Finally finished Founders@Work by Jessica Livingston. I’m sure to have a better idea of what she will be speaking about after 500 pages. The book was easy to read (for a techie anyway) and very insightful, but I was slowed by the sheer amount and depth of the interviews.
Like I mentioned in the previous post, some of the best parts are the ‘tell all’ parts, where the founders reveal their greatest fears, and the difficulties they had with VCs, competitors, and with ex-employees, who were in some cases friends (but not somuch now..). I thought there would be more on ex-partners, but surprisingly this didn’t jump out so maybe most partnerships in successful ventures work out.
Although I highly recommend this book, I would suggest an adjunct is to read Paul Graham’s essays online. Paul is Jessica’s partner at Y Combinator, and likely one of the reasons why this book got written. Paul’s writing reflects more of an analysis of founders as well as startup success/failure.
I lost some sleep reading this, because of the amount of reading but it was well worth it. At the very end, on the last page, the secret is revealed in one word, as to what the common denominator is to startup success. Experienced entrepreneurs will know it right away I think. The rest should read it!
Our friends at Material Insight (as part of TechRev) are bringing Jessica Livingston to Calgary on April 7th. Her story is that she interviewed 30 famous tech founders to get the inside scoop on how startups differ from ‘real’ companies. The interviews range from the founder of Adobe to the first employee at Yahoo! (here is the whole list). It includes techie Joel Spolsky’s privately funded companies like Fog Creek Software, to household names like Steve Wozniak’s (the other Steve) Apple Computer.
Even though I’m invited to go, and apparently going to get a free copy of the book there, I couldn’t wait and bought one, knowing that I’ll pass it on to some worthy entrepreneur. The book itself is in interview format, and fairly easy reading. The stories are funnier than h*ll, yet enlightening as to how similar and different startup companies are. Be prepared to cover some technical parts, as many are the technical founders, and cover the detail of how they solved particular technical problems. It’s also somewhat of a ‘Tell all’, as it reveals some of the nastier, behind the scenes issues (like bad VCs), as well as the ‘unsung heroes’ of each venture.
I particularly like how Jessica has used a wide range of companies. East coast to west coast, and from early 80’s VisiCalc to today’s Del.icio.us. It includes Canada’s largest tech company, Research in Motion (better known as the makers of Blackberry), so we get a great Canadian perspective.
Jessica herself is a founding partner at Y Combinator, which is a well known seed-level ‘venture firm’, which makes her an authority on startups in her own right. She was previously VP of marketing at investment bank Adams Harkness and she organizes something called Startup School. She has a BA in English from Bucknell, which makes her standout in a world of propeller heads. My thinking is Claudia Moore at Material Insight, and her should have a lot in common.
Another nice touch to the event, is having some local founders speak. Geoff Lyon at CoolIT and Michael Sikorsky at Cambrian House. Both have already been successful, with their current gigs being their second or third startups. It will be great to hear their Calgary perspective, and to see how the follow-on ones are different (or similar).
This is where you go to signup. See you there!