(Part 3) Top products from r/Entrepreneur

Here are all the books with amazon links, Alphabetical order :)

---

• Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1591396190
  
• Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh et al. Link: http://amzn.com/160941280X
  
• Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown Link: http://amzn.com/0804137382
  
• Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days by Jessica Livingston Link: http://amzn.com/1590597141
  
• How Google Works by Eric Schmidt et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1455582344
  
• Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk Link: http://amzn.com/006227306X
  
• Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way by Richard Branson Link: http://amzn.com/0307720748
  
• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1400064287
  
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck Link: http://amzn.com/0345472322
  
• Never Eat Alone, Expanded and Updated: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0385346654
  
• Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim S. Grover et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1476714207
  
• Rework by Jason Fried et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0307463745
  
• Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin Link: http://amzn.com/1591842948
  
• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss Link: http://amzn.com/0307465357
  
• The Choose Yourself Guide To Wealth by James Altucher Link: http://amzn.com/150100994X
  
• The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison: *God Doesn't Think He's Larry Ellison by Mike Wilson Link: http://amzn.com/0060008768
  
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz Link: http://amzn.com/0062273205
  
• The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen Link: http://amzn.com/0062060244
  
• The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries Link: http://amzn.com/0307887898
  
• The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime by MJ DeMarco Link: http://amzn.com/B004BDOUAI
  
• The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday Link: http://amzn.com/1591846358
  
• The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1885167776
  
• The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company by Steve Blank et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0984999302
  
• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell Link: http://amzn.com/0316346624
  
• Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth by Gabriel Weinberg et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1591848369
  
• Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out by Marc Ecko Link: http://amzn.com/1451685319
  
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0804139296

Someone messaged me about this, so I thought I'd share the answer here. They asked about how to become a better writer and a few tips:

Hey there,

Sure thing! There's definitely a lot of stuff out there. The best way to hone your craft:

1. Read a lot (I recommend Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and Everybody Writes by Ann Handley - apparently, people named Ann are good writers. :)
   
   
2. Write a lot. In fact, write every day. Journal every morning for 10-15 minutes. Don't just write about your industry, either - write about whatever interests you. Your day, the nice view out the window, something that inspires you, something that challenges you. Dedicate that time to just set your mind free and "play" with words, so to speak. Try new words you've never used.
   
   Some other great resources are:
   
   

• https://www.semrush.com/blog/6-straightforward-steps-to-create-bookmark-worthy-content/
  
  
• http://billwidmer.com/what-is-content-marketing/
  
  
• http://www.copyblogger.com/blog
  
  Niche down hard, as well. The more niche your writing, the more you're likely to be paid. That said, there are certain niches - mainly SaaS, online marketing, eCommerce, and online business - that tend to pay better than others. Sports, for example, is incredibly difficult to write about since most writers write for free.
  
  Once you've figured out a niche, start going after high-end blogs in that niche to get guest posts. Once people start seeing your name on high quality work on high authority blogs, they'll start to come to you rather than you needing to look for work.
  
  Which leads to my last point - always give it your best. Don't skimp on writing, even if you're not being paid. Something I lived by is The 10X Rule: Give 10 times the value of what you're being paid. Eventually, that will come back to you exponentially.
  
  Hope this helps!! :) I may actually work on creating a course to put a few really serious people through. If you're interested, let me know - I'm not going to bother with it unless I see an interest.
  
  Feel free to ask me any other questions!

My advice is to follow 3 tracks.

• Build relationships. Find local meetings where people building products/companies or other designers go. Such as: 1 Million Cups, Open coffee club, Creative Mornings, CoFounders Lab, StartUp Grind, local UX meetups. Pick 1 weekly and go every week. Pick 1-2 others, go when you can. Talk to the people who run the group. See if they need any help checking people. Volunteer to do that. If you get to, be friendly and chat with people on the way in. This is your tribe. Don't feel like you don't belong b/c you are young or are checking them in (or whatever other excuse your mind might come up with). This is your opportunity to find out about what people are working on. Some people will be working on something that interests you, that you have the skills to help with (eventually if not now), and have a personality you could enjoy working with. Give 100% of these people your card. Tell them you do UI/UX on contract. Ask for their card. Talk to them more at the end of the meeting if you can. Not in a sales way. But in a get to know more about them way. Then follow up with an email shortly afterward, a few days to a week. And in 6 months again if you haven't connected since. Do this every week for 2-3 years and you will have your client base and reputation in town. If you need practice to feel confident doing the networking part, then practice. Your career counseling dept at college could probably help you practice. Friends can be good practice too. Comfort with networking is critical to running your own business. Your goal should be to eventually lead a recurring meeting.
  
  
• Build your skills. First college is great for learning some things. I believe it is terrible for learning UI/UX. Studying behavioral economics would probably be the most applicable, some psychology or data science as well. UI/UX moves too fast. But here are my recommendations for becoming good at UI/UX quickly:
  
  

1. Start using Sketch app by Bohemian coding. It is the current industry standard.
   
   
2. Sign up for Subform app wait list. It will probably be the next industry standard. But is not available yet.
   
   
3. Study design systems Practice using these elements to create screens. Download the Sketch file. Then grab the elements you need and create screens to build an app (preferably to solve a simple problem you care about). Start small. Practice designing quickly. Then go back and make details precise. Eventually you should be able to build your own design system like this.
   
   
4. Study material design and iOS design.
   
   
5. For inspiration in practice, look at examples on Dribbble, Behance, and at the apps you use everyday.
   
   
6. Get feedback from friends and family on the things you have designed.
   
   
7. Read books like Inspired, Seductive Interaction Design, Sprint, Product Leadership. There are many more.
   
   
8. Understand you need to know more than design to do contract work for small businesses. Your clients may often ask for one thing but really need something different. Study business in general. Read books and magazines about business models, industry shifts, etc. Good UX designers are always balancing user needs and business model needs. There is no formula for this. It takes practice. Lots of practice. Youth and inexperience here will be a challenge. Talk to as many people in their 30s/40+s about business lessons they have learned as you can. This knowledge will help your design.
   
   
9. Don't wait for the perfect idea to practice. Practice everyday.
   
   

• Build your savings. So you can go full-time at a co-working space. This is less direct advice. But you will need to have a few months of living expenses saved so one day you can dive in. A co-working space costs a few hundred per month but this is where your client base likely lives or goes to meetings occasionally. Being part of one shows you have a professional presence. And the serendipity at these places can be off the charts. And I highly recommend not working form home only for many reasons, sanity being an important one. Also, contract work can be feast or famine. I have had a handful of weeks in the past 4 years where I have needed to complete 60 billable hours work. This is more stressful than the weeks where I only have 20 billable hours b/c I save knowing work will be up and down.
  
  ----
  
  These are things that led me to where I am today. Others may have completely different or contradictory advice. But these are my go to methods. And most of my clients in the past 2 years have come to me. I didn't call them, or post an ad. Generally they found me through a recommendation from a friend, LinkedIn, Twitter, slack group, Dribbble, or at a meeting.

Your in a position that many would love to be in and many more would never be able to get to.

Your marketing campaign,
Get the following books (quick easy and enjoyable reads):
The Brand Gap ,
22 laws of marketing

• Offer cloud services and support to startups for free for three months, they apply via your website, pick the most promising ones. They must have your logo/link on their website somewhere e.g. "Hosting provided by" etc.
  
• Sponser hackertons or hacker meet up related activities.
  
• Offer free services to blogs you like.
  
  Your company,
  Rebrand your company within 2 months. Top notch website+server control panel UI. Get Blogging.
  
  Your Services,
  
  
• Focus on something, cloud hosting or dedicated servers. Which ever you feel your best at.
  
• Provide Cloud Hosting Images pre-installed with apache, mysql, php, webmin, vhosts, mail etc. Make it easier for new customers to setup a ready to go server quick as possible knowing all the configuations are correct.
  
  Your Sanity,
  Discuss with your best respected staff.

I felt the same way, so I went and found a bunch. Here they are:

Start Your Business is the single greatest book on starting a business. It is a pretty comprehensive overview of all aspects. I would definitely recommend it.

Finance:

Financial Accounting is a decent text. The usefulness of financial accounting in general is quite limited for an entrepreneur though. The techniques are mainly used by outside parties to evaluate companies, whether for investing or lending. But it can be useful in that it gives a metric for how your company is doing.

Managerial Accounting is a good book. The subject matter is extremely important and should definitely be learned. Get a book on managerial accounting.

Marketing:

Marketing Management is a really good text for an overview of marketing. One of the best.

Most marketing texts are smaller and not textbooks like you're looking for. There are some detailed texts that go into complicated calculations related to marketing decisions. Go check them out. It's like marketing science or something like that.

Business Law:

Business law is not really worth going into extreme detail. So a good book is The Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Law .


Final Note: It's important to note that it makes way more sense to just get into business and learn as you go. You could spend years learning from every text possible and get nowhere.

My background: I'm a business attorney working in part with small businesses and also an entrepreneur in my own right for a marketing services company separate from my practice of law.

I often see people pursuing startups going after the flashy book titles that are on the less technical side.

While this can be fine, I'd really recommend doing as much research as you can stomach into the nitty gritty, often un-fun things that people don't care for. As a lawyer, plenty of this is fun for me, but I appreciate that it's hard to hold one's attention on legal issues or accounting.

For example, I always hear people say good things about that Lemonade Stand accounting book: https://www.amazon.com/Accounting-Game-Basic-Fresh-Lemonade/dp/1402211864. You may not need to do the accounting yourself when you start a business, but you probably will, and even if you don't, it's better to have some sort of handle on it to oversee whoever's doing it.

So learn the basics of accounting and try to put them in to practice in your personal life. Plot out your personal budget, if you don't already. Practice with tracking and sorting your expenses. You can even do this with the free accounting apps out there like Wave. Fundamentally, business accounting isn't all that different than personal, so read the basics then practice!

I wish I could think of some valuable books that explain some basics of the legal side of small business formation and operation, but I guess since I do it myself I don't really know of any offhand, go figure.

I'm also a big advocate for branding. This isn't just logo design, it's a ton of stuff, and not always the obvious stuff. Branding is especially important for a newcomer, because you don't have the history...so you might as well try and brand like you're established! My go to here is: https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Brand-Identity-Essential-Branding/dp/1118099206

Great store. Very polished appearance. Definitely have a niche. You have Google Analytics installed - good.

 

One thing I did notice that perhaps may help with conversions: Having a compelling "why" statement at the top of the store and also in the SEO metadata. The cover photo doesn't really convey what the store is about.

 

Simon Sinek's Ted Talk is great advice
https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action

 

Also, The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier I've found to be amazing
https://www.amazon.com/Brand-Gap-Distance-Business-Strategy/dp/0321348109

Answer these three questions:

• who are you?
  
• what do you do?
  
• why does it matter?
  
   
  
  The answer to the third question is the most difficult. It should be more compelling and visceral than "because we have products for people with autism."
  
   
  
  also, you may want to look into https instead of http as Google factors website security when indexing sites.
  
   
  
  hope this helps

I favor the craftsman mindset over the 4-hour workweek approach, so I (perhaps unsurprisingly) did not find much value in Ferris's work. I've read 4-hour-workweek, some of his blog posts, seem some TED talks, and flipped through 'Tribe of Mentors, all of which I found mediocre. The biggest advocate of the craftsman mindset that I know of is Cal Newport. I've read his blog (studyhacks) and his book (So good they can't ignore you). I think his work tends to be better researched and more substantive. I recommend both.

I suspect that the differences between the two has a lot to do with where they come from. In my view, Ferris is still the salesman he was when he started out. Many of his strategies are great for salepeople - 'firing' bad customers, offloading customer support tasks, etc. However, its worth thinking about what he is selling here - and I think the core idea in Ferris's work is that you can make an easy buck. I don't know that this idea is worth buying, nor that he offers anything more valuable than a few productivity tips. Newport is an academic, and so his work is oriented more as an attempt to answer a question: what choices result in happy and successful careers. He started out looking for general trends in career satisfaction and success, and his books are reports of what he's found. Of course, he is still selling something - but I think he is selling something more valuable: empirically driven insight into meaningful work (the key insight, by the way, is that you need to adopt the crafstman mindset).

Start With Why [Simon Sinek]

48 Laws of Power [Robert Greene] (33 Strategies of War, Art of Seduction)

The 50th Law [Curtis James Jackson]

Tipping Point:How Little Things Can Make a Difference and Outliers: The story of Succes [Malcolm Gladwell]

The Obstacle is the Way, Ego is the Enemy [Ryan Holiday] (stoicism)

[Tim Ferris] (actually haven't read any of his books, but seems to know a way to use social media, podcast, youtube)

Get an understanding to finance, economics, marketing, investing [Graham, Buffet], philosophy [Jordan Peterson]

I like to think us/you/business is about personal development, consciousness, observing recognizable patterns in human behavior and historical significance. It's an understanding of vast areas of subjects that connect and intertwine then returns back to the first book you’ve read (Start with Why) and learn what you've read past to present. Business is spectacular, so is golf.



To Add:

Irrationally Predictable:The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions - [Dan Ariely] (marketing)

The Hard Things About Hard Things - [Ben Horowitz] (business management)

Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It - [Charlamagne Tha God] (motivation)

The Lean Startup: Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses - [Eric Ries]

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, How to Build the Future - [Peter Theil]

Some would say I read too much, but I really enjoyed:

founders at work: Steve Wozniak (Apple), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Max Levchin (PayPal), and Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail) tell you in their own words about their surprising and often very funny discoveries as they learned how to build a company. (This is one of my favorite books ever!)

the art of the start:Kawasaki provides readers with GIST-Great Ideas for Starting Things-including his field-tested insider's techniques for bootstrapping, branding, networking, recruiting, pitching, rainmaking, and, most important in this fickle consumer climate, building buzz.

the innovator's dilemma: Focusing on “disruptive technology,” Christensen shows why most companies miss out on new waves of innovation. Whether in electronics or retailing, a successful company with established products will get pushed aside unless managers know when to abandon traditional business practices. Using the lessons of successes and failures from leading companies, The Innovator’s Dilemma presents a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation.



And in terms of getting your life together to the point where you are responsible enough to lead others, I would highly suggest Getting Things Done by David Allen

In terms of your question in general (i.e. generating useful ideas in general), it's really just a matter of creating a large amount of ideas every day. For me, I have a list of 17 different topics that I generate ideas for (which I pick randomly each day) and then I generate 10 ideas for the random topic that day.

Ignore whether your ideas are "good" or "bad" and just generate them. Oftentimes the best ideas can seem counter-intuitive, unusual, or "bad" at first.

It's also a matter of having the proper mindset as well. For that, I'd recommend listening to "the MFCEO" podcast. Also, reading books related to creativity could also be useful for you. Here's one that helped me a lot:

https://www.amazon.com/Thinkertoys-Handbook-Creative-Thinking-Techniques-2nd/dp/1580087736

Also, don't get stuck waiting for the "perfect" idea, because it's never going to happen and you're going to get stuck overanalyzing things. Just make things and work your ass off.

PM me if you have any more questions! Good luck

Check out;

• Sprint: How to solve big problems and test new ideas in just five days" by Jake Knapp
  
  
  This book really is great and helped me to create a startup in 24 hours. Below is my startup;
  
  
  
• Desert Storm
  
  
  It really gets you to think of speed and tests your idea without investing too much into something that might not work.
  
  
  Ideally, management will be learnt on the way and shouldn't be too much of the focus when starting up a business. You need to focus on getting your product out to the market asap and prove your business model works. From this point, everything else will follow.
  
  
  I hope this book helps you out and wish you all the best of luck! Let me know if you need any other advise.

It's a question of personality. I am all for Innovation, Innovation, Innovation.

> Which are better in your opinion?

Innovation

> What examples do you have?

• Apple,
  
• Whole Foods,
  
• Walmart (Walmart is not about Low-Prices, it's about IT and innovative processes that allow for low-prices and more)
  
• Google
  
• Facebook
  
• Instagram
  
• Compaq
  
• MCI
  
• Digital
  
• Intel
  
• Tesla
  
  
  If you want more, read this: https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Change-Business/dp/0062060244
  
  and this: https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Solution-Creating-Sustaining-Successful/dp/1422196577

Perry Marshall might rub people the wrong way with his insanely long form sales copy but he's been an amazing resource for me and my learning. He sells courses online that are worth the 200$ if you're really wanting to study yourself.

In my opinion, start with a joint book that's regularly updated, see if you like Perry's teaching style and then maybe go for a course. His website really is a good lesson in long form sales copy. (Which in his niche works well, especially for people in your mindset)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1599184419/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

Sorry for the mobile link, but Googling or Amazoning Perry Marshall will get you what you're looking for.

I took some entrepreneurship courses in college and read "Cracking Creativity" "Your Brain At Work" and "Thinkertoys" as part of the curriculum. I thought all of them were excellent and cracking creativity is especially good for creative thinking

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=cracking+creativity&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Acracking+creativity

http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449172741&sr=1-1&keywords=your+brain+at+work

http://www.amazon.com/Thinkertoys-Handbook-Creative-Thinking-Techniques-2nd/dp/1580087736/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449172562&sr=1-1&keywords=thinkertoys

It isn't always a bad thing to wait that long. You get to use the "Patent Pending" term on your product which by itself will help deter people from copying it.

You can file a provisional patent application (PPA) for less money and have a year to test commercial viability of the product. Then once you choose to move forward it will take a year or two generally.

Again the long wait can be a good thing, even if you end up getting denied by the patent office for some reason. You still get to use all that time to develop market share and use the "Patent Pending" term on all your products.

I'm not recommending it but I've heard of people actually filing patents they know will be denied just so they can legally use the term.

To address your other question about the specifics about filing a patent I suggest buying and reading Nolo's Patent it Yourself Guide. It's very very good information. You definitely don't have to try and write a patent yourself but taking 4-6 hours of reading this guide will tell you if your idea is patentable, describe the application process, and all the terminology. Most importantly it helped me have a knowledgeable conversation with my patent lawyer.

As far as my personal story, I reached out to an old professor asking him for patent lawyer recommendations. He put me in touch with an older lawyer who worked for himself, not a firm. That helped keep the price more reasonable, about $5-6k all said and done.

Here are Amazon links for the ones interested as well:

Book Yourself Solid Illustrated by Michael Port

48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

You Can’t Teach A Kid To Ride A Bike At A Seminar by David Sandler

How To Get Rich Felix Dennis

Life’s A Pitch by Philip Delves Broughton

Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall

Unstoppable Referrals by Steve Gordon

22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Ries and Trout

If you are looking to rate alternative solutions to a particular problem, you can use the Pugh Matrix method. Where I work, we've used this to compare multiple options and while it doesn't make the decision for you, it provides some good perspective. Here's an Excel spreadsheet setup for this approach.

By idea, I'm assuming you mean an idea for a new product (or service). Evaluating the viability of a product is more challenging. I would suggest the most important questions to ask are as follows:

• "Does a market exist for this product?"
  
• "How big is the market?"
  
• "How competitive is this market already?"
  
• "Do I have a means of reaching this market?"
  
• "Do know anything about this market?"
  
• "Am I passionate about this market?"
  
  I'm working my way through Start Small, Stay Small by Rob Walling and Mike Taber and they emphasize that market is the most important consideration. If you don't have a market, or if you can't reach into that market, it doesn't matter how great your product is.

I'd like to recommend the following book and website, which you might find helpful :

So good they can't ignore you

https://80000hours.org/

If you want to validate this idea, try Google AdWords. If you don't know how to use it well I would highly recommend this book.

Any traffic you're not converting now is kind of meaningless. If you posted the page out on your Facebook for example you might get a few people checking it out but they are not your customers. Maybe they were there to check out the upside down santa girl not your product.

Google AdWords let's you almost instantly turn on / off a stream of qualified leads. People searching for "how to start a pub crawl business" or similar. Get this traffic coming in, see how much you're paying for a conversion (email signups). 30 conversions from AdWords is statistically significant enough to draw conclusions. Then crunch the numbers and see if they make sense. Hopefully this will only cost you about $100-$200, and if it works you have the emails of interested people already.

Honestly the best book on this stuff is a textbook if you're interested.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Entrepreneurs-Guide-Business-Law/dp/0538466464

Besides Lean startup, I would go for:

Business Model Generation - to layout your ideas first and have a feeling of your to be business model (on their site you can get a sneak peek for free https://strategyzer.com/books/business-model-generation)

The startup owner's manual, from Steve Blank (https://www.amazon.com/Startup-Step-Step-Building-Company/dp/0984999302)

Disciplined Entrepreneurship: (https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Steps-Successful-Startup/dp/1118692284)


good luck

As far as targeting is concerned, I would recommend focusing on a single niche. This will help you to modify and change your sales message and offerings to be catered to the very specific needs of your niche, which can only help you to get more consultations within that niche, and even raise your prices considerably.

The reason niche-ing down works is because almost no one else actually markets to a niche, and they end up competing with so many other people that have the exact same message they usually have to compete on price to get clients to buy from them over others.

If you'd like to learn more about this principle, read the book called, "Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant", by W. Chan Kim

Check out the book The Accounting Game (non-affiliate link). It's really simple, keeps your interest, and has good practice worksheets. I was someone who hated accounting/finance in college. After reading that book I had a new appreciation for it and a much better understanding of business as a whole.

Also, check out this video on youtube. It's a top hedgefund investor who explains accounting/finance in basic terms in under an hour.

I recommend [Blue Ocean Strategy](Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant https://www.amazon.com/dp/1625274491/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fNpJybKTNDM86). It's a great marketing book but is especially relevant for entrepreneurs. It's one of the only required readings I held on to from college (marketing major). Really makes you think differently about innovation.

Thinkertoys is a great book on creative thinking.
http://www.amazon.com/Thinkertoys-Handbook-Creative-Thinking-Techniques-Edition/dp/1580087736

Here's a few I recommend:

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-22-Immutable-Laws-Marketing/dp/1861976100

The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Strategy-Tactics-Pricing-Thomas-Nagle/dp/0136106811

[This one isn't technically a marketing book I guess, but it's a very (very!) good way to think about packaging and pricing. And I think marketing is one large component of that process and think it is a must-read.]

Purple Cow: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Purple-Cow-Transform-Business-Remarkable/dp/014101640X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

[This one is a lighter read but still a goodie]

I'm an avid reader of business books and have read all of these. Anything Tim Ferris is garbage in my opinion. That being said, there are three books you have to read:

1. 48 Days To The Work You Love by Dan Miller
   
   
2. The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller
   
   
3. Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt.
   
   You will get so much mileage out of those three books alone and they're all very easy reads.

Honestly this book is made specifically for people like me and you doing retail business first time. When I was half way I was already doing P&L, Balance sheet etc.
Here is the link to the book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1402211864/ref=cm_sw_r_em_awd_C48IwbSD00AV2

I'd recommend reading the book Sprint by Jake Knapp. He developed a super cost and time efficient method for startups to see if there is in fact a demand for their product before dumping tons of money into it. Check it out -> Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days https://www.amazon.com/dp/150112174X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_urQAxbAD06ZS6

The big question for me is why should I buy it. It is a solo project. Yes there is a product but only 1 dev. If you leave i need a small team to learn the code to make any changes. The same can be said for the sales, marketing, product,...

First i would build it in a scalable business, next comes the valuation.

Some good reads
https://www.amazon.com/Built-Sell-Creating-Business-Without/dp/1591845823
https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-About/dp/B00094F0ES/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=emyth+revisited&qid=1569150615&sprefix=emyt&sr=8-1

I am also a developer, and wrote this post about how I generate tech business ideas.

Another recommendation is to read Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup. It has a lot of good advice on how to validate ideas once you have a few ones that sound plausible, and it is written for developers.

Good book to read that talks about stuff like this https://www.amazon.com/Start-Why-Leaders-Inspire-Everyone/dp/1591846447

People have recommended "Start Your Own Business, Fifth Edition: The Only Start-Up Book You'll Ever Need". I've never read it, anyone know if it's any good?

http://www.amazon.com/Start-Your-Business-Fifth-Edition/dp/1599183870/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1370970468&sr=8-2&keywords=how+to+start+a+business

It is my thought that reading the book "small giants" might be useful. The companies in the book all chose to create a high end product and remain small in order to maintain quality

https://www.amazon.com/Small-Giants-Companies-Choose-Instead/dp/1591841496

Disciplined Entrepreneurship: https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Steps-Successful-Startup/dp/1118692284/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538665255&sr=8-1&keywords=disciplined+entrepreneurship

​

Its a fantastic overview that covers all the major steps for "successfully" launching a business. I've bought it for employees every Christmas.

I would get two books in particular. I actually just read them and I quite like them:

this first and then this one

If you want cheap, read Patent It Yourself so you can control price AND quality!

That book is extremely well written.

Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup by Rob Walling.



Great book!!



Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615373968

Yes.

1. Small Giants
   
   
2. Start with Why
   
   
3. Influence
   
   
   Start with #2.

Two books that I heard about from Pat Flynns blog may help:
http://www.amazon.com/The-ONE-Thing-Surprisingly-Extraordinary/dp/1885167776
and
http://www.amazon.com/Essentialism-The-Disciplined-Pursuit-Less/dp/0804137382

I would highly recommend the book Built To Sell: Creating a Business that can thrive without you, which is literally the story of a man who owns a design agency and is trying to figure out how to take himself out of the picture. In the book he's trying to sell rather than switch to a more passive model, but the lesson (which is - stop being a generalist, start niching down to your core competency and eschew all else) is exactly what you're looking for regardless.

check out this book: https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Steps-Successful-Startup/dp/1118692284

This book offers some counterexamples to your second point.

when i started my business i wrote a few professors at stanford, harvard and penn state and i was informed to read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Start-Your-Business-Fifth-Edition/dp/1599183870

https://www.amazon.com/Entrepreneurs-Guide-Business-Law-4th/dp/0538466464

I'm an attorney. This book is incredible.

Figuring out how to learn things and become skilled at them on my own.

A few books that really helped


https://www.amazon.com/Talent-Code-Greatness-Born-Grown/dp/055380684X/

https://www.amazon.com/Peak-Secrets-New-Science-Expertise/dp/0544947223/


https://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Psychology-Carol-S-Dweck/dp/0345472322/

a book

https://www.amazon.co.uk/10X-Rule-Difference-Between-Success/dp/0470627603

http://www.amazon.com/The-Entrepreneurs-Guide-Business-Law/dp/0538466464

There is probably an earlier edition that is cheaper.

10x Rule 10x

The E-Myth Revisited E myth

48 Laws Of Power 48 Laws Of Power

The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321348109/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_CxL6ybH1VJ80Z

And listen to everything you can by Sasha Strauss

"Built to Sell" by John Warrillow will have the answers you're looking for.

Impossible to name one. Books only had significance for me when they addressed a particular lifecycle that the business was in.

• Zero to One, when I needed the extra push to quit my job and focus on my new business full time.
  
  
• Walt Disney’s biography, when I was in the grind, feeling sorry for myself.
  
  
• Crossing the Chasm, when we needed to operationalize the business to scale.
  
  
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things, when I needed to fire our first VP.
  
  
• Only the Paranoid Survive, when I needed to learn how to disrupt myself.
  
  EDIT: Lots of requests for more books as they relate to 'business lifecycle'. Also, linked all of these on Amazon. Here ya go:
  
  
• Blue Ocean Strategy, when we realized positioning ourselves as a competitor to others was the wrong approach
  
  
• Your Strategy Needs a Strategy, when planning things out years in advance kept us committed to the wrong plan for too long.
  
  
• Accounting for Non-Accountants, when I was just getting started and needed to learn how to read a financial statement :)
  
  
• The Art of Acting, when I needed to give a convincing presentation for the first time.
  
  
• Co-Active Coaching, when I needed to learn how to actively listen to employees (this lead to me becoming an executive coach).
  
  
• Understanding Michael Porter, a master class on business strategy.

This book, Patent it Yourself, is a bible for these kinds of questions.

And, if you're a cheap ass like me, you can just use the "Look Inside" feature to flip to a certain page that answers your specific question. Seriously though, the book gets incredible reviews and is the default source for self-patenters with no background.

> I stopped trading the financial markets, I stopped trying to grow a photography career all because I met obstacles

Check THIS book out.