The one book you need to read to get in YC

http://www.entrepreneur2be.com/2008/02/13/book-founders-at-work/

by pepeto • 18 years ago

40 34 18 years ago

entrepreneur2be.com

Did I forget to say you may be quizzed on this book on the interview... ;-)

xirium• 18 years ago

hussle + luck = opportunity

dhimes• 18 years ago

hustle + opportunity + preparation = luck

watmough• 18 years ago

Wow, my copy of this arrived 30 minutes ago from Amazon. Talk about topical.

In the same pile of boxes was "Software Engineering for Internet Applications" which may well be a bit dated now, but I'm sure that the basic idea of using the fewest and fastest components available still holds good.

willarson• 18 years ago

Good article, but its unfortunately also a good example of how misspelling and using the wrong words can really hurt public writing.

pepeto3• 18 years ago

Hopefully the only one hurt will be the author(me) for his spelling and awkward wording.

redorb• 18 years ago

great book picked it up and about a month ago, when i get down i read it. .rb

andr• 18 years ago

yeah, it's quite a fun book. i read it before last investor day.

the only part i didn't like was the Lycos story. basically, a guy gets a call from a VC: "hey, we've got the idea, the technology, and the funding. can you please run the company?"

davidw• 18 years ago

I liked that there were a variety of stories... it gives you a sampling of how differently things work out. The RIM guy, for instance, sounds like an order of magnitude better engineer than some other people in the book. Others definitely got lucky because they were in the right place in the right time, and were smart enough to take advantage of it.

trekker7• 18 years ago

Wow, I really admire your initiative in bookmarking sentences, taking notes, etc. If I can ask, what's your motivation for doing a startup? What drives you?

pepeto3• 18 years ago

Money Ego Women FOOD! :)

edw5193• 18 years ago

2 chicks

simianstyle• 18 years ago

Cannot wait for Livingston's new one. I heard it follows the same theme, but focuses more on engineering.

abstractbill• 18 years ago

Also Peter Seibel's next book (http://www.codersatwork.com/) is being published by Apress as a companion to Founders At Work - I'm expecting it to be awesome.

pchristensen2• 18 years ago

It's a breathtaking collection of interviewees he's got there - I've already got my preorder money set aside.

jl• 18 years ago

The next book will be quite similar to the first, but with different founders. Founders at Work actually isn't affiliated with Coders at Work, other than having similar names and the same publisher.

staunch• 18 years ago

I've read FAW at least 6 times cover to cover and some of the individual interviews even more. Dying for more. Thank you.

dkokelley3• 18 years ago

Good analysis. I'm half way through reading F.A.W. but I have a bad habit of switching books. Right now I'm on How to Win Friends and Influence People and then I'll go to 7 Habits of Highly Successful People and then I'll read a few more cases. It keeps my mind fresh for each book.

anupamkapoor• 18 years ago

burning a copy of "7 habits ..." would be a greater symbolic gesture.

jgrahamc2• 18 years ago

I agree. "How to win friends..." is great, but "7 habits..."| sucks.

gibsonf12• 18 years ago

I would be very interested in a digital copy (pdf) to read on my Iphone (usually in places where a book is very incvonvenient) I'd be willing to pay (to the author of course) :)

I was just recently reading about Macros in PG's _On Lisp_ on my Iphone - excellent work PG.

jgrahamc2• 18 years ago

What places is a book inconvenient?

danw• 18 years ago

Founders at work is quite bulky whilst an iPhone fits in your pocket. When you've got 10 mins free on the bus you can whip out your phone and read an interview or two.

gibsonf12• 18 years ago

San Francisco Muni - Standing up with one hand holding an upper bar. Very easy to hold iphone in 1 hand and turn pages with the thumb of the same hand.

yters• 18 years ago

Excellent job.

Would it be fair to say that the advice centers around a few principles?

1. Maximize possible courses of action.

2. Allow the environment (users, VCs, etc) to select the best course at the time.

3. Select the environment most representative of your goals.

a-priori• 18 years ago

Picked it up about a year ago, and I've read it twice now. I lent it to my partner when we went into business together... she hasn't returned it yet. I don't know if that's a good sign or not. :)

misterbwong• 18 years ago

Agree with the rest. FAW is a must-read. My copy has so many notes you can barely read the text anymore. :P

aneesh• 18 years ago

Yeah, definitely a must-read. I'd just open up the book randomly and start reading wherever I was. The particularly memorable ones were Max Levchin, Sabeer Bhatia, Josh Schachter, and TripAdvisor .

The one book you need to read to get in YC

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