For newcomers: StartupDigest Reading List is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the startup world.

You can become a member for free here.

Special heads up for everyone – we will soon be launching a new digest that will feature the most interesting startup in the world every week. 500+ people have already signed up for it in advance. You can sign up too here. Stay tuned :)

Also, we changed up the messaging and process of becoming a StartupDigest VIP. What do you think of it?

- Chris

StartupDigest Reading List is curated by:
Chris McCann – Co-Founder, StartupDigest
Chris Burnor – Lead Engineer, StartupDigest

 

 

StartupDigest Reading List is supported exclusively by:
Watch the Kauffman Foundation’s first-ever Super Bowl ad for entrepreneurs. The next great entrepreneur is out there with ideas that can change the world. Will it be you? Pass it on.

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

An epic rant on how you should stop being intimidated and just build a product you would use.

 

The Hacker Way

Buried within the Facebook’s S-1 filing is a personal message from Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook’s hacker culture.

 

There is a slew of wonderful JavaScript libraries out there to aid in adding dynamism to your webpages. But how do you actually put them together without turning your webpage into a Cthulhuesque nightmare?

 

A look at how investors think about risk in a startup from Brendan Baker, who used to work with AngelList and is now with Greylock Partners.

 

Sometimes profits aren’t always the right answer. Here are the tradeoffs between growth and profit and how to decide which path is right for you.

 

A brief guide to tech internships

An in-depth guide to getting an internship at a startup from Alexey, who interned at Facebook, started the PennApps hackathon, and was an engineer for the Israeli Defense Forces.

 

Love this. We definitely need more articles like this written from a designer’s (and woman’s) perspective.

 

See all of the best startup resources here.

For newcomers: StartupDigest Reading List is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the startup world.

You can become a member for free here.

Last week Brendan McManus re-designed all of our StartupDigest Video pages to make them a little easier on your eyes :)

If you haven’t seen any of our videos before I suggest watching our top 3 talks by Steve Jobs, Sergey Brin, and Peter Thiel.

 - Chris

 

StartupDigest Reading List is curated by:
Chris McCann – Co-Founder, StartupDigest
Chris Burnor – Lead Engineer, StartupDigest

 

 

StartupDigest Reading List is supported exclusively by:
Check out these sketchbook videos on “finding the magic sauce of entrepreneurship” and “three things entrepreneurs do” and more from the Kauffman Foundation.

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

This really applies to any position you are hiring for. Make sure to be kind to new people meeting your company for the first time.

 

An inside look into what buyers are looking for.

 

Using Python’s date functions and can’t remember if uppercase AM/PM is %A or %p? Sure you could go look it up in the documents and scroll down the page until you find what you want. Or, you could go to strftime.org and get all the info you need on one, gorgeous, simple page.

 

I hate how Business Insider sensationalizes titles but this is a good look at a great sign-up flow. I love how Pinterest keeps their entire process very personal.

 

A 7,000 word essay on the idiosyncrasies of salary negotiation. The key point here is to stop feeling guilty about asking for market compensation.

 

 

For newcomers: StartupDigest Reading List is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the startup world.

You can become a member for free here.

Below are six articles and one amazing video by Sergey Brin on the early days of starting Google. By the way if you have any amazing startup videos we should check out respond to this email and let me know about them.

- Chris

StartupDigest Reading List is curated by:
Chris McCann – Co-Founder, StartupDigest
Chris Burnor – Lead Engineer, StartupDigest

 

 

StartupDigest Reading List is supported exclusively by:
Check out these sketchbook videos on “finding the magic sauce of entrepreneurship” and “three things entrepreneurs do” and more from the Kauffman Foundation.

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

An epic letter by James Currier, 2x exited founder and now founder of Jiff, to his alma mater on how to do something exciting instead of wasting your life at a cube job.

 

An inside look into how Loudcloud used business development to save the company after the dot-com crash by breaking itself up into two companies. Opsware the software company eventually sold to HP for $1.6 billion.

 

Ruby and JQuery developer Yehuda Katz argues on the subtle but key differences between JavaScript’s first class functions and Ruby’s block syntax.

 

Why learning the basics of software development is important, even for the business people.

 

There’s only a couple sites people will use on a daily basis but if done right you can retain people to your app through either notifications or using your service as a start point for something.

 

Need to edit a bunch of files all at once? Too complex of a refactoring for sed? Try combining ack and Vim macros.

 

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, talks about how simple ideas built for one person are so powerful and why just trying things is so important.

 

See all of the previous resources and articles we’ve featured here.

For newcomers: StartupDigest Reading List is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the startup world.

You can become a member for free here.

This week we have two incredible videos, a technical vidcast, and 6 articles with one from us on how compensation at a startup isn’t much different than a large coproration.

Welcome to the new year!

- Chris

StartupDigest Reading List is curated by:
Chris McCann – Co-Founder, StartupDigest
Chris Burnor – Lead Engineer, StartupDigest

 

 

StartupDigest Reading List is supported exclusively by:
Check out these sketchbook videos on “finding the magic sauce of entrepreneurship” and “three things entrepreneurs do” and more from the Kauffman Foundation.

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

I’m sure a lot of people have “learning to code” on their new year’s resolution list, but don’t fall into the learn code in 4 hours trap. Learning to code is awesome but takes a lot of hard work.

 

 

Charles Hudson, who is both a founder of Bionic Panda Games and investing partner at SoftTech VC, details out the minimum four things you should update your investors on.

 

Don’t worry, have focus, and be nimble. In the post are 5 examples of startups who won the war against the Goliath.

 

Meet people in real life, have a mission people want to join, treat people well, and don’t be stingy with equity or compensation.

 

We asked some of our alumni VIP’s about the difference in compensation between their big corporate job and their new startup. The differences were much smaller than we anticipated.

 

[Video] Peter Thiel on building companies with purpose

A quick talk (Q&A section is long) by Peter Thiel on how he evaluates companies as an investor & entrepreneur.

 

[Video] Bonus Steve Jobs on the early days of NeXT

An awesome old school PBS documentary on Steve Jobs after he was fired from Apple in the middle of starting NeXT. Shows real scenes of Steve conducing meetings, product brainstorming, and motivating the team.

 

See all of the previous resources and articles we’ve featured here.

For newcomers: StartupDigest Reading List is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the startup world.

You can become a member for free here.

This week I got to hang out at one of the Singularity University sessions with Vivek Wadwha and I saw a talk on cyber crime that completely blew my mind. Not startup related but if you’re interested in this kind of stuff check out this video. I have a whole new perception on privacy and security now.

- Chris

StartupDigest Reading List is curated by:
Chris McCann – Co-Founder, StartupDigest

 

 

StartupDigest Reading List is supported exclusively by:
How do new businesses get ahead in the “Money Game”? Navigating the growing startup financing landscape is the focus of the latest animated video from the Kauffman Foundation’s sketchbook series. Watch “Money Game,” where Kauffman Senior Fellow Paul Kedrosky breaks down the methods entrepreneurs use to raise capital, and the benefits—and hazards—of each.

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

A heavy and emotional post about the lows of startup life by Ben Huh, previously founder of a failed startup, now founder of the Cheezburger Network.

 

 

A firey post on why programming can be for anyone if you are really interested in learning. The site is a little confusing but if you’re interested in learning to program the free book starts here.

 

A very tactical post on how to respond to investor emails. Much of this also goes for responding to intro’s in general.

 

An older post about the different stages of a company’s growth and the different people needed at each stage.

 

It’s easy to blame external factors for your company or product not succeeding. It’s even harder to take responsibility and action to make it better.

 

The video was taken at Hackers and Founders to answer the question what is marketing and why is it important? Rand Fishkin is a co-founder of SEOmoz, one of the largest SEO and inbound marketing companies.

 

See all of the previous resources and articles we’ve featured here.

For newcomers: StartupDigest Reading List is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the startup world.

You can become a member for free here.

 

Welcome back to the StartupDigest Reading List, the members-only guide to the best articles on startup life. This week features a look into the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Take time to read more about it and decide for yourself how the startup community would be affected if it were passed.- Chris

StartupDigest Reading List is curated by:
Chris McCann – Co-Founder, StartupDigest

 

 

StartupDigest Reading List is supported exclusively by:
Global Entrepreneurship Week kicks off in one week. Be among of millions of people in 123 countries celebrating, networking and learning about entrepreneurship. Find an event near you or plan your own. Visit gewusa.org for U.S. info. or unleashingideas.org for all other countries.

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

Learn more about what the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is and how it affects internet freedom.

 

 

One person’s take on why he works with startups instead of bigger companies.

 

A summary of a class taught by Brendan Baker (previously with AngelList now with Greylock Partners) on how to communicate traction.

 

An inside look into Amazon and how its founder Jeff Bezos thinks about building a lasting company.

 

A sketchbook video narrated by Carl Schramm, president of the Kauffman Foundation.

 

Find all of the best articles on starting, joining, and leading a startup here.

For newcomers: StartupDigest Reading List is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the startup world.

You can become a member for free here.

Welcome back to the StartupDigest Reading List, the members-only guide to the best articles on startup life. This week there is no theme but we have 4 posts from different startup disciplines and perspectives. We also have a soft launch of our new Startup Videossection, a curated list of the best startup talks from around the world.- Chris

StartupDigest Reading List is curated by:
Chris McCann – Co-Founder, StartupDigest

 

 

StartupDigest Reading List is supported exclusively by:
Startup Weekend founders share tips and insights in their first book, How to Take a Company from Concept to Creation in 54 Hours. Funded by the Kauffman Foundation, the book outlines key beliefs that have yielded powerful results. Order your copy by Nov. 8, 2011.

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

An awesome post of pure epicness for engineers. It’s long but totally worth it.

 

 

This post focuses on term sheets, but it really applies to any business situation. When people show their true colors, always trust your gut.

 

A sobering message from Startup School 2011. Don’t start a startup just for the sake of starting a startup.

 

Traction, traction, traction. Here are a bunch of different marketing verticals which you can use to get distribution.

 

My co-founder Brendan watches a ton of business/startup videos so we figured it would be a good thing to compile all of the good ones into one place for you.

 

Find all of the best articles on starting, joining, and leading a startup here.

For newcomers: StartupDigest Reading List is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the startup world.

You can become a member for free here.

Welcome back to the StartupDigest Reading List, the members-only guide to the best articles on startup life. This week’s theme is joining a startup, plus one great post on key learnings from raising venture capital.- Chris

StartupDigest Reading List is curated by:
Chris McCann – Co-Founder, StartupDigest

 

 

StartupDigest Reading List is supported exclusively by:
Startup Weekend founders share tips and insights in their first book, How to Take a Company from Concept to Creation in 54 Hours. Funded by the Kauffman Foundation, the book outlines key beliefs that have yielded powerful results. Order your copy by Nov. 8, 2011.

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

Every day more people at large companies tell us that they want to join a startup. Here’s what that change is like.

 

 

Not every startup you join will lead to an exit, but every one should build lasting relationships. Don’t be that guy who jumps from place to place just trying to grab a piece of the next big thing.

 

 

If you’re thinking of joining a startup, how do you know if it’s the right one? Here is the perspective of Keith Rabois, who’s worked at PayPal, Slide, LinkedIn, and Square.

 

Here’s a view from the other side of the table when hiring goes wrong at a startup.

 

A big portion of joining a startup is getting out there and putting yourself in uncomfortable places. Here are some thoughts on meeting people, especially in a group setting.

 

This post doesn’t fit this week’s theme at all, but it was so good that I had to include it.

 

Find all of the best resources on starting, joining, and leading a startup here.

For newcomers: StartupDigest Reading List is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the startup world.

You can become a member for free here.

Welcome back to the StartupDigest Reading List, the members-only guide to the best articles on startup life.This week is dedicated to the founders and teams building real businesses from startups. It’s sexy to talk about startups launching and startups getting acquired, but here’s to the teams in the long middle section that are building lasting companies.- Chris

StartupDigest Reading List is curated by:
Chris McCann – Co-Founder, StartupDigest

 

 

StartupDigest Reading List is supported exclusively by:
Startup Weekend founders share tips and insights in their first book, How to Take a Company from Concept to Creation in 54 Hours. Funded by the Kauffman Foundation, the book outlines key beliefs that have yielded powerful results. Order your copy by Nov. 8, 2011.

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

People love to talk about the beginning and end of startups but there is huge middle struggle to build a real business. Here is a glimpse into what that middle part feels like.

 

 

It really helps to have a sense of purpose when you’re building something big. To quote the cheshire cat, if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.

 

Building a real business takes time. It’s easy to start a startup, but you can’t build a business in a weekend.

 

If you’re advising or even just giving your feedback on someone else’s startup, it pays to be truthful. And founders, it’s hugely valuable to have someone on your side who will tell it like it is.

 

Find all of the best resources on starting, joining, and leading a startup here.

For newcomers: StartupDigest Marketing is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best resources in marketing.

You can become a member for free here.

Welcome back to StartupDigest Marketing, the members-only weekly guide for making marketing meaningful to your company’s goals. Startup marketers need to always make sure that we’re constantly learning, which is why I’m assuming you all subscribed. :) It is understandable that you feel like there is information overload, so how do you think your audience feels? As Mint.com demonstrated (some of whose early team members have gone on to found http://visual.ly), infographics are a great way to get your message out. Whether you’re considering doing your first one or have published many already, check out this week’s reading.If you have a startup marketing resource you’d like to share, send the link to tony@startupdigest.com.

StartupDigest Marketing is curated by: 
Tony Pham – VP of Marketing, Life360

 

Resource of the Week

The Business of Infographics
By Mark Smiciklas, Social Media Explorer

Given shortening attention spans and the premium placed on sharing, it is no surprise that infographics are increasing in popularity. In order to produce one that meets your goals (e.g. gaining mindshare), develop a format that will allow you to tell a simple story. As there are a variety of approaches, consider the style that will match your startup’s voice and how you can innovate on existing examples of data visualization. 

 

 

Past Resources

Hacking the App Stores
By Tyler York