Business Books for Developers

Developers are often very good at building things, but struggle to see how they can make money from their creations. The following books have helped my understanding of the business side of software development:

Start Small Stay Small (SSSS) by Rob Walling

An older book now (2010) with some out-of-date references, but 80% of the advice given is still very relevant today. It stresses the importance of focusing on niche markets, that larger companies don't deem worth their time to cater for.

It's the first place that I've seen the advice that you can build a software startup without taking venture capital. When you are in the software business and hear "ABC has raised $X million", all the time, it's easy to think that this is the only way to build a software business. This book goes about the process of debunking that myth.

Rob Walling puts out a weekly content ("Startups for the rest of us" podcast) that is a continuation of the advice given in this book. View at Amazon.co.uk

The SAAS Playbook by Rob Walling

Rob takes things up a notch from SSSS. Where SSSS focused on keeping a small, life-style business on the side, this book looks at how to grow a software business to $1 million+ in ARR (Annually Recurring Revenue).

Written in the same style as SSSS, to the point, and with a lot of actionable advice.

Depending on what your aims are with building a software business, this book is more up-to-date and may be more relevant to you than SSSS. [Amazon.co.uk(https://www.amazon.co.uk/SaaS-Playbook-Multimillion-Dollar-Startup-Without/dp/B0C87KHT1L/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=alastairander-21&linkCode=ur2&linkId=2847a144f59582060b835ef011b8721d&camp=1634&creative=6738)]

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

This book is now considered a modern classic. It's closer to the style of The SAAS Playbook, where it focuses on how to build a software business, measure what's working, and iterate on what's not.

It introduced me to the concept of "Innovation Accounting", which is an approach to determine if your product is making progress towards product-market fit. Amazon.co.uk

Purple Cow by Seth Godin

Quite a short book, and different to the others, as it focuses on marketing. The central theme of the book is that you need to make your product remarkable, or it will be ignored. If you want your software to be successful, it needs to stand out, or if you are lucky, you will just be competing on price as a clone of a competitor. Amazon.co.uk

Start with Why by Simon Sinek

The title nails exactly what this book is. It's not a software book, but one that gets to the heart of why you are doing what you are doing. If you don't know why you are doing something, you can easily give up, or lose your way.

What you will take away from this book will be deeply personal to you. The book itself has helped me to keep going with my projects when I've been at a low point or struggling to see the point of what I'm doing. Amazon.co.uk

Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan

If you want a crash course in some of the lessons distilled in the other books above, this is a good place to start. It's a quick read, and it's a good way to get a feel for coming up with ideas for software, validating whether people will buy it, and is full of calls to action to actually do something.

The title does give it the sound of a "Get rich quick" book, but it's not, it doesn't promise that either. The author was let go from Facebook, has started multiple businesses, and has boiled that experience down into this book. Amazon.co.uk

A final note

I've found that having these books stacked just below my monitor, reminds me of each of the lessons in them, whilst also making them accessible to skim through as required. Much like My Approach, I use these books as a reminder of what the entrepreneurial side of me wants to achieve.

Do get in contact and let me know if any of these recommendations have helped you.