This post written by me originally appeared on The Social Penguin Blog by Mike McGrail on 31/08/11.
Being a startup founder of any kind is a daunting undertaking but there are plenty of resources out there with excellent advice on how to get your startup off the ground. But how do you find it and know what to trust? Obviously first up is the Social Penguin Blog but you already knew that ‘cos you’re here (editor – aw schucks Michael!). So what else is essential for the startup reading list?
A Smart Bear by Jason Cohen the founder of SmartBear Software is a consistently brilliant read. The blog covers a wide range of topics and often has guest posts by other startup founders. If you can set aside an hour or two its well worth spending the time looking through the back catalogue of posts. There are so many posts filled with simply awesome advice from people who have been there, done it and done it successfully.
Next on the list is Both Sides of the Table by Mark Suster, this is an interesting read because as the name suggests Mark has been on both sides of the investment game. Mark describes himself as “a 2x entrepreneur who has gone to the Dark Side of VC”. In my opinion his posts are essential reading and give a fantastic insight into funding and investment. Even if investment is not your thing Both Sides of the Table is well worth a read; Mark also covers topics such as social media and marketing in his posts.
Another quality addition to the list is Scott Allison’s blog. Scott is the founder of team management web app Teamly which is based in London. Scott doesn’t blog too often but its worth a visit for the “advice” tab alone. Scott is also active on Twitter and links to a lot of great content.
Angel investors can be essential when getting your startup idea up and running and transformed into a successful business so it goes without saying one should feature on the Startup Reading List and that would be Business Angel Blog by Permjot Valia. Permjot has a acted as an angel investor for a variety of startups, including those not strictly tech and has interests globally from Canada to Cape Town. His posts are of a very high quality and insightful on a range of topics.
Whilst relevant to all tech startups for startups from the homeland of Dave, Startup Cafe andRookieOven (hands up, I run this blog) should be of great interest. Both are trying to raise awareness of startups in Scotland and give great advice. My last post on The Social Penguin Blog highlighted the bad points of the Scottish startup scene but these two sites are working hard to highlight the best and there is plenty of it.
So there is my take on essential reading for a startup but what blogs would you say a startup should be reading?
