Startup Bible Books as recommended by Y Combinator Founders of the Silicon Valley

Binge watching Silicon Valley (the TV show) already? We have the perfect book recommendations for you if you are finding "romance" in the Silicon Valley startup world. These are legit hustle blockbusters recommended by real Silicon Valley founders and YC alumni.

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Zero to One Peter Thiel Startup Venture Capitalist of the Year

The Startup Playbook: Secrets of the Fastest-Growing Startups from Their Founding Entrepreneurs

But ultimately remember Paul Graham the godfather and mafia chief of YC said focus on your product. Eat exercise and product. That's it. 

Above links are our amazon referral link

The Art of Choosing - social behavioral economics, practical social psychology book by prominent professor of business at Columbia University

The Art of Choosing - social behavioral economics, practical social psychology book by prominent professor of business at Columbia University 

Are choices making us unhappy? United States is a land of dream, choices, wealth and lots of entitlement lately. But are we really happy and productive with the resources available to us? Award winning Columbia University professor SHEENA IYENGAR turns award winning research into a popular easy-read bestselling book for arm chair economists and social psychologists. 

Her research reveals new insights on decision making in every day life, in business and in social life, also differences between how Americans and Asians  make choices. 

Buy The Art of Choosing our book recommendation on Amazon

Author Biography

SHEENA IYENGAR is the S. T. Lee Professor of Business at Columbia University and a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award. She holds an undergraduate degree from Wharton School of Business and a doctorate in social psychology from Stanford University. Her innovative research on choice has been funded by the Institute for Advanced Studies, the Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Mental Health. Her work is regularly cited in periodicals such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, Fortune and TIME magazines, and in books such as Blink and The Paradox of Choice.

The Art Spirit - Book recommendation by Jack Dorsey CEO of Twitter Square

Famous entrepreneur and startup founder, billionaire Jack Dorsey has made a book recommendation - The Art Spirit by Robert Henri in his talks to entrepreneurs and startup founders in the valley.

Jack Dorsey thinks this book is both philosophical, poetic and beautifully written. The journey of being an artist is surprisingly similar to the journey of becoming a successful entrepreneur. During his talk, he would read excerpts from this book. TNW wrote "Reading from Robert Henri’s “The Art Spirit“, Dorsey made comparisons about what’s in the story with how it relates to startups. He said that entrepreneurs should build what they want and with purpose." 

About the Author
Robert Henri was born in Cincinnati in 1865 and died in 1929. He led the Ashcan School movement in art, and attracted a large, intensely personal group of followers. His paintings are shown at major museums across the United States.

Source:
http://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2013/10/20/jack-dorsey-speaks-at-y-combinator-startup-school-2013/#gref

Buy your copy of the Art Spirit on Amazon

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Movies and TV Shows that Romanticize Startup Life in Silicon Valley

While many in the silicon valley has laughed at the accuracy of these movies blow. They are rather sensational romantic stories about the Silicon Valley and founders who created empires here. We recommend the hit TV show Silicon Valley, The Social Network (Movie), and The Internship to get started romanticizing about becoming big in the Silicon Valley.  

  

These motion pictures surely are fun to watch quickly and get a sense of the startup culture in the Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley (TV Show)

A surprisingly accurate TV show about a garage startup's journey to becoming a startup unicorn in the Silicon Valley. You will see young brogrammers and their encounter with parties, accelerators, VCs and press. Even their battles with startup depression.

The Social Network (Movie)

Based on Facebook, its founder Mark Zuckerberg and their journey to the massive tech IPO. This movie portrays Mark as a romance-mongering passive aggressive as*h*** who waves around a business card that reads I'm the CEO bi***. This movie dramatizes his court battle with other current and ex-shareholders of Facebook, his journey to find romance, and the famous and controversial investor of Facebook - Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker.

The Internship (Movie)

The non-sense comedy movie is loosely based on Google's coveted campus (corporate office filled with perks and free-to-use bikes) and its famous interview-intensive internship. Two over-age "old men" join a young vibrant startup campus as Nooglers (newbie googlers). They ultimately find a path to fit in and make their own mark. Which never happens in reality ... but fun to watch.

Books for Getting Accepted into Y Combinator (YC) The No.1 Startup Accelerator in the World and Silicon Valley - startup entrepreneurship books

Have you heard of the No.1 Startup Accelerator in America and in the World? Yes, the investor of Dropbox, Airbnb, Reddit, Stripe, Zenbenefits, Instacart and Weebly - some of the biggest startup and "unicorns" in the Silicon Valley. They have only invested in 940 companies so far. The odds are high. Want to get into YC? Besides talking to real YC alumni and founders you should probably read these books. And of course the essays by the "godfather" of the startup world Paul Graham, former YC partner and chief.

The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator

A peel-the-onion view for looking inside the heart of Y Combinator, the most sought-after accelerator of the world.  Written by a New York Times Columnist and Stanford History PhD. It's a professionally written book looking at the seemingly chaotic world of startups.  Reviewed by world renowned venture capitalist  Marc Andreessen. 

Review

“Y Combinator is a national treasure, a Silicon Valley seed fund that is mass-producing new startups. Randall Stross’s behind-the-scenes look at YC offers a rare glimpse into what it really takes to conceive an idea and get it to market as quickly as possible. The Launch Pad is a must-read for anyone interested in the realities of modern entrepreneurship.”
—Eric Ries, author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup
“The Launch Pad is an intimate look at the white-hot center of the new Silicon Valley star tup ecosystem. Stross’s account of the best new entrepreneurs and the exciting companies they’re building at startup schools is a great read for founders and would-be founders alike.”
—Marc Andreessen, cofounder, Andreessen Horowitz

About the Author

Randall Stross writes the “Digital Domain” column for the New York Times and is a professor of business at San Jose State University. He is the author of several acclaimed books, includingeBoys, Planet Google, and The Wizard of Menlo Park. He has a Ph.D. in history from Stanford University.

Guide to YC  - what's YC and how to get in by an alum

 

Paul Graham: The Art of Funding a Startup (A Mixergy Interview)

While you should probably just read  Paul Graham's essays for free from his renowned collection of well written essays - http://paulgraham.com/articles.html you can also buy this book compiled by professionals and publishing houses. 

While many in the silicon valley has laughed at the accuracy of these movies blow. They are rather sensational romantic stories about the Silicon Valley and founders who created empires here. We recommend the hit TV show Silicon Valley, The Social Network (Movie), and The Internship to get started romanticizing about becoming big in the Silicon Valley. 

These motion pictures surely are fun to watch quickly and get a sense of the startup culture in the Silicon Valley.

Tesla Amazing static adhesive sticky notes for any surface - Startup Office Office supply Brainstorming Postit Note Kit

We recommend magnetic sticky notes, post-it notes reimagined, for startup offices. They are reusable, stick to any surface, remove without a trace. They're perfect for brainstorming, UX UI design, illustrate web website features, user experience workflows. They are a little bit of on the expensive side, they are really useful and reusable. They even had their own kickstarter campaign.

Buy Tesla Amazing sticky notes on Amazon.com

Visit their official site https://teslaamazing.com/

Lenovo PC Sticks will turn any TVs into PCs Computers - Geek Tech Gadgets

We recommend Lenovo Sticks because it can turn any TV into a full on PC with memory and hard drive. Not every one can afford a computer, but Americans love TVs and for just $99 you can turn one into a state-of-art computer. It's like ChromeCast on steroids.

Get Lenovo Sticks on Amazon.com and turn your home TV into a modern computer

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Book: Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley - Antonio Garcia Martinez (Author) - Startup Entrepreneurship Books

Pre-order Antonio's Chaos Monkeys book on Amazon. We recommend this book because will cover Silicon Valley success and failure stores. Studying founder stories is a great way to get startup advice. 

Biography

Antonio García Martínez has been an advisor to Twitter, a product manager for Facebook, the CEO/founder of AdGrok (a venture-backed startup acquired by Twitter), and a strategist for Goldman Sachs. He is still officially on leave from his Berkeley PhD program, and lives on a forty-foot sailboat on the San Francisco Bay.

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Book: Zero to One - Peter Thiel - Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneurship Books

Recommended by www.siliconvanity.com because Peter Thiel is an award winning Venture Capitalist in the Silicon Valley having helped many startups become unicorns. His book is based on enormous money-backed experiences, founders anecdotes, startup unicorn trajectories of the valley.  Peter Thiel, award winning venture capitalist of Silicon Valley, writes a "startup bible" how to get from 0 to 1. Shop the book here -> http://amzn.to/22UwyJj

He appeared in the hit movie The Social Network! And he was venture capitalist of the year at the 2012 Crunchies (tech world oscar award).  See video below

Buy Peter Thiel's Zero to One "Startup Bible" on Amazon.com

Review

“Crisply written, rational and practical, Zero to One should be read not just by aspiring entrepreneurs but by anyone seeking a thoughtful alternative to the current pervasive gloom about the prospects for the world.”
– The Economist

"An extended polemic against stagnation, convention, and uninspired thinking. What Thiel is after is the revitalization of imagination and invention writ large…"
– The New Republic"Might be the best business book I've read...Barely 200 pages long and well lit by clear prose and pithy aphorisms, Thiel has written a perfectly tweetable treatise and a relentlessly thought-provoking handbook."
– Derek Thompson, The Atlantic

“This book delivers completely new and refreshing ideas on how to create value in the world.”
-  Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook

“Peter Thiel has built multiple breakthrough companies, and Zero to One shows how.”
-  Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla

" Zero to One is the first book any working or aspiring entrepreneur must read—period."
- Marc Andreessen, co-creator of the world's first web browser, co-founder of Netscape, and venture capitalist at Andreessen Horowitz

"Zero to One is an important handbook to relentless improvement for big companies and beginning entrepreneurs alike. Read it, accept Peter’s challenge, and build a business beyond expectations."
- Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO, GE
“When a risk taker writes a book, read it. In the case of Peter Thiel, read it twice. Or, to be safe, three times. This is a classic.”
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan
“Thiel has drawn upon his wide-ranging and idiosyncratic readings in philosophy, history, economics, anthropology, and culture to become perhaps America’s leading public intellectual today”
-  Fortune
"Peter Thiel, in addition to being an accomplished entrepreneur and investor, is also one of the leading public intellectuals of our time. Read this book to get your first glimpse of how and why that is true."
- Tyler Cowen, New York Times best-selling author of Average is Over and Professor of Economics at George Mason University

"The first and last business book anyone needs to read; a one in a world of zeroes."
- Neal Stephenson, New York Times best-selling author of Snow Crash, the Baroque Cycle, and Cryptonomicon"Forceful and pungent in its treatment of conventional orthodoxies—a solid starting point for readers thinking about building a business."
- Kirkus Reviews

Peter Thiel is the Venture Capitalist of the Year (Crunchies 2012 - oscar of the tech world)

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