Lean Startup Books

From the Blog

Jun

John Warrilow: Built to Sell

Posted by Erik Starck at 2:21 pm

Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You

What is the goal of the CEO? Bring in new customers? Keep employees happy? Maximize shareholder value?

According to Warrilow, the goal of the CEO should be to make the company sellable.

In other words: the company should be built as a wealth generating system detached from the founders. The task of the CEO is to build this system.

This book has the same underlying message as a true classic:
The E-Myth Revisited. It is written in the style of a story about an entrepreneur running an advertising agency. I’m sure a lot of entrepreneurs with small consultancy businesses will recognize themselves in the story.

The book contains many nuggets of wisdom and is written in a style that makes it an easy read. Highly recommended.

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Jun

Jon Gordon: The Seed

Posted by Erik Starck at 2:39 pm

The Seed: Finding Purpose and Happiness in Life and Work

This book has got some rave reviews on Amazon and it popped up in the recommended reading section for my profile. I was slightly disappointed, though.

The author takes you on a journey together with a man who is low on motivation in his work and is given a two week vacation to get it back. The journey becomes a search for Purpose which the man finds through the help of a mysterious farmer figure in a maze. There’s a little too much mystisicism and spirituality in the book for my taste but that’s not the biggest problem. The problem is that it just lacks depth. I never really felt for the character as he was searching for his Purpose and I didn’t learn very much from the quest either.

Maybe it’s just that I don’t buy the whole premise of each person having a predefined “Purpose”. I believe in Sustainable Quality of Life, which is more of a process or a melody with multiple layers that have to play in tune. I think the whole you-have-a-Purpose line of thinking limits you more than it expands you. That’s why The Seed only gets 2 stars from me.

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Jun

Mike Michalowicz – The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

Posted by Erik Starck at 9:12 pm

The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: The tell-it-like-it-is guide to cleaning up in business, even if you are at the end of your roll.

What’s this? A business book with poop humor? Well, not quite. Or, almost. Actually, I’m not sure where to put Mike Michaliwcz’s book. It’s en entertaining read, for sure, but I can’t shake the feeling that the only reason I’m reading it is the title. It doesn’t contain any specific insight that I haven’t got from other books.
The good parts include the three pieces of paper you need (no, not toilet paper, strategic documents): your long term vision (“Prosperity Plan”), your quarterly goal and your day to day task list. The author emphasizes how important it is that your business is driven by your own, personal goals. The business is you. This is an important insight.
Mike has tried to write a “no nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is”-book about entrepreneurship and he has wrapped it in toilet paper to do so. I’m not sure that was the best strategy, but the book is worth reading none the less.

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