Startup culture kit
Validate an idea, build, hold on through the hard times, and a cautionary tale to finish.
Methods first, convictions next, then what running a company really involves. The final documentary shows what happens when you forget all the rest.
Step 1
The Mom Test
Talking to customers without being lied to: read this before anything else.
BookA weekendThe Mom Test
Rob Fitzpatrick, 2013
Startups & entrepreneurship
See detailsStep 2
The Lean Startup
MVP, pivot, validation: the method that gave the whole ecosystem its vocabulary.
BookA weekendLesWWW reviewThe Lean Startup
Eric Ries, 2011
Startups & entrepreneurship
See detailsStep 3
Zero to One
Peter Thiel's take on innovation, competition and monopoly.
BookA weekendLesWWW reviewZero to One
Peter Thiel, Blake Masters, 2014
Startups & entrepreneurship
See detailsStep 4
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Handling crises and hard decisions, by Ben Horowitz.
BookA weekendThe Hard Thing About Hard Things
Ben Horowitz, 2014
Startups & entrepreneurship
See detailsStep 5
WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn
The cautionary tale: the rise and fall of WeWork.
DocumentaryOne eveningDatedWeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn
Jed Rothstein, 2021
Startups & entrepreneurship
See details
Go further, with me
- Prototyping and MVP validation →Leadership teams, product teams, innovation committees
Paths
5 steps
Understand AI before you buy it
Five steps to learn what AI is, what it already gets wrong, and what it changes at work.
Follow the path4 steps
Social media in 4 evenings
One film and three documentaries, from the creation of Facebook to Cambridge Analytica.
Follow the path4 steps
Take back your attention
Understand the attention economy, what it does to your brain, then change your habits.
Follow the path5 steps
Tech history, from Turing to Silicon Valley
From the origins of computing to the forerunners of the smartphone, in one book, two films, a TV series and a documentary.
Follow the path