Reading List for New Hires

As part of the onboarding for new employees, we request all of them to read the curated reading list we put together. Each team will have their own unique reading list (product, marketing, sales & client success), and here’s the list which we consider must-reads regardless of team:

Note: We regularly update articles here, so do check back regularly.

10 Lessons From a Navy Seal

We love this article because joining a startup like ours is equivalent of choosing the special forces in the military. You put yourself through an inordinate amount of challenge and rigour because you believe that there is a better tomorrow, and the harder you train, the less you bleed. We don’t eat the Californian surf, nor do we deprive you of sleep, but the ethos of the Navy Seals embodies what it takes to succeed. If you are game, watch the video here:

Google’s 9 Principles of Innovation

Google is widely known to be the epitome of productivity and creativity. Here’s a glimpse at how you can be successful by adopting Google’s principles of innovation and our favorite is — Aim to be ten times better. We tend to think small because of the constraints we set for our own mind. Free yourself from that mental prison before you join us!

Relentless – The Difference Between Motion And Action

Steve Blank, the grand-daddy of Silicon Valley startups, shares the key difference between motion vs. action. This is super, super important. We can be very busy, working 80-hour work weeks and achieve nothing really. Here’s our favorite excerpt:

The Difference Between Motion and Action
One of Jim’s favorite phrases was, “I got the ball rolling with account x.” He thought that the activities he was doing – making calls, setting up meetings, etc. – was his job. In reality they had nothing to do with his job. His real job – the action – was to get the software moved onto our machine. Everything he had done to date was just the motion to get the process rolling. And so far the motion hadn’t accomplished anything. He was confusing “the accounting” of the effort with achieving the goal. But Jim felt that since he was doing lots of motion, “lots of stuff was happening.” In reality we hadn’t gotten any closer to our goal than the day we hired him. We had accomplished nothing – zero, zilch, nada. In fact, we would have been better off if we hadn’t hired him as we wouldn’t have confused a warm body with progress.

Above all, when you join us, don’t ever ring the bell. Ever.

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