StartupDigest Reading List – March 2, 2012

2/03/2012

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.

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We’ve started to organize all of the past articles by topic on our startup articles page. Check out our top three article topics: big ideas, becoming a better programmer, and hiring for startups. 
- 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

Looks matter – good graphic design can compel viewers to process information and use software differently.

 

Wisdom: Business folks believe that conversation solves all problems. Designers believe visualization solves all problems. Engineers believe that optimization solves all problems. Communication mayhem ensues!

 

If you are going to SXSW or any big upcoming conference, this is a must read.

 

Startups can startup anywhere but here’s what you will encounter outside of the major startup hubs.

 

Traction trumps everything
By Gabriel Weinberg

What investors (and press and employees) look for is traction. Traction is real customers for your product or service.

 

Here are a few tips on getting visitors to click and engage, not just view and go away.

 

File system links are great for structuring your application for flexibility and space, but do you know that *nix systems have both hard and soft links?

 

If you’ve read Paul Graham’s essays, you know how much he loves LISP and functional programming, but if one is writing for high performance web services, Java is still one of the fastest languages out there.  How can one take the benefits of LISP and apply them to Java?

 

Mercator: A Scalable, Extensible Web Crawler
By Allan Heydonand Marc Najork

This paper outlines a system for building a scalable web crawler. Even for those who are not trying to take down Google, it is a great way of seeing a case study in designing a scalable system.

 

[Video] Peter Diamandis on Abundance

Peter Diamandis founded the XPrize Foundation and Singularity University. Here’s his talk on why we should be optimistic about the future.

 

See all of the best startup resources here.

 

1 Comment

The Best Resources on Hiring for Founders

23/05/2011

always be hiring

Hiring is hard, especially in today’s market. To help all founders compete in this market, here are the best resources on the topic:

These posts will teach you the 5 things most important things for founders to keep in mind about hiring:

  1. Always be recruiting
    You can’t just flip a switch when you need to add good people. If you can’t (or are too lazy to) meet, get to know, and inspire real people to work with you, you will never succeed as a founder — no matter what you are working on    .
    .
  2. Great people don’t apply on job boards
    The people you really want on your team will never actively look for a job because they will always have one. Through our new experimental jobs product NextDigest VIP we found that, out of the 500 engineers and designers we screened, all of them already had jobs and not one of them was actively searching for a new one.
    .
  3. Passion trumps experience
    Your specific skilled needs will change. Your team and the problem your team is trying to solve won’t. Contract out the former and hire the people who truly care about the latter.
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  4. Iterate your hiring process just like you do with your product
    Even if a person eventually says no to your offer, don’t stop there. Learn why and get direct constructive feedback so you can improve your hiring process and more easily close the next candidate who comes in.
    .
  5. A signed offer letter is just the beginning
    Before you hire anyone, write down plans that will make on-boarding, knowledge transfer, and team-building easier once you do..


Let me know if you have any additions to these resources and points in the comments.

 

2 Comments