How to Start a Startup: The Silicon Valley Playbook for Entrepreneurs

As an entrepreneur, hiring has been the biggest challenge for us. This book has really great tips on how to hire, retain and grow a world class team (chapters 16, 17 & 18). Must read for all entrepreneurs.

An easy-to-read glimpse into the world of a variety of startups. From management to product development, it really is a great way to learn from the pros of Silicon Valley.

Well written. Simple and concise with tons of detail and well placed insight from makers in the startup realm. Inspiring read for those interested in starting companies designed to grow fast.

Great Informative read.

I’ve just received my first copy of the book How to start a startup by @thinkapps, which is based on the expertise of the renowned Stanford course by Y-Combinator with the same namesake. This book is useful for every type of entrepreneur, be it the tech-savvy, finace-savvy, product-savvy, or marketing-savvy types. For me, this book embodies a centralized repository of entrepreneurial knowledge, that I can use as a timeless reference to guide me through different points of the company lifecycle, from embrionic to exit.The informative book is the ultimate guide for those aspiring entrepreneurs, looking to pave their golden road to Silicon Valley, providing a playbook on everything from making the right hires/acquisitions, to building awesome products, and to generating publicity.The book starts off with the basics of setting up your business, from legal and accounting, to outlining what makes great leadership. The book then goes through the various aspects of great products, from nullifying competitors to building customer-focused products.The later chapters, which I found even more useful, go through the fundraising options, setting the perfect pitch, to setting yourself up for PR, and preparing for interviews. The book also covers the hiring of team-members, creating a strong company culture. And the final chapter guides you through scaling, and how to scale your company, product and service.The chapters are based on insights from over 25 Silicon Valley Insiders, from the likes of Dustin Moskovitz, Paul Graham, Reid Hoffman, Ben Horowitz, Peter Thiel, Aaron Levie, Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, Ben Silbermann, Patrick and John Collison, and more.A worthy read, and with the holidays coming up, an excellent present for yourself, or your loved ones.

Quick and nice read, tells few points that are worth searching afterwards. Don’t expect too much details, but nice highlights.

There are a bunch of resources available today for startup people. I am regular reader of Hacker News, industry blogs such as TechCrunch, VentureBeat, etc. Here in Europe, there is also a rising culture of startup focussed events and communities. Much of the information available through these channels is complementary, but lot of it is also fragmented and difficult to assimilate. This book provides an integrated end-to-end view of how startups in Silicon Valley operate. I found it useful to skim through the chapters quickly and have returned to later for reference whenever needed. I have also shared it with a few friends and would recommend it, especially if you feel like ‘outsiders’ in the startup world.

As an experienced startup CEO, I loved the book. Basically, it pulls together ideas and insights from best and brightest and lets you enjoy them and apply them. Instead of reading a huge amount of different blog posts and news articles, this book is a time saver. It really is a playbook filled with real-world, concrete and real-world proof, ideas and approaches.If you are looking to start your startup or you are already an experienced founder, you will find value in this book. ThinkApps team did a great job and you should really reward their efforts by getting this book!

No surprise, no detail, just the same old thing that it is say. You dont learn anything new if you are already read other book in this subject.