The one book you need to read to get in YC | Hacker News Reader

The one book you need to read to get in YC

entrepreneur2be.com

40 pointspepeto34 comments

Did I forget to say you may be quizzed on this book on the interview... ;-)

Picked it up about a year ago, and I've read it twice now. I lent it to my partner when we went into business together... she hasn't returned it yet. I don't know if that's a good sign or not. :)

Cannot wait for Livingston's new one. I heard it follows the same theme, but focuses more on engineering.

The next book will be quite similar to the first, but with different founders. Founders at Work actually isn't affiliated with Coders at Work, other than having similar names and the same publisher.

I've read FAW at least 6 times cover to cover and some of the individual interviews even more. Dying for more. Thank you.

Also Peter Seibel's next book (http://www.codersatwork.com/) is being published by Apress as a companion to Founders At Work - I'm expecting it to be awesome.

It's a breathtaking collection of interviewees he's got there - I've already got my preorder money set aside.

Wow, my copy of this arrived 30 minutes ago from Amazon. Talk about topical.

In the same pile of boxes was "Software Engineering for Internet Applications" which may well be a bit dated now, but I'm sure that the basic idea of using the fewest and fastest components available still holds good.

yeah, it's quite a fun book. i read it before last investor day.

the only part i didn't like was the Lycos story. basically, a guy gets a call from a VC: "hey, we've got the idea, the technology, and the funding. can you please run the company?"

I liked that there were a variety of stories... it gives you a sampling of how differently things work out. The RIM guy, for instance, sounds like an order of magnitude better engineer than some other people in the book. Others definitely got lucky because they were in the right place in the right time, and were smart enough to take advantage of it.

Excellent job.

Would it be fair to say that the advice centers around a few principles?

1. Maximize possible courses of action.

2. Allow the environment (users, VCs, etc) to select the best course at the time.

3. Select the environment most representative of your goals.

Yeah, definitely a must-read. I'd just open up the book randomly and start reading wherever I was. The particularly memorable ones were Max Levchin, Sabeer Bhatia, Josh Schachter, and TripAdvisor .

Good analysis. I'm half way through reading F.A.W. but I have a bad habit of switching books. Right now I'm on How to Win Friends and Influence People and then I'll go to 7 Habits of Highly Successful People and then I'll read a few more cases. It keeps my mind fresh for each book.

burning a copy of "7 habits ..." would be a greater symbolic gesture.

I agree. "How to win friends..." is great, but "7 habits..."| sucks.

I disagree completely. In my opinion, quite the opposite, actually. "How to win friends..." gives you shortcuts in life. It's all about pretending to be someone else to get short-term gains. Doesn't work quite as well in the long term though.

"7 Habits" is about how to better yourself, which gives you immensely greater long-term benefits. The downside of that is you're going to need to put in a lot more work to see them. You won't find advice like "just smile" in "7 habits".

Yes! Put down 7 Habits right now! Pick up FAW! Both can change your life. One for the better. The other for the worse.

FWIW, one is full of theoretical fluff from someone who earns through selling books and tapes. Do what he says and you make actually take your focus OFF the ball. The other is about the best of us who have achieved remarkable things. Now which one do you really want to read?

(As far as habits are concerned, I just changed ONE HABIT to be more like some guy named Wozniak. This changed my entire thinking about my project and has made all the difference. I would name the habit something like "Loading all of the details about one thing into my head's main memory at the same time". Reread Chapter 3 to see what I'm talking about.)

It's funny that you all say that about 7 Habits. It's the hardest for me to get through. I only got through the first chapter and I haven't learned anything that I can really use.

FAW is great for case studies of other startups (both successful and otherwise).

HTWF I've also only gone through the first chapter but I've gotten a lot more out of it than 7 Habits.

I love the whole self-help genre. I love anything that helps people to think more positively. For many people, that's half the battle.

I just don't think that hackers are affected nearly as much as others. Do affirmations, examine past lives, move your body, make lists, think good thoughts, everything will be alright, etc., etc., etc. All good stuff.

The problem is that it's just too easy to get caught up "doing all that good stuff" that you lose focus from your project.

OK, I'll compromise a little. Read HTWF and Think and Grow Rich. Then get back to work.

Here's an interesting question: What informational books could NOT be considered "self-help?"

+1 for the final sentence, "get back to work."

I would be very interested in a digital copy (pdf) to read on my Iphone (usually in places where a book is very incvonvenient) I'd be willing to pay (to the author of course) :)

I was just recently reading about Macros in PG's _On Lisp_ on my Iphone - excellent work PG.

What places is a book inconvenient?

Founders at work is quite bulky whilst an iPhone fits in your pocket. When you've got 10 mins free on the bus you can whip out your phone and read an interview or two.

I read Practical Common Lisp and OnLisp on my Windows Mobile phone while commuting.

Incidentally, being able to manipulate the file system is the biggest advantage I see in WM vs iPhone. At least for geeks.

San Francisco Muni - Standing up with one hand holding an upper bar. Very easy to hold iphone in 1 hand and turn pages with the thumb of the same hand.

Wow, I really admire your initiative in bookmarking sentences, taking notes, etc. If I can ask, what's your motivation for doing a startup? What drives you?

Money Ego Women FOOD! :)

2 chicks

Organic pls :}

Good article, but its unfortunately also a good example of how misspelling and using the wrong words can really hurt public writing.

Hopefully the only one hurt will be the author(me) for his spelling and awkward wording.

Agree with the rest. FAW is a must-read. My copy has so many notes you can barely read the text anymore. :P

great book picked it up and about a month ago, when i get down i read it. .rb

hussle + luck = opportunity

hustle + opportunity + preparation = luck

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