Tag: Entrepreneurship

3. SHELF it · Bio/Autobiographies · Entrepreneurship · Technology

BR 207: Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance

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Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: Elon Musk’s book has a compelling narrative, a great inherent story and is very well written. It is not for everyone. However, if you are interested/intrigued by Elon Musk and/or have an interest in entrepreneurship, space or clean energy, this is a fascinating read.

Top 3 Learnings:
1. I found it fascinating to see how Musk kept buying himself career credit to do the next thing. His first tech company was a internet 1.0 version of Yelp meets Google Maps that exited for >$300M. This, then, gave him capital and credibility to work on X.com, which became PayPal. That, in turn, led to SpaceX.. And he chanced on Tesla because he was known to care a lot about clean energy.

2. Elon is a suitably weird/crazy, gifted person whose drive matches his considerable intellect. That said, he’s had to make some really big sacrifices to get to where he’s gotten to. He sees his mission as one that will save human kind (we care a lot about legacy as human beings) and his skills and experiences have positioned him beautifully for it. It isn’t for everyone. But, it is nevertheless inspiring to see him work toward what matters to him – even if his style occasionally is occasionally cold and un-empathetic.

3. I love Elon’s focus on first principles. His desire to understand the key drivers is phenomenal. The way he disaggregated the cost of a rocket’s components to get to understanding how over priced rockets are was, again, awe-inspiring.

No book notes. I treated this as a light read. :)

3. SHELF it · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Entrepreneurship

BR 36: BUY it!: E-Myth by Michael Gerber

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Category: 2 – BUY it! (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: Fantastic book for those planning to make a foray into entrepreneurship someday. So, if you ever aspire to be an entrepreneur, I think this is a MUST READ as it makes you see entrepreneurship in very different light.

What to expect: The story of a woman who has reached out to an expert for help to fix her once successful, now problematic venture. The whole book details out the ‘E-Myth’ way of thinking about running your own small business.

3. SHELF it · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Entrepreneurship

BR 7: You Need To Be a Little Crazy by Barry J Moltz

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Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: This book is a fund read for to be entrepreneurs. For others, a good read as it does tend to broaden understanding about going into business alone, the pros and cons. (Add on Mar 16, 2016 – However, I think there have been better entrepreneurship books written since)

What to expect: An entrepreneur’s life story… I found the book to be more focussed on all the cons and struggles of being an entrepreneur but Barry J Moltz insists that it is the point – if, after hearing all his struggles and concerns, you still believe in your idea and believe entrepreneurship is your thing, then that’s great! An interesting approach at any rate. If you are going to invest in the audio book, you will feel the sincerity in the author’s voice when he talks about his work, and life..