4 - Reading list.md

Bloomberg Beta reading List

The resources on this page cover a range of subjects we find useful to think about in our day-to-day lives as VCs. Like the rest of our manual, this is a living document, so please feel free to submit any suggestions via pull request! We included many pieces we've written in our core manual, so the below focuses on the work of others.

Must-Reads

• Artificial Intelligence is the New Electricity by Andrew Ng (video). We believe machine intelligence will transform every industry, and many of the most interesting changes will arise around work. Inspired by Kevin Kelly’s 2016 TED talk.
• Prediction Machines by Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb (book). From our friends at the University of Toronto, a simple framework from economics that (we think) is one of the smartest takes on business strategy in the age of AI.
• Cognitive Distortions of Founders by Michael Dearing (article). When evaluating early-stage startups, we seek reasons to believe a founding team is extraordinary. We’re inspired by this brief look into how some cognitive biases make for founders with superpowers.
• Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley by Emily Chang (book). We’re committed to making the startup world more diverse and inclusive. Emily’s powerful exposé of the hidden (and not-so-hidden) sexism in Silicon Valley examines how we got here and the ways we can move forward to build companies that reflect an open and inclusive world.
• Netflix Culture Deck (article). Netflix famously released their original culture deck in 2009 and built a high-performance culture by emphasizing honesty and open communication. We believe transparency is the first step to building trust with founders — who we see as our customers.
• Venture Deals by Brad Feld (book). The book on venture capital -- learn about how VCs structure investments.
• Money Stuff by Matt Levine (newsletter). One of our favorite columnists at Bloomberg Opinion, Matt’s daily newsletter provides an honest, insightful, and very entertaining take on what’s happening in the worlds of finance and tech.
• #thisisnotadvice edited by Roy Bahat. A compendium of thoughts on how to thrive at work, by a community of experts and students.

Other Recommended Reading

On VC and finance

• Something Ventured (documentary)
• Pro Rata (Axios — newsletter)
• StrictlyVC (newsletter)
• AVC (Fred Wilson — blog)
• Myths about how VCs think (Roy Bahat — podcast on This Week in Startups)
• Cash Management Post-SVB (Heavybit — blog post)
• The Power Law (Sebastian Mallaby — book)

On going to market

• Don't Launch (Eric Ries — article)
• Picking your first customers: the gradient of influence (Roy Bahat — article)
• The Pyramid Principle (Ameet Ranadive — article). The classic principle on how to communicate in any business setting.
• Andrew Chen (newsletter)

On practical aspects of building a company

• Instead of a Business Plan, write a Thesis Plan (Roy Bahat — article)
• Default Alive or Default Dead (Paul Graham — article)
• The Lean Startup (Eric Ries — book)
• Growth is Optional (Brian Balfour — article)
• SaaS Metrics – A Guide to Measuring and Improving what Matters (For Entrepreneurs — article)
• The Most Important Metrics to Assess the State of a SaaS Startup (SaaStr — podcast)
• 8 SaaS Metrics That VCs Want To Know (Insightsquared — article)
• SaaS Financial Plan 2.0 (The Angel VC — article with template)
• Stripe Atlas Guides (website)
• Zero To One (Peter Thiel — book)

On hiring and company culture

• What’s the Most Difficult CEO Skill? Managing Your own Psychology (Ben Horowitz — article)
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things (Ben Horowitz — book, which includes the above article)
• Who Should a Startup Hire First? (Roy Bahat — article)
• We Hire the Best, Just Like Everyone Else (Jeff Atwood — article)
• Do Things That Don't Scale (Paul Graham — article)
• Explore vs. Exploit (Barry O’Reilly — article)
• The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing (Joel Spolsky — article)
• Difficult Conversations (Sheila Heen, Bruce Patton, Douglas Stone — book)
• How to Hire (Sam Altman — article)
• Fortune Broadsheet (newsletter)
• Unfinished Business (Anne-Marie Slaughter — book)

On artificial intelligence

• We’re Waiting for the Peter Drucker of Machine Intelligence (James Cham — article)
• The Current State of Machine Intelligence (Shivon Zilis — article)
• The Second Machine Age (Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee — book)
• Algorithms of Oppression (Safiya Umoja Noble — book)
• ImportAI (Jack Clark — newsletter)
• The Man Who Lied to His Laptop (Clifford Nass with Corina Yen — book)
• Robot & Frank (Jake Schreier — film)

On keeping up with the technology industry

• Fully Charged (Bloomberg — newsletter)
• Stratechery (Ben Thompson — blog)
• The Information (newsletter)

On the history of technology; technology and the public interest

• Troublemakers: Silicon Valley’s Coming of Age (Leslie Berlin — book)
• Hackers (Steven Levy — book)
• Technological Elites, the Meritocracy, and Post-Racial Myths in Silicon Valley (Safiya Umoja Noble and Sarah Roberts — article)
• Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days (Jessica Livingston — book)
• The Innovator's Dilemma (Clayton Christensen — book)

On the future of work

• Why greater worker participation in organized labor is inevitable (Fortune — article)
• Economic security should be a right (Roy Bahat — remarks)
• The job training myth (Roy Bahat — article)
• The Age of Dignity (Ai-jen Poo — book)
• The future of work in Black America (Shelley Stewart et. al. — article)
• Racing to Justice (john powell (capitalization intentional) — book)
• Deschooling Society (Ivan Illich — book)
• Bullshit Jobs (David Graeber — book)
• Nice work if you can get out (Economist — article)
• The Fading American Dream (Raj Chetty et. al. — article)
• Concrete Economics (Stephen Cohen and Bradford DeLong — book)
• Raising the Floor (Andy Stern — book)
• Jump-Starting America: How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream (Jonathan Gruber and Simon Johnson — book)
• Shift Commission on Work, Workers, and Technology — Report of Findings (write-up on this project Bloomberg led with New America, includes a bibliography)
• Future of Work in California (Recommendations from the Governor's commission on work in California where Roy Bahat served as a member, about creating widespread participation in prosperity)

On Bloomberg Beta's partners

• Books that matter to me (Roy Bahat — list)
• How can we build a win-win society? (Roy Bahat — podcast)