May I suggest a radical POV: time you spent reading books is time not spent validating & building & selling your ideas.
I don’t mean to be rude, but there is nothing special there, no secret sauce, no guaranteed path etc to write books about. It is mostly a common sense knowledge + a bit of inspiration.
But it’s the same inspiration you get from your favorite film heros or real books, like literature.
Yes, that's very radical. How will the person who asked the top question know that they're supposed to validate their ideas before they build, for example? And how do you validate your ideas? And how do you figure out what to build and position yourself against competition, etc?
These are complicated things. People who succeed without learning from others do so mostly via timing and luck.
To those with knowledge, it's nothing special. To the rest, it's a daunting black box of pain and frustration.
<<time you spent reading books is time not spent validating & building & selling your ideas.>>
Drew Houston said:
“Your job as CEO changes every six months, every year, every couple of years. Just nobody tells you that… Nobody is born a CEO. You learn it. And the challenge is you just don’t know what your blind spots are. The chessboard is a lot bigger than just building a good product.”
As CEO, everything from strategy to building and managing a team is your responsibility.
When asked how he scaled from coding the first version of Dropbox himself to managing an organization with thousands of employees, Drew responds:
“Reading was probably the single most valuable thing that I did.”
Completely disagree - the two aren’t mutually exclusive. I used to read 50ish books a year, mostly through Audible, and find the knowledge gained to be invaluable today.
With that said I do recommend a large bias towards action and focusing on just-in-time information instead of just-in-case unless you have abundant amounts of free time.
If you’re trying to be an indie hacker, I honestly just recommend trying a ton of businesses with <3 month validation. No book will tell you what to build, you just have to talk to people and try charging.
This is generally good advice. "Knowledge porn" is a waste of time. However, there are moments in a day when reading is one of the only things you can do. For example, while on a treadmill or 10-15 minutes before you sleep. As long as you read in those kinds of moments I don't see it as a waste of time.
On the other hand, if you're reading an hour or two a day when you could be building, showing or talking to someone then you're mismanaging your time.
The problem is that most people asking this question are already developers and what they really need is exposure to the things they haven't had to deal with before. Stuff like Marketing, making sales, customer support, staying profitable and general "business sense." A general introduction to small business book is probably enough to cover the basics there.
My favorite is The Startup Owner's Manual by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf. It has a roadmap for internet business and a ton of checklists to help you validate your ideas and reach potential customers. The suggested path through the book also helps to get started without having to read through the whole book.
I don’t mean to be rude, but there is nothing special there, no secret sauce, no guaranteed path etc to write books about. It is mostly a common sense knowledge + a bit of inspiration.
But it’s the same inspiration you get from your favorite film heros or real books, like literature.