This is a list of books that helped me the most in the early stages of k9 Security (which is still in early stages).
It's the list I wish I had when starting out.
I'm a technical founder with +20 years experience as an engineer, architect, and independent consultant. I've also written 2 technical books and +125 blog posts.
Building solutions is easy.
But building a company that solves problems people are willing to pay for is hard.
The Lean Startup (Reis) - the canonical book on how to test and iterate ideas into a viable business using the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop.
The SaaS Playbook (Walling) - a very practical guide on how (and why) to bootstrap a SaaS covering all major functions: product, marketing, customer success, and more
The Embedded Entrepreneur (Kahl) - a very practical description of how to embed into a community, understand its problems, test solutions, and build a business that serves that community.
The Four Steps to the Epiphany (Blank) - the book that spawned the Lean Startup revolution where you build a business using the scientific method by iteratively discovering & validating:
- important problems
- solutions and scalable business models
- places to acquire customers
Read the whole thing, but don't miss:
- Ch3 - Customer Discovery (actually write the Customer, Market, Product, etc briefs)
- Ch5 - Customer Creation (there are different go to market strategies for New, Existing, and Resegmented Markets)
The Mom Book Test (Fitzpatrick) - learn how to discover what your customers' true problems are and what they'll actually pay for
Obviously Awesome (Dunford)
The Pricing Roadmap (Lehrskov-Schmidt) - how to package and then price capabilities as solutions that people will actually buy.
You can't teach a kid to ride a bike at a seminar (Sandler) - learn the time-tested Sandler selling system and the (personal) psychology that will help you manage rejection and succeed in sales
Founding Sales (Kazanjy) - Nuts, bolts, and inspiration to build a B2B outbound selling program
Ultimate Sales Machine (Holmes) - How to build and operate an Enterprise sales program that's focused on your "Dream 100" potential customers that will change the course of your business.