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I love Masters of Scale podcast and this book is a great curation of those interviews guided by a central theme. I think that there’s a lot of people talking and profiting of the promise of building successful businesses, but they often didn’t started any on their own, hearing from the leaders about their experience and trying to find patterns on those experiences is almost invaluable to me; this is a book of ideas. On the negative side you could say that the social aspect of the book is weak an...
Reid is a successful podcaster and entrepreneur. Oh, and he co-founded Linkedin. He clearly knows some very influential business people, and he is totally obsessed with how they made it all happen. Collecting the best stories and wisdom from over 100 of his interviews with CEOs and innovators, Reid has arranged them into 10 powerful lessons: on leadership, on growing your business, scaling your business, nurturing ideas, communicating, and much more. This punchy book is a fast, surprising and ve...
Most of what's said in the book can be found on the internet. There's almost nothing new in this book.
Stellar insights into the necessary traits (e.g., curiosity, perseverance, belief, grit) of entrepreneurs. Featured CEOs include: * Kathryn Minshew (Muse) -- investors said 'no' to her 148 times! She knows this because she recorded it...and yes, every single one hurt.* Brian Chesky (Airbnb) -- try to imagine what an 11-star experience feels like when building your product or service. * Charles Best (DonorsChoose.org) -- do things that are important to your business (e.g., hand-written 'thank you...
Most books on entrepreneurship provide the theoretical knowledge on how one can be an entrepreneur. Some books are company-specific when it comes to entrepreneurship.I generally don't read books on entrepreneurship but Reid Hoffman's book is more of a compilation of lessons that successful entrepreneurs have learnt over the years than a theoretical handbook.From Flickr to Airbnb, Reid has summarized the ideas and advice of 70 iconic entrepreneurs such as Arianna Huffington & Eric Schmidt, which
There are books about startups that are aimed to inspire you. There are chronicles of a particular startup story. And finally, there are practical ones, that share the 'technical' details of how to run a startup. "MoS" belongs to the 1st category and it does its job really well.Honestly, if you know the author's podcast (Master of Scale), you know what to expect - each chapter (/story) illustrates a concept (cultural, product-related, growth-related, etc.) and it's based on some piece of individ...
Masters of Scale by Reid Hoffman Summary. This week's book, Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, shares how the world's successful entrepreneurs were able to start and grow their companies into a global brand.Hey Guys! this is book # 2 of my 52-week book challenge wherein I aim to read 1 book a week or 52 books in a year! Here's a summary of my top 5 key takeaways from the book, "Masters of Scale" by Reid Hoffman Summaryhttps://youtu.be/FwbZzYATOBY0:00 - start0:33 - First Principles Thinking -...
It's a blend of stories altogether - and kudos to the team for pulling the stories of the biggest companies that have scaled up in the recent years. Some are interesting (e.g. AirBnb, yahoo.), while most anecdotes I am already familiar with (e.g. Spanx, Canva, Nike, 23andme) and it feels a little generic (e.g. don't say no). Also, too much plug of his own Blitzscaling term. He does advocate that you should have an MVP you are embarrassed of, otherwise you have launched too late. I learnt new thi...
Absolutely brilliant! Chapters were laid out well and contained so many interesting stories and lessons from entrepreneurs. Great read not just for entrepreneurs but also for individuals trying to improve their strategic thinking in general. May even want to read it again! 😅
Bland stories of survivorship bias.
minimal data refried into "counterintuitive principles" to help you start a VC-backed startup in 2005-2012. most of the companies mentioned inevitably eroded in product quality or did slimy things to meet their growth needs. they're all spoken of in glowing terms - it's all about the entrepreneur and the returns, not about whether anything was materially improved for the better. I am not inspiredhelpful VC entrepreneurship cheatsheet you won't find in the book:- LinkedIn: use dark patterns to tr...
I had been dying to read this book since I love Reid Hoffman's strategic thinking and leadership advice and also follow his blog. Super thrilled to receive my approval from NetGalley! This book is not just for wannabe entrepreneurs or business owners, but for anyone who aspires to leadership roles or in product development or intrapreneurs. Brilliant insights into how to take feedback for ideas, raise money and create a culture of innovation in your team (or company). Amazing book - must read! I...
Entrepreneurial platitudes and extreme survivorship bias.
Books of investing, finance and entrepreneurship alike, are split into two camps. There are those that empower you with technical knowledge. And there are those that inspire you to reflect on your actions and thinking. 'Masters of Scale' belongs to the latter. Borrowing experiences from dozens of founders, Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, put together ten wisdoms of entrepreneurship. Being an active venture investor and a podcast host, Hoffman was able to interview some of the famous entrepren...
A surprisingly refreshing book on the different approaches to entrepreneurship and how ideas can culminate from the most unexpected places. As the age-old saying goes, "Necessity is the mother of all invention" and indeed a lot of businesses mentioned in the book came from re-invention and disruption.
Rapid decisions are what's needs to be done if you're want to survive ever changing fast paced market≥You don't need a particular degree or skills to thrive as an entrepreneur; you need the correct mentality.≥When you cultivate loyalty among a small number of endorsers, you create a narrow but deep wedge that serves as a firm foundation for growth.≥This poses an almost Zen-like riddle for entrepreneurs: The first step to scale is to renounce your desire to scale.≥An idea is at its most vulnerabl...
A well-written inspirational and tactical book for both entrepreneurs and intra-preneurs alike! It reminded me of the style and value in the book The Third Door.Some standouts:- Types of no: lazy, squirmy, affirmative, honest and unhelpful- success can come when you have nothing to lose: you’re broke or lost everything - and take risks- company cultures built on process vs. scaling (ex: Netflix prefers independent thinkers to do what’s best for co.)- cultural fit vs. cultural growth: hire for th...
Scaling up can be an exciting and adventurous time in a young company’s life, but it can be challenging too. By intentionally creating a positive culture under stellar leadership, a startup can go from promising to a household name.And here’s some more actionable advice:Imagine the eleven-star experience.To brainstorm the absolute best iteration of your product or service, think about what an eleven-star version of it might be – that is, something beyond the best. For example, a hotelier might i...
This book was Stevo's Business Book of the Week for the week of 9/12, as selected by Stevo's Book Reviews on the Internet and Stevo's Novel Ideas. From Reid Hoffman: The first truth of entrepreneurship and investing: The biggest new ideas are contrarian. When you have a contrarian idea, it leaves you the space to create something. Being contrarian and right gives you a critical head start on achieving scale.The investors for your contrarian enterprise are out there and they have the resources to...
The most comprehensive source of entrepreneurial wisdom I've found yet! And not only that–the lessons in this book are relevant for anyone interested in innovation, leadership, career acceleration, or just simply learning how to build a vision and act on it. I love that the lessons don't just come from one perspective, either. There are valuable takeaways from a wide range of successful leaders, like Tory Burch, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Brian Chesky, Stacy Brown-Philpot, Phil Knight, Caterina Fake, a...