Essential Startup Reading Database

A workout routine for your mind, courtesy of those who've come before you. 🧠

Author

Bill Kerr
October 28, 2023

👋 Howdy! This is the Open Source CEO, the weekly newsletter that flexes your cerebral horsepower.

COMING IN HOT TODAY 🔥 

📖 Your essential leadership reading list: Expand your understandings.
🎙 Techno-optimism is not a dirty word: a16z c0-founders discuss.
🕵🏻‍♀️ Internal tech emails: Jobs v Google + SBF and much, much more.

If you’re interested in sponsoring these emails you can see our different partnership options here.

PARTNERS 💫

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The secret weapon for ambitious startups. No search fees. No activation fees. Just incredible talent, matched with AI precision—at lightning speed. All up up to 70% less than hiring locally.

Interested in sponsoring these emails? See our partnership options here.

HOUSEKEEPING 📨

We are busy preparing our next deep dive pieces, before we dive right in we’d like to ask you, the reader, who should we choose, what is your preference?

Who should our next deep dive be on?

Choose your own adventure.

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RESOURCE OF THE WEEK 🧰 

Essential Startup Reading Database

There is one surefire way to better yourself and further your career. And that is to read. The greatest books in history, investor letter from those that have come before you, and individual pieces that help you round out your own philosophy.

Today we are talking about the latter. Today we have the Essential Startup Reading List for you to enjoy. Pieces from Andrew Chen, Bill Gurley, Sam Altman, Lenny Rachitsky and more.

Downloading this database was what got Elon out of balding.

Not only do we have the pieces on a trackable database, we’ve collated over 4,000 total pieces and separated them by your favourite writers. We want to make upping your strategy game as simple and as easy as possible.

Some of my favourite pieces pieces in the list include:

And the best, and most inspiring piece I have read in a long while the Sci-Fi Idea Bank by Packy McCormick. If you don’t follow Packy you should. His writing in incredible.

One of the better pieces I have read in a long time.

Reading really is a superpower, but it takes work. To outcompete your competition you need systems and strategies to outwork them.

Build those systems. Be the best that you can be.

Winners embrace hard work. They love the discipline of it, the trade-off they’re making to win. Losers, on the other hand, see it as punishment. And that’s the difference.

- Lou Holtz

And that's it! You can find the database here and if you liked this you will love our other tools & resources too. We hope you enjoy them!

BRAIN FOOD 🧠 

Marc Andreessen released a blog two weeks ago: The Techno-Optimist Manifesto and it got a lot of heat. Some loved it, some hated it.

Read it for yourself. Or you can also check this conversation between Marc and his a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz around the topic.

TOOLS & RESOURCES 🔥

Not exactly a tool or resource but Internal Tech Emails is a fascinating read. It’s a totally unabashed look-behind-the-curtain on some of tech wildest scenes.

If Silicon Valley was reality TV.

Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, SBF. It’s all there. Nothing better than being a fly on the wall on some of tech’s biggest movements.

HOW I CAN HELP 🥳

Here are the options I have for us to work together. If any of them are interesting to you - hit me up!

🌏 Hiring global talent: Check out my startup Athyna.
🧰 Want to outperform the competition: See our suite of tools & resources.
👀 Reach thousands of tech leaders: Advertise with us here.

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