Relectrify Insights

Startup resources

This is a working document of resources we have found immensely valuable and which may also be useful for other growth ventures. The resources are broadly classed by topic, and each comes with a rating out of 10 and a sentence or two why we recommend it.

CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT

High Output Management (book) – Andrew Grove. 9/10. Intel’s first employee and long-time CEO providing a how-to guide for managing teams and structuring companies.
Hard Thing About Hard Things (book) – Ben Horowitz. 9/10. How-to guide on managing teams and cultures in high-growth, highly volatile businesses.
Paul Graham Essays (articles) – Paul Graham. 9/10. Co-founder of leading accelerator YCombinator on startups & life, incl. maker vs manager schedule & do things that don’t scale.
Radical Candor (book, podcast) – Kim Scott. 8/10. A clear approach to achieving a growth mindset and empathetic company culture. Relectrify-internal presentation here.

INVESTMENTS

Venture Deals (book) – Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson. 10/10. A book on investment raising that is as thorough in covering important topics as it is concisely written. Absolute must-read for any early stage company heading into first fundraising (and will prove highly useful long thereafter).
A Startup Takes Flight Series (article series) – Crunchbase. 8/10. A series of articles on important investment raising topics covered in a fairly thorough but engaging level of detail.
Redefining Dilution (article) – TechCrunch. 8/10. A short-form article on raising capital, with a frame-work for thinking about dilution and creating value.
Bad Notes (article) – Mark Suster. 8/10. An article on convertible notes and their often overlooked pitfalls.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY / PATENTING

Patent Law and Strategy for Innovators and Entrepreneurs (online video course) – Jeffrey Schox / Stanford University. 9/10. Superb course that combines IP and patent theory with highly practical advice presented by a leading lawyer who has supported Facebook, Dropbox, Cruise and other growth ventures. Great for audio-only listening also.

OTHER

Slicing Pie (video – further detail available in associated book) – Mike Moyer. 9/10. A very simple and fair approach to divide and manage equity in startups. Every company should use this or a similar dynamic equity model from their absolute earliest stage.
Watt It Takes (podcast episodes) – Powerhouse & Greentech Media. 9/10. A series of podcasts with successful cleantech entrepreneurs about the reality building businesses. Particular favourites include Lynn Jurich (Sunrun) and Matt Rogers (Nest).
Australian Startup Structures (blog post) – Kunal Kalro. 9/10. A concise and good overview of different structures capable of holding company shares in Australia.

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