By: Charlotte
Starting a company can become quite challenging. Not only you have to keep yourself updated with your industry’s latest news but also you have to deal with all kind of unexpected situations, some of them way too far from your own field of expertise.
When times are tough, keeping yourself motivated is not an easy task. In fact, it can become the real challenge. Fortunately, there are some classics you can rely on those moments of weakness.
Founders at work
Jessica Livingston, Apress
This books contains a series of interviews with the founders of some of the most successful companies nowadays. Apple, Hotmail, Paypal… you might see them as celebrities today, but at some point they were just some geeks in a garage with a vision.
What did it take to make those visions true it’s what this book is about. It’s full of mistakes, advices, success (and failure) stories that I feel really empowering.
Here are some passages I found specially interesting
All the best things that I did at Apple came from (a) not having money and (b) not having done it before, ever. Every single thing that we came out with that was really great, I’d never once done that thing in my life.
-Steve Wozniak, founder of Apple
If you want to shoot a duck, you have to shoot where the duck is going to be, not where the duck is. It’s the same with introducing technology.
-Charles Geschke, cofounder of Adobe Systems
The art of the Start
Guy Kawasaky, Portfolio
This is probably the book that made me want to start my own company.
It gives an excellent starting point to start a business. And when I say starting point, I mean the right state of mind and the right motivation.
This books is full of practical advices, such as:
Make meaning: Create a product that will make the wold a better place
Get Going: Don’t spend too much time on planning and start delivering your product.
Find some soulmates: Build a team that shares your vision and complement your weaknesses with their strengths. Behind every Steve Jobs is a Steve Wozniak
This book is so full of awesome advices and it’s so simple to read and understand that it’s impossible not loving it.
Let’s hear the Guy.