TOP BOOKS - BUILDING TECH COMPANIES
Building products and companies is seriously hard stuff. Luckily, many that have gone before us on that path, and some have been so kind as to share their learnings in written form. Much to learn!
Steer your own ship. Never put your personal decisions to a vote. If you don't know how to execute, every strategy will fail, even the most promising ones.
Frank Slootman
Whether you are building a product/company yourself or not, there is a lot to be learnt from the people who have been on the front line of innovation.
How do you build product people will love?
How do get people to join you on the journey?
How do you build a culture of excellence?
How do you scale?
And how to you build, maintain, and accelerate momentum?
Product building is more an Art than a Science, but learning from past successes and failures are perhaps the best first step - before just going after it
Although there are too many books in this field to mention them all, here are five of my own favourites read over the last five years or so:
“BUILD - An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making” - by Tony Fadell
“INSPIRED - How to Create Tech Products Customers Love” - by Marty Cagan
“THE COLD START PROBLEM - How to Start and Scale Network Effects” - by Andrew Chen
“BLITZSCALING - The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies” - by Reid Hoffman
“AMP IT UP - Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity” - by Frank Slootman
The post contains affiliate links
For a full list of favourites in all categories (Startups, VC, Maths, Computing, Physics, Technology, Science, Fiction, Essays etc.) see link below
“BUILD - An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making” - by Tony Fadell
A great book on entrepreneurship and how to build both products and companies that people really love. Tony Fadell was part of the team that built the iPod, iPhone, and the Nest Thermostat, so he knows a thing or two about building
Highly recommended for anyone looking to build new products - or working in technology more generally
“INSPIRED - How to Create Tech Products Customers Love” - by Marty Cagan
Referred to by some people as the “Bible for Product Managers”, this is a guide for product managers and buildiers. It emphasizes customer-centricity, product strategy, prioritization, cross-functional collaboration, and continuous learning. The book stresses the importance of deeply understanding customer needs, setting clear goals, and fostering effective teamwork to create successful and customer-focused digital products.
If you’re a Product Manager, or engaging with Product Managers in an way, this is really a book you should already have read
“THE COLD START PROBLEM - How to Start and Scale Network Effects” - by Andrew Chen
From one of the initial team at Uber, “The Cold Start Problem” tackles perhaps the key hurdle for any startup - getting started. The book therefore combines data-driven analysis with practical advice, offering entrepreneurs and product leaders valuable guidance on building and scaling network-driven businesses. It's a valuable resource for those navigating the complexities of platform growth in today's digital landscape.
“BLITZSCALING - The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies” - by Reid Hoffman
This book is a guide to scaling startups at breakneck speed. Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn, explains the concept of “blitzscaling”, where startups prioritize rapid growth over efficiency. Drawing from his experiences and interviews with successful entrepreneurs, he explores the strategies, challenges, and cultural shifts required for this hyper-growth approach. The book covers topics like scaling tactics, dealing with competition, and managing through chaos
I’d recommend not reading this book late in the evening or leaving on your bedside table, as reading this before sleep set my head spinning so bad that sleep eluded me for hours at a time afterwards
“AMP IT UP - Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity” - by Frank Slootman
Perhaps the most “combative” tech book I’ve read in many years, Frank Slootman hold very few punches in his description on what it takes to succeed as a disruptive tech company. In the book, he focuses on raising expectations, driving a sense of urgency, and amping up the “intensity” everywhere in the organization in order to win. Whether you are a CEO or not, the book focuses on how to become more serious as a leader, more focused, and more performance oriented
Definitely a must-read
Affiliate: I’ve always been a huge fan of reading physical books that I can hold in my hands, but as adulthood started demanding more and more of my calendar I’ve become a huge fan of Audible.
Would highly recommend trying the 30-day free option and see what you think:
About Author: After training as a robotics engineer, I spent nearly a decade as a consultant working on strategy development for global corporations and startups
Now I spend my time strategizing on the Future of Tech, building systems to faster identify and understand new technologies, and thinking about how new technologies will impact sectors and business models across industries
You can also find me and more of my thinking on: LinkedIn, Twitter, Website