 am
I’m the founder of an early-stage startup, and I can wholeheartedly say that this book has enlightened me. The usual problem with books of this vein is that the author only has one core idea and then fluffs it up to get 300 pages. Founders@Work however is like reading a pile of books written by successful founders, each with their own insights and tidbits of useful advice.
You end up reading these real-life, down-to-earth stories about the early days at Apple and Yahoo and PayPal, and you’re seeing you and your co-founder right there. Hey! I code in a towel sometimes too! They aren’t telling you the glorified stories their PR guys tell them to say. This is the real deal. It’s awfully inspiring.
I would HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who is thinking of starting, or is currently running a startup.
September 5th, 2009 at 5:51 am
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but a little more diversity would be nice
This book was good, however, it was a little repetitive at points and lacked examples of start ups in industries other than software.
September 5th, 2009 at 6:53 am
This is an absolute must read if you’re job, your passion, or both (if you’re lucky) has anything to do with creating technical innovation. “Founders at Work” is a wonderfully meander through the stories of successful company founders – across several decades. Far from focusing on just those who made it big during the first dot-com boom or those who are profiting from Web 2.0, Jessica also includes some of the true pioneers in the field. She recognizes that, not only do these industry veterans have valuable stories to convey but, since many of them are helping to steer companies and venture capital funds to this day, their advice is quite topical and current.
From the great introduction right through the final interview, this book is packed with great anecdotes, advice, and information and inspiration. Makes you wonder as to what the story is behind the story – how did Jessica get unfettered access to such a broad array of the founding fathers?
I’ve included some illustrative quotes from the book below. Give them a read and then go pick up this book. The printed copy is a bargain and the e-book version is a steal. It may turn out to be one of the best investments you ever make.
* “You guys are nuts. Throw out your business plan. Your customers–or potential customers – are telling you what your business should be. The business plan was only used to get you the money. Why don’t you rewrite a business plan that is focused just on providing what your customers want?” – Q.T. Wiles advice to Charles Geschke (Cofounder, Adobe) on the real purpose of a business plan
* “There were some warning signs. Consider McKinsey, which holds itself out as one of the world’s leading repositories of knowledge on how to manage a business. They say they’ll never grow their company by more than 25 percent per year, because otherwise it’s just too hard to transmit the corporate culture. So if you’re growing faster than 25 percent a year, you have to ask yourself, `What do I know about management that McKinsey doesn’t know?’” – Philip Greenspun (Cofounder, ArsDigita) on scaling corporate culture
* That [not improving core product quality] was probably the biggest mistake we made. And that’s the advice I give everybody. All those little coupon schemes, this is what General Motors does. They figure out new rebate schemes because they forgot all about how to design cars people want to buy. But when you still remember how to make software people want, great, just improve it. – Joel Spolsky (Cofounder, Fog Creek Software)
* “I think some people slept; I know I didn’t sleep at all.” – Max Levchin (Cofounder, PayPal)
* “There were times when we were really broke before we had our angel investment, when only one guy who had children was getting paid.” – Caterina Fake (Cofounder, Flickr)
With nearly 21 of the 32 interviewees having the term “Cofounder” in their titles, Joel Spolsky’s advice seems perhaps to reflect best on what was critical to the success of these companies. “But because they never really take the leap and quit their job, they can give up their dream at any time. And 99.9 percent of them will actually give up their dream. If they take the leap, quit their job, go do it full-time–no matter how much it sucks–and convince one other person to do the same thing with them, they’re going to have a much, much higher chance of actually getting somewhere.”
September 5th, 2009 at 8:00 am
5.0 out of 5 stars
At the Heart of the Entrepreneurial Audience
I started reading Founders at Work before I flew out to California for my Y-Combinator interview (Jessica Livingston is a part of this group along with Paul Graham).
September 5th, 2009 at 9:21 am
4.0 out of 5 stars
How interviews uncover new truths
The thing I like most about interviews in general are that some new truths are often uncovered and the chance to dispel common myths is revealed.
September 5th, 2009 at 9:47 am
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very informative but also starting to show it’s age
There are several good interviews here but some of them are getting quite old in internet years. For example, Ev Williams is interviewed about Bloggr even though now most people…
September 5th, 2009 at 9:58 am
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome book
This book provided great insights into the minds of many famous (and not so famous), successful entrepreneurs.
September 5th, 2009 at 10:36 am
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great and inspiring read
This is a very readable book that will give anyone interested in founding or working for a startup a lot of food for thought.
September 5th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
4.0 out of 5 stars
Personal observations of founders – learn your own lessons from them
Founders and co-founders talk about their ventures, the early days, learnings, tribulations, and life at startups. There are 32 interviews here.
September 5th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unique in its class
Normally, I’d be bored by a collection of interviews. But this one is exceptional, filled with exciting tales from the boom era of Silicon Valley, told by some exceptional…
September 5th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad — but read Programmers at Work first
After reading the classic Programmers at Work (see below) back in the 1980s, then re-reading it again last year, I was a little disappointed with Founders at Work…
September 5th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
5.0 out of 5 stars
Founders at Work: Useful, inspiring
This is quite a treasure trove of inspiration and advice. It kept me going during some of the hard times while I was working on our startup.