books every entrepreneur must read

Whether they're battle-tested veterans or fresh-faced newbies, entrepreneurs undergo an intense learning process when establishing and launching a business. Even those who've been through it before typically face a certain amount of uncertainty. That's why it's critical that they learn as much as possible about their specific area of business as well as entrepreneurship as a whole.

Probably thousands of books offer business, leadership or startup advice, but we've narrowed it down to just 14. Entrepreneurs and all those fascinated by startups should find the time to read these titles this year during their travels:

Related: Business Books Are Virtually Worthless Without This

1. The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change The Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christenen, 1997. Harvard professor Clayton Christensen, who has founded a handful of companies of his own over the years, delivered one of the most respected and useful books for entrepreneurs 17 years ago. Its power lies in the assertion that even though things are done correctly, a company can still vanish. 

Other takeaways from this modern-day classic are insights about when a businessperson should not listen to customers, the appropriate times to select smaller markets over larger ones and the right moment to invest in development of lower-performance products.

2. The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries, 2011. Whether an entrepreneur is a business veteran who has experienced the highs and lows of the great dotcom bubble or a young, inexperienced newcomer, a long-standing set of rules and suggestions are typically offered for certain scenarios, such aswhen it's wise to turn to a focus group or just remain optimistic. 

Entrepreneur Eric Ries went in a different direction. Instead of listening to that coveted focus group, watch the customers inside, he advised. He has served as an entrepreneur in residence at Harvard Business School. 

Related: Don't Go Too Lean. On America's Main Street, Business Plans Still Work.

3. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber, 1995. For more than 40 years Michael Gerber has assisted thousands of small businesses. In his 1995 update of his 1986 underground classic, The E Myth: Why Most Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It, Gerber argued that despite entrepreneurs coming up with great ideas, rarely do they make for good businesspeople. To help prevent readers from making fatal mistakes, Gerber presented in an easily understood book an effective business model to guide entrepreneurs at all stages of growth.

Related: Steve Blank on Building Great Founding Teams

4. The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Gary Blank, 2005. When the tech boom began in Silicon Valley in 1978, Steven Blank was on the scene. Although he retired in 1999, Blank had accumulated a wealth of knowledge that he shared in the bestselling The Four Steps to the Epiphany. In this must-read for those launching tech startups, Blank clearly outlined how to organize sales and marketing, discover flaws and test assumptions.

5. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, 1936. This book has been called the “grandfather of all people-skills books” because it has been assisting everyone from the rich and famous to successful business leaders for more than 80 years. The reason that this title remains useful and popular is because it describes techniques for handling other people, like six ways to get people to like you, 12 ways to encourage others to buy into your thinking or nine ways to change people's minds without any resentment.

6. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, 2011. A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner in economics, Daniel Kahneman provided this bestselling explanation of how people think -- describing the fast, intuitive and emotional System 1 and the slower, more deliberative and more logical System 2. By understanding these systems, readers can learn to think things out more slowly instead of acting on an impulse.

Related: Why Equity Crowdfunding Isn't a Threat to Venture Capital

7. Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson, 2013. The authors Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson have been involved with venture capital financing for more than two decades. They applied their experiences and knowledge of venture financing to develop a term sheet and tips about how to strike a favorable deal.

This second edition of their 2011 book provided updates and discusses new topics, such as convertible debt financing. It's a great resource for understanding the thought processes and strategies of venture capitalists.

8. The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career by Reid Hoffman, 2012. Written by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and author Ben Casnocha, this book gives entrepreneurial hopefuls advice on how to thrive in the fast-paced and ever-changing networked world. The most important lesson from Hoffman and Casnocha, however, is how to take control of yourself to make the most out of your life, career and business.

9. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg, 2012. This book became a bestseller on the lists of USA Today and The New York Times. The reason? It’s a fascinating study by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Charles Duhigg, a reporter for The New York Times, on how our habits predict not only life-changing events but also the behavior of consumers.

Related: 6 Problem Solvers Who Are Disrupting Entire Industries

10. Big Bang Disruption: Strategy in the Age of Devastating Innovation by Larry Downes and Paul Nunes, 2014. The entire cycle of innovation has been disrupted thanks to technology. The world has begun to focus on goods delivered with the help software, such as smartphone applications.

While authors Larry Downes and Paul Dunes, both experts in the tech world, break the bad news about technology disruption to potential entrepreneurs, they also offer key advice about how to survive and compete in this fast-paced world. The bad news for entrepreneurs is that instead of sitting back and making money with technology, they are really going to have to work: The tech world is moving so fast that if companies don’t innovate, they're going to become obsolete overnight.

11. Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age by Paul Graham, 2004. In an age profoundly affected by computers and new technology, author Paul Graham advised, business owners should understand and embrace this arena, which he called “an intellectual Wild West,” or their startups will likely never take flight. Graham, who created the Yahoo Store, provided a collection of essays that offer a better understanding of everything from the impact of the open source movement to website design.

12. The Wisdom of Failure: How to Learn the Tough Leadership Lessons Without Paying the Price by Laurence G. Weinzimmer and Jim McConoughey, 2012. While many books present advice about how to successfully become an entrepreneur or businessperson, this book goes in a different direction. Essentially, this is a “how-not to” guide, exploring the failures of individuals and companies through a seven-year study. Learning from these mistakes, readers might discover what to avoid.

13. Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod, 2009. In his first book, Hugh MacLeod gave readers a glimpse into his thoughts on marketing and life itself.The lion's share of the book, however is devoted to the importance of creativity. Throughout the book MacLeod detailed why it’s vital to be original and how to convert creativity into a successful business. He also made use of his popular cartoons to further illustrate his argument.

14. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, 1984. This selection is not the typical business book. Instead it’s a novel that traces the path of plant manager Alex Rogo, who discovers the author’s Theory of Constraints. There are many lessons to be drawn from this novel, but all underscore a common theme: how to make decisions to succeed in management and business.

Bonus book: Entrepreneurial DNA: The Breakthrough Discovery that Aligns Your Business to Your Unique Strengths by Joe Abraham, 2011. Having launched more than 20 companies, Joe Abraham mined his own experiences so that prospective entrepreneurs could find success. He invites his audience to answer some key questions like what kind of entrepreneur are you, what are your strengths and weakness and who are the people you’re working with. By answering these questions, readers can discover how to succeed and stand apart from other entrepreneurs.

article by:

John Rampton

what colleges should teach but don't

 Hello warriors,

This is 2nd post of the year as it’s the second month of the year too, so do the math geniuses, it’s a monthly blogpost and you will get a blog every month.

Well, this post is more about what colleges in India should be teaching but don’t. Not that I am an expert in the education system, but I am very much a part of it, that’s because I have been through this same system.

With the education year ending, most of the fresh graduates must be making their career choice. Some may get into the corporate world and draw an annual salary, some may continue higher education, and rest of the warriors like myself will start up ventures. Right now the biggest tension would be about clearing the exams, but it’s not even the beginning fellows, later on, submitting the sales report to your boss will be a bigger tension than clearing examination papers.

Let’s take a look at few things I believe should change in our education system:

1.      Theory vs. Practicals: These days most of colleges and B Schools are focusing on theoretical education, but what companies need today is more of practical expertise. Nobody wants to know whether u know a certain diagram with logos and flowchart, all this is useless as per me, if u can apply these principles in real life without even remembering the chart, u r d boss.

          In our system, I think they should bring in more of internships from college level, where students should have the experience of choosing their industry and understanding the work culture so that they can make wise choices later on, and as a part of the industry, I am sure you all will be welcomed, nobody ignores free service and young people in office, it creates a lively atmosphere too. The hunger for knowledge that people have at this time of century is the driving force that will take our nation forward, but for that the Industry and the Education System has to go hand in hand.

2.      Dress Code: The college where i went to, we were allowed to wear whatever we want for daily classes, but we had to wear business formals during guest lecturers or industry visits or formal presentations. Now not everyone in class is suppose to get a corporate job, so if you want to become a photographer or let’s say a travel writer, wearing formals is not a part of that, so whatever you are passionate about, wear clothes and represent yourself accordingly, this will help people understand your mindset and you may earn some cool brownie points with your professors as they will finally start taking you seriously because they will see that you are serious with what u want to do in life.

3.      Use technology when required: Now this generation of students are so much into Facebook, Twitter, posting pictures on Instagram, searching for food on Zomato, sending IMs to class mates when in class, it takes the whole concept of studies for a toss. But when you get into work and corporate life, take your work seriously, even a fashion designer is expected to keep phone switched off while sitting in meetings, and if you are into a corporate job, there will be hours of brain storming meetings in boardrooms where using a phone is a strict NO NO.

            So one should get in to the habit of keeping cell phones away and use it as and when required, this is a facility, not a necessity. Use it for your advantage; don’t let it come in between u and your goals. This may seem like a silly point to most of you, but trust me when u get older, u will regret the amount of time u had wasted on phones, all this may seem fun now, but later on it will seem like a total wastage.

4.      It’s still about people & relationships: What the cyber world has done today is it has forbidden people from one on one face to face interaction, people are judgemental about a person before even they meet them. But in a work atmosphere, you still need to interact face to face.

             Thus one needs to develop certain skills of communication to survive in the world outside, your ideas and concepts for the new company may be very bright, but if u lack the proper communication skills, you may not be able to express them to the person and your competitor who maybe less competent than you will win the deal or offer or whatever it is. Learn how to start conversations, learn the art of networking that is super important, stay humble and appreciate people for what they do, a little pat on the back boosts morale more than you can imagine.

5.      Welcome feedbacks: in college there is very little feedback given in person, the only feedback is results online or on notice boards. If you cannot take feedbacks, you will take criticism as a negative factor, but in today’s world, being criticized should be taken as a positive factor and it will only help u learn more and be better at what you do.

Well, today’s post went little long, but I really hope it helps. As a student you can bring in these ideas at staff meetings, and if you are in the teaching business, please take these points super seriously.

Cheers,
Akash Poddar

Conquering Challenges in Start ups

      Managing Hurdles Faced by Young Entrepreneurs

     Hey warriors, i assume you all had a fabulous 2013, my best of wishes for 2014, may your startups grow more, you employee more , buy lowest, sell highest, and spend well.

     Well, this blog post is about the challenges young entrepreneurs face, atleast i did during my startup phase, even now, as i am 23 year old, running your own business is exciting and pain as well, pain not because handling the pressure becomes difficult, pain because at times there are certain situations where you hope you were more grown up. Thus in this post, i have jotted down few points which i hope will be useful to you all and you can relate to these issues.

1. Startup Funds: My basic advice to anyone starting up would be to get into a business that require low investment. this may sound vague, but consider this, like in my case, if you have seen an innovative product somewhere in a trade fair, instead of starting to manufacture the product, get into trading first. the cuts may be low, but you will understand the market properly, you will understand the money flow, the hurdles, make a solid customer base and gain good capital. However, if you have a plan that required solid money, first pitch it to your nearest ones, parents, wealthy uncles, even if they don't take out the money from their own pockets, they may sign up for you to get loans from banks which otherwise would not be possible as young people don't really have properties in their name to lease out as mortgages. 
2. Maximize Credit Period: If you have a cool moolah fixed in your companies bank account, this isn't for you, but, like most of us who weren't lucky at this, make sure you have a good Credit Period with suppliers. Trading requires less capital, but make sure you get maximum payment period from your supplier and arrange to get money ASAP from your buyers, this may seem like a cakewalk but its a big challenge. Even the best of companies delay payments to upto 3 months, so get your credit period fixed accordingly. As this in later stages will be a big issue and you will have to run around to take small loans.
3. Being taken seriously: As a young entrepreneur, you have to work hard to establish yourself in the market and be taken seriously, this will happen only if you take your work seriously. Your first order you will get on your face value, your second order will be based on your delivery value. It is normal to make mistakes, but you have to handle them gracefully, learn from them and move on. Customers always ask me if this is registered firm or is this place mine and how many orders have i supplied. In short they seem confused if you can handle their orders well. So behave maturely, polish your shoes, cut your hairs, wear formals and visit clients, they don't wanna take orders from a junkie, aspiring to be Mark or Jobs is one, dressing like them isn't the same. This ain't USA. Don't treat the business community that way. Respect the system, and it will respect you.
4. Spend wisely: New money is always appealing, you fulfil the order, get the payments, pay your suppliers and u have a bag full of cash, and you thinking of buying the new iPhone, seems like a cool idea, but learn the ratio well, I call this saveup in startup ratio 6:2:2.  Out of every 10 rupees you make. Save 6 for business expansion, 2 for misc expenses  and 2 for yourself. this may seem like a deal breaker, but that's how it is, these figures may seem low now, but later on, if this ratio is followed, you will have a pot full of cash and you wont know what to do with it.
5. Act of Balance: With this i mean balancing your social and work life. You may have to miss out on the Diwali get together to go greet a client, you may be late on a date as you are sitting with a client. Client is the boss, because client has the orders. However, don't forget to miss out on being young, go out frequently, take small vacations, these are the beauty of being an entrepreneur, you are not answerable to anyone, there is not key card or attendance register , but make sure your mobile phone is always on, as clients don't like if you switch off, their immediate reaction would be "young chad not mature enough"

Well, these were some of the basic tips i though would help u all. Apart from these there are many tips you can get, buy a book for that, these were the basic ones which i personally have dealt with. So sit back, relax, jot down the next step, and get on with your work.

Cheers,

Akash Poddar

akashpoddar@live.com