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Start Small, Stay Small

hn-books.com

104 pointsDanielBMarkham14 comments

I coincidentally wrote a review of the book this morning :-) http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2134634

Have you also tried Market Samurai to find a niche? I haven't tried Micro Niche Finder, but Market Samurai addresses the same need: to select lucrative keywords with low competition. That, in turn, indicates a potential good niche to go with.

As you say, there is so much information in this book it's hard to digest. You definitely have to take notes and go back to it regularly, but I feel the book has tremendous value for its target market (software developers wanting to strike on their own). And by the way, writing a book review helps you synthesizing all this advice so it's good practice to really "get it".

>>Have you also tried Market Samurai to find a niche?

I tested both before recommending MNF. As you mention, both are well suited for this task, but Marketing Samurai is a bit harder to use IMO.

>>You definitely have to take notes and go back to it regularly, but I feel the book has tremendous value for its target market

Awesome, thanks for that.

I just finished reading the book and it's superb. With all the emphasis on raising venture capital and building rocket ship companies you need to realize they're not the norm.

People criticize life style companies but your chances of success are much better. But I think that you need to have tried to build a rocket ship and failed to truly appreciate the wisdom of thinking small. Not very sexy subject for publishers so that's why this book is a rare gem.

The book homepage is also a good example of a conversion-driven design: http://www.startupbook.net/

I like how there are so many different ways (formats) to buy, it's easy to buy and it's clear what the book is about. Clearly he is following his own advice.

There is probably a lot more room for improvement. Anyone wanting the sample before buying may be quickly turned off. It's a 60MB zip file because the audio is bundled in. This easily deters anyone on their iPhone/iPad.

This is good feedback; thanks for bringing it up.

I've just added an interim step that allows people to download the PDF and audio files separately (and I've added the size of each file to the page).

Not just iPhone/iPad - my broadband's not so very fast when the kids are watching something on NetFlix, and it's dismaying to have that large a file to wait for.

(I bought the book anyway - you should probably give Daniel a kickback, actually.)

I definitely recommend Rob Walling & Mike Taber's Micropreneur Academy (www.micropreneur.com). If the book resonates with you, the Academy is a deep dive into the principles that the book outlines. Best investment I've made in the last year.

Finished reading it last weekend. This is the most practical book on startups that I have read last (and this) year. Absolutely recommended.

You should probably add a contact form / email address to http://www.startupbook.net/. I ordered the book ~15 mins ago and I haven't gotten a confirmation email yet.

Done - my email is now at the bottom of the page.

I do know that the download emails are working, but if anyone else has not received it go ahead and email using this link and I'll get you squared away.

I read this book after seeing all the recommendations in this thread. This book seems to have been targeted directly at me and it was brimming with useful advice that I didn't know I need to know.

I'm thinking about joining micropreneur.com but I'm still on the fence.

I listened to the audio-book of Start Small, Stay Small and am a big fan of Rob's podcasts "Startups for the Rest of Us". They have great insight into launching niche SAAS products, but not so much for startups looking for VC funding.

hn-books is becoming more and more useful, keep it up Daniel!

The books are more nuts-and-bolts and the quality of the reviews is improving with every iteration.

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