I'm about 1/2 way through it. The chapters are short so they generally don't go into too much detail. Often times there will be a interesting sentence that I wish was blown into it's own chapter.
To answer your question: Most HN regulars will probably already be familiar with the topics.
This is a great book! AFAIC, a must read for anyone here who is serious about their startup.
I read it on the flight to Startup School a few weeks ago to "get in the mood". I couldn't put it down.
It's easy to read for 2 reasons: every chapter is a short essay by a different person (including many techstar alumni) and it's very well written, almost like pg essays but by lots of different people. It covers lots of ground, much of which has been covered here at hn many times, but then again, some of this stuff can't be covered too often. Also, sometimes someone says the same thing a little differently, and that's the one that actually reaches you.
My 300 page copy has 50 or 60 dog-earred pages and hundreds of red marks; it's that full of gems. (For that reason, I highly suggest buying a hard copy and keeping it on your bookshelf for future reference.)
I think that yc should come out with a similar book. I'd love to read essays from yc alumni, their advisors, and of course the yc principals themselves about what they thought was important. I realize much of this is on-line already, but there's nothing like a great hard copy too.
A few of my favorite quotes from _Do More Faster_:
"I realized that I had two options. I could quit buying comics or I could quit my job and build the iTunes of comics." - Kevin Mann
"Getting feedback and new ideas is the lifeblood of any startup. There is no point in living in fear of someone stealing your idea." - Nate Abbott and Natty Zola
"That means every moment you're working on something without it being in the public arena, it's actually dying, deprived of the oxygen of the real world." - Matt Mullenweb
"Focus on the smallest possible problem you could solve that would potentially be useful" - David Cohen
"You know you're on to something when the community starts donating money to make sure it stays alive." - Darren Crystal
"In companies that rely on having a large user base as ours does, it is very unlikely that you will offend enough people quickly enough to dampen your future growth." - Sean Corbett
"We learned that very few people care how you accomplish something. Instead, these people care more about whether you create value for your end user." - Colin Angle
"We knew that the high-level concept of our first site still really inspired us." - Alex White
"They stepped back from what they had created and thought about what they could do better than anyone else in the world." - editors
"During the first few days of every TechStars cycle, we tell the 10 bright-eyed new teams that one of them will not be together at the end of the program. Unfortunately, we have not been wrong yet." - editors
"If you can't quit no matter how hard you try, then you have a chance to succeed." - Laura Fitton
"When you ask CEOs of major companies what they're most worried about, one common answer is 'a couple of guys in a garage somewhere.'" - David Cohen
"Companies that work just always seem to move at lightning pace." - David Cohen
"It turns out that giving up your one obvious competitive advantage often proves to be deadly. If a startup can't do more faster, it usually just gets dead faster." - David Cohen
"There is an enormous difference between exciting technology and an exciting business." - Howard Diamond
"Changes come daily, weekly, and monthly - not once a quarter or once a year." - Ari Newman
"While it was only a detour of a week, that's a lot in TechStars time." - Bill Warner
"Only hope instead is to listen to their head and their heart and follow a path that they believe in, keeping some of the feedback and discarding other thoughts and ideas." - Bill Warner
"...when presented with exponential growth, remember that people tend to drastically overestimate what will happen in the short term, but will profoundly underestimate what happens over longer time spans." - Ryan McIntyre
"...consider life as a founder of a startup to be one big intelligence test." - Ryan McIntyre
"Remember that human nature has a tendency to admire complexity, but...
Thanks for taking the time to make this excellent comment. The original submission was excessively light on content, but your comment made the whole thing worthwhile. I also agree 100% with the value of a similar book by YC-related people.
Do you have an affiliate link I can buy the book through instead of using the blog's?
6 comments
[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 10.6 ms ] threadIs there anything new here for people who regularly read HN?
To answer your question: Most HN regulars will probably already be familiar with the topics.
I read it on the flight to Startup School a few weeks ago to "get in the mood". I couldn't put it down.
It's easy to read for 2 reasons: every chapter is a short essay by a different person (including many techstar alumni) and it's very well written, almost like pg essays but by lots of different people. It covers lots of ground, much of which has been covered here at hn many times, but then again, some of this stuff can't be covered too often. Also, sometimes someone says the same thing a little differently, and that's the one that actually reaches you.
My 300 page copy has 50 or 60 dog-earred pages and hundreds of red marks; it's that full of gems. (For that reason, I highly suggest buying a hard copy and keeping it on your bookshelf for future reference.)
I think that yc should come out with a similar book. I'd love to read essays from yc alumni, their advisors, and of course the yc principals themselves about what they thought was important. I realize much of this is on-line already, but there's nothing like a great hard copy too.
A few of my favorite quotes from _Do More Faster_:
"I realized that I had two options. I could quit buying comics or I could quit my job and build the iTunes of comics." - Kevin Mann
"Getting feedback and new ideas is the lifeblood of any startup. There is no point in living in fear of someone stealing your idea." - Nate Abbott and Natty Zola
"That means every moment you're working on something without it being in the public arena, it's actually dying, deprived of the oxygen of the real world." - Matt Mullenweb
"Focus on the smallest possible problem you could solve that would potentially be useful" - David Cohen
"You know you're on to something when the community starts donating money to make sure it stays alive." - Darren Crystal
"In companies that rely on having a large user base as ours does, it is very unlikely that you will offend enough people quickly enough to dampen your future growth." - Sean Corbett
"We learned that very few people care how you accomplish something. Instead, these people care more about whether you create value for your end user." - Colin Angle
"We knew that the high-level concept of our first site still really inspired us." - Alex White
"They stepped back from what they had created and thought about what they could do better than anyone else in the world." - editors
"During the first few days of every TechStars cycle, we tell the 10 bright-eyed new teams that one of them will not be together at the end of the program. Unfortunately, we have not been wrong yet." - editors
"If you can't quit no matter how hard you try, then you have a chance to succeed." - Laura Fitton
"When you ask CEOs of major companies what they're most worried about, one common answer is 'a couple of guys in a garage somewhere.'" - David Cohen
"Companies that work just always seem to move at lightning pace." - David Cohen
"It turns out that giving up your one obvious competitive advantage often proves to be deadly. If a startup can't do more faster, it usually just gets dead faster." - David Cohen
"There is an enormous difference between exciting technology and an exciting business." - Howard Diamond
"Changes come daily, weekly, and monthly - not once a quarter or once a year." - Ari Newman
"While it was only a detour of a week, that's a lot in TechStars time." - Bill Warner
"Only hope instead is to listen to their head and their heart and follow a path that they believe in, keeping some of the feedback and discarding other thoughts and ideas." - Bill Warner
"...when presented with exponential growth, remember that people tend to drastically overestimate what will happen in the short term, but will profoundly underestimate what happens over longer time spans." - Ryan McIntyre
"...consider life as a founder of a startup to be one big intelligence test." - Ryan McIntyre
"Remember that human nature has a tendency to admire complexity, but...
Do you have an affiliate link I can buy the book through instead of using the blog's?
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/39/04709298/0470...