'Founders at Work' by Jessica Livingston offers an insider's glimpse into the minds of some of the most successful tech entrepreneurs. Through candid interviews, the book reveals their unique journeys, struggles, and the pivotal decisions that shaped their companies. Readers will discover not just the triumphs but also the failures that fueled innovation and resilience. This collection of stories is both inspiring and enlightening, showcasing the humanity behind the entrepreneurial spirit. Embark on a captivating journey that uncovers the secrets of startup success from the very founders themselves!
By Jessica Livingston
Published: 2008
""The best way to predict the future is to invent it.""
Now available in paperback—with a new preface and interview with Jessica Livingston about Y Combinator! Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days is a collection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in the very earliest days. These people are celebrities now. What was it like when they were just a couple friends with an idea? Founders like Steve Wozniak (Apple), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Max Levchin (PayPal), and Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail) tell you in their own words about their surprising and often very funny discoveries as they learned how to build a company. Where did they get the ideas that made them rich? How did they convince investors to back them? What went wrong, and how did they recover? Nearly all technical people have thought of one day starting or working for a startup. For them, this book is the closest you can come to being a fly on the wall at a successful startup, to learn how it's done. But ultimately these interviews are required reading for anyone who wants to understand business, because startups are business reduced to its essence. The reason their founders become rich is that startups do what businesses do—create value—more intensively than almost any other part of the economy. How? What are the secrets that make successful startups so insanely productive? Read this book, and let the founders themselves tell you.
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“"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."”
Founders at Work
By Jessica Livingston
Discover a world of knowledge through our extensive collection of book summaries.
Jessica Livingston is a pioneering author and co-founder of Y Combinator, where she gained extensive experience in supporting startups and entrepreneurship. She is best known for her book 'Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' which features interviews with prominent technology entrepreneurs and provides unique insights into the early days of their companies. Jessica's writing style is characterized by a conversational tone that makes complex ideas accessible, combined with a deep understanding of the entrepreneurial landscape.
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