Startup Revolution

3 Books for Startups
This is the order we would read these books in AND we would read them all since each speaks to a different aspect of a startup's journey.

Bold: Go Big or Go Home
We are starting this list of 3 books for startups with Bold: How To Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the world because it has the best crowdfunding summary we've ever read.

Since finding money is usually the #1 issue most startups face and many have questions about crowdfunding read Diamandis & Kotter's book first. Chances are, if you are a startup, you are already "thinking exponentially", but this is a great and inspirational read.

The section on preparing your psyche for the exponential startup journey is another standout mustread for startup entrepreneurs.

Tilt: Shifting Your Business From Products To Customers
Tilt is another great startup read. Niraj Dawar has the shift from products to customers SO RIGHT. He even knows why its so hard to change our thinking from How Much More Can We Sell to What Else Do Our Customers Need. If Bold has the best crowdfunding summary we've read Tilt describes marketing's hard to change muscle memory. Go downstream if you want to win.

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action
Every business starts with a passionate why. Some like Tom's shoes, Zappos and Amazon know and don't lose their why. Some companies such as Walmart, Kodak and Xerox lose or have their why get fuzzy. A bad rain falls when your lose your WHY or your why doesn't evolve, respond to feedback and grow. Just as important as the Lean Startup by Ries Start with Why should be a compulsory read for any startup.

The common elements to all three of these books are:

* Share your honest passion and be all in.
* Think BIG and DIFFERENT and prepare yourself for pain such thinking brings.
* Focus on customers and LISTEN and don't get too attached to anything.

Remember Ferris Beuller's words:

Ferris: Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people.

Stay OPEN and read, read and read some more. Good luck. Marty and team http://www.curagami.com

Mapillary is a cool idea. Why run up and down city blocks taking pictures when your customers, advocates and contributors could do that for you. What it means to be a MAP is changing fast.

Maps used to be those things you couldn't fold back up. Now maps are evolving into evolving stage sets. You need one "map" when its six pm and time for dinner.

You need another map when you need groceries or toys for Christmas. As the line between virtual and real world collapse "map" is going to take on many new meanings.

With GPS "Map" means place, time and tribe. Why tribe? Because, as FourSquare proved our phones are smart enough to know when our friends' phones are around us.

Phones become living avatars walking a digital landscape by proxy, roads we wold walk if we could TRON-UP and jump into the machine. Since we can't become digital just yet MAP will take on many new meetings.

Extend our new "map thinking" a little further and maps become games, commerce and content. These new "digital maps" will be how we tell time, know and relate to our friends and understand PLACE.

Mapillary sees the future. They know maps are more than those things we used to not be able to fold back up :).