Suggest good books on bootstrapping a startup

This is Marketing, Traction, Monetising Innovation, check this small but great post out too: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/selling-before-you-build-f...

I was in similar state a few of years back. Read these, and used them to a good extent.

Lean analytics. (must read) Product-Led growth. (must read) 22 Laws of marketing (must) One million followers

If you like scientific approach: Influence by Robert Cialdini Contagious (Jonah Berger)

This resource is also gold: https://brianbalfour.com/essays/customer-acquisition

I am also documenting my learnings in a book [1].

[1] https://book.amols.blog/59decisions

The Great CEO Within. Free ebook. Popular (1K+ HN points). Good methods.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZJZbv4J6FZ8Dnb0JuMhJxTnw...

Unicorns vs Horses. Article. Good perspective.

https://medium.com/@awilkinson/unicorns-vs-horses-f81d8dd61f...

You specifically mentioned marketing/growth hacks etc.

I'm a programmer who bootstrapped a site 10 years ago and it's supported me since as an indie hacker. In order to learn about marketing, I held a monthly closed-doors growth hacking meet-up with other bootstrappers and founders to share our experiences about what works, so I've seen a fair amount of the territory.

Anyway I've got a YouTube channel where I share a lot of what I know, especially with respect to getting those first 1000 users. The focus is on marketing techniques that appeal to engineering types like me (e.g. scalable SEO generated from data; paid ads that you can leave running long-term etc.)

My context is scrappy (the biz only had between 1 and 4 employees), but what I know should be of interest to people in the early stages (less so for funded startups, where scale changes the game somewhat) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCzT-LQI6x0&list=PLpkoC9yJXD...

Besides all the typical startup recommendation, I’ll advocate for something about talking to customers. Everything else is secondary.

- Mom Test

"Company of One", by Paul Jarvis, the co-founder of Fathom Analytics

he goes through lots of stories and anecdotes from companies, consultants, and agencies who found that staying small can be a strategic advantage

growth is a means to an end, but not an end in and of itself

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Company-One-Staying-Small-Business/dp...

This is the one in my opinion

https://makebook.io/

Arvid Kahl's Zero to Sold

- The Four Steps to the Epiphany

- The Lean Startup

You can also find books on audible to listen to that might save you time especially listening to them at a faster speed like 1.5x - Also check out some startup podcasts as well.

Another good book might be Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffman.

One thing to keep in mind is not to get distracted by all these items (they are good, but can be useful) but there are no shortcuts.

Most of the largest companies were built without a playbook but with determination and a north star.

Remember to also have fun! Hope this helps somewhat.

https://gamemod.co.id/