Startup reading list

Here’s a few books, essays, blogs and videos I’ve found useful for starting a startup.

Essential reading

1. Paul Graham’s essays

Paul Graham is most famous as the co-founder of Y Combinator, the Silicon Valley startup accelerator. He also founded a company, which sold to Yahoo, and invests in many startups.

Paul has a large collection of essays online, many on startups. His essays are a great source of practical advice and inspiration. Here are a few to get started with:

First up, do you really want to start a startup? This is what startups are really like
I was originally scared of finding that killer idea. I now know this is the easy part. Here’s how to get startup ideas
Once you’re ready, here’s how to start a startup (some overlap with the previous essay)
My favourite (and somewhat counter-intuitive) startup philosophy: Do things that don’t scale
Once you start, make sure you are doing this. Startup = growth
Finally, here are some good philosophies condensed down into one essay Startups in 13 sentences

2. How to start a startup lectures

Sam Altman, the current president of Y Combinator, and friends put on a 20 lecture series at Stanford in 2014. It’s a nice introduction in an easy to consume format, all available online. Here’s the link to the catalogue.

Other useful books

The lean startup, Eric Reis
Get things done, David Allen
7 habits of highly effective people, Stephen Covey
Thinking fast and slow, Daniel Kahneman