Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World

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There's so many valuable lessons here, not just in how to run a business (or the failures/learnings to look out for).

As someone that's been familiar with the story of Moz and Rand for the last few years, Lost and Founder wasn't a surprise.Now Fishkin pulls back the curtain on tech startup mythology, exposing the ups and downs of startup life that most CEOs would rather keep secret. On the other hand, of 200+ employees the importance of 2-3 key engineers in the success of his company was absolutely critical, twice, and leads one to wonder, what if they didn't meet this qualification? What makes the book work is that Rand is super honest and talks openly about his successes, failures and the tough decisions he had to make.

I'd put this in the Top 10 list of reads for anyone that's looking to start a company, but more importantly - wants to do it right. It is especially important because he talks about its most difficult stages, using hindsight to evaluate them. He gives a specific example of a time the risk of doing so was perceived to be just too great, so it is a balanced commentary. Sharing the ups, and more importantly, the downs of the startup world, Rand lays it all out for his readers in stunning clarity. Rand's book is a practical, transparent guide into building a startup and the responsibilities and unsuspected challenges it comes with.However, I think the book rises well above this kind of company biography and offers us thoughtful takes on tactics and strategies to think about, anchored by experience.