Marketing Type

Three Books For The Entrepreneur

Starting a business, like writing a book, requires more than a good idea. It also requires more than talent. The most elusive component of success is knowing what not to do. In that vein, below are three books you must read if you run or want to run your own business.

Concept:

Getting Real: the smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application, by the team from 37Signals

Design:

Beautiful Evidence, by Edward Tufte

Marketing

Selling the Invisible, by Harry Beckwith

Suggested Reading: Online Marketing

Below is a short list of suggested reading for folks interested in Internet marketing. This list is specifically intended for a group of Duke students to whom I'll be speaking later today, but you can be sure it will evolve over time.

• "The Long Tail," an essay published by economist and Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson in Oct. 2004 and later adapted into a book.
• Excerpt from All Marketers Are Liars (PDF), the book by Seth Godin. You might also want to see a video of Seth speaking at Google HQ on the same topic.
• "Giving It Away," a column by Cory Doctorow from Forbes.com
• Time Magazine's Person of the Year: You.