HN Explorer

Ask HN: Quick. . . What's the best book on entrepreneurship you've ever read?

8 points by steveeq1 ↗ HN
I'm a young entrepeneur just getting my feet wet in business. I realize at this stage that I'm probably very naive in various aspects of business, but I figure that there's many a seasoned entrepreneur out there that has plenty of wisdom to share with others less experienced. Basically I would just like to read something from someone who has made mistakes so I won't have to repeat them.

Any recommendations from anyone in hacker-land?

14 comments

[ 107 ms ] story [ 472 ms ] thread
noodle
4 hour work week.

its not exactly a book on being an entrepreneur, but its a book about setting goals, increasing efficiency and doing what you want to do. more of a motivational book than an informational book.

it was more of a driving force for me to do entrepreneurial work than any book actually on the topic of entrepreneurship.

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
blogimus
I'd suggest either Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations

Or Karl Marx's "The Communist Manifesto".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Manifesto

Both books have ideas which helped to bootstrap economic revolutions whose effects are felt to this day.

But in seriousness, I don't think there is one best book. But reading a bunch of books by/about very successful people, such as (but not limiting to) Bill Gates, Lee Iacocca, Oprah Winfrey, and Warren Buffett will help you gain insights and different perspectives.

What I see is that the most successful people are well rounded. They have the ability to approach problems from many different angles.

Entrepreneurship is so much about personal interactions. One book which really helped me in learning to get along with people is Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

qhoxie
Founders at Work is great. It will be especially helpful in arena of rights and wrongs from the experience of others.
ScottWhigham
Art of the Start if you want to start your own business.
tstegart
Like the author says, even if you don't read the whole book, the last chapter is something you should take the time to read. It was really a great part of the book.
jon_dahl
I second this recommendation. Possibly the best overview of each of the many, many different roles that an entrepreneur needs to play.
prakash
1. PG's essays/ Hackers and Painters

2. Founders at Work

3. High Stakes, No Prisoners : A Winner's Tale of Greed and Glory in the Internet Wars

The other way to look at it is, if you are not making mistakes, you are not pushing the boundary enough!

pg
Founders at Work, actually. None of the how-to books are good, so the best source of information is stories, and FaW has the best stories.
MaysonL
Peter Drucker's Entrepreneurship and Innovation. His memoir Adventures of a Bystander also has a lot of wisdom about business, besides lots of great stories (don't miss "The Man who Invented Kissinger", if you're a fan of history).
tstegart
Not a book, but I recommend getting a subscription to Inc. Magazine. At the very least, check out Norm Brodsky's column every week at the bookstore.
Fuca
Thanks dude, great suggestion
rodrigo
I found Undercover Economist a great resource to get to know some economic basics, like scarcity and pricing, wich can help you model your product or revenue source scheme. Also, second Founders at Work, good ol'storytelling, very information-dense.

http://tinyurl.com/5buhql