There’s no shortage of entrepreneurship blogs on the web but a startup founder’s blog that is updated more than twice a year is a rare commodity. Not only is this collection of blogs a great resource for budding entrepreneurs, it provides you with an intimate glimpse of the ins and outs of building a company from scratch.
Here are our picks on the top 10 startup founder blogs that every entrepreneur should follow.
1) Ben Milne
Who? Ben Milne is Founder and CEO of Dwolla, a modern payment network aimed at shaking up the online and mobile payments. The company launched in 2008 and has raised a total of $6.31m in funding.
Why? Because Milne’s blog is an intriguing mashup of meaningful quotes, stunning company graphics and personal reflections. And a truly delightful aesthetic experience.
Excerpt from “Solve problems that piss you off“:
It is odd how concentrating on the things that make you angry are sometimes indicative of how you’ll choose to manage the priority of a project in your life.
2) The Buffer Team – Joel Gascoigne & Leo Widrich
Who? Joel Cascoigne and Leo Widrich are the founders of Buffer, a social media scheduling app. Since the company’s launch in 2010, Buffer has garnered over 400,000 users and closed a $400,000 seed round.
Why? Because both Gascoigne and Widrich update their blog regularly with thoughtful posts chronicling entrepreneurial experiences, lessons learned and personal growth.
Excerpt from Joel Gascoigne’s “Expert of nothing“:
One of the most interesting and simultaneously challenging realisations I’ve had is that as a founder, especially the CEO, you essentially have chosen to never become an expert of anything.
Excerpt from Leo Widrich’s “How can you reinvent yourself?“:
So what we have to do, if we really want to reinvent ourselves is to change our environment. It is to find a place, where we can change and become a different person. The person we want to be or think we want to be.
3) Marco Arment
Who? Marco Arment is a tech writer and Founder of Instapaper, the web tool that lets users save articles to read later. Previously, he was the lead developer of Tumblr.
Why? Because Instapaper is profitable and hasn’t taken any outside investment. Between operating Instapaper and The Magazine, he somehow makes time to blog almost every other day on software and the “politics of technology”.
Excerpt from “Right versus pragmatic“:
This pattern is common. We often try to fight problems by yelling at them instead of accepting the reality of what people do
4) Kate Kendall
Who? Kate Kendall used to be a digital marketing and community strategist – now, she’s Founder and CEO of The Fetch, a place for professionals to keep up with local events.
Why? Because Kendall blogs candidly about the ups and downs of starting her business. Also, she was named Top 30 Digital Influencers in 2012 by the Australian Government Trade Commission.
Excerpt from “5 community management tips“:
Number one: stop leading your community on about bug fixes or sought-after product requests!
5) Ryan Carson – The naive optimist
Who? Currently, Ryan Carson is CEO and Founder of Treehouse, a startup aimed to bring affordable web design and development education to people everywhere.
Why? Because Carson has loads of entrepreneurial experience and plenty of practical advice to offer. In addition to launching Treehouse in 2010, he founded Carsonified (acquired in 2011) and DropSend (acquired in 2008).
Excerpt from “7 dos and don’ts for founders“:
Remind your team about your Mission and why it matters. Say it over email. Say it in meetings. Say it all the time. Say it with meaning and passion.
6) Justin Kan
Who? San Francisco-based Justin Kan is a serial entrepreneur, investor and – most recently – Founder of Exec, an errand-running service. Previously, he co-founded Justin.tv, Socialcam and Kiko.
Why? Because Kan writes in-depth posts on a variety of topics spanning the value of experience in entrepreneurship, programming at work and industry hype.
Excerpt from “Divine inspiration fallacy“:
For many first time entrepreneurs, it is easy to think that you uniquely have a one-of-a-kind product idea. You wake up one night with a crystal clear vision for a product and exactly how your future customers will use it.
7) Danielle Morrill
Who? Danielle Morrill is currently the CEO and Founder of Referly, a social shopping platform and online referral system. The Y Combinator-backed startup launched last April and has already secured $2m in seed funding.
Why? Because Morrill has played various roles from marketing guru to startup mentor to board member at Startup Weekend and offers a fresh perspective to entrepreneurship.
Excerpt from “Startup Marketing: 2nd class citizen, 2nd rate results“:
The greatest insult to a great product, and the people who created it, is to market it poorly.
8) Ethan Austin – Startups and burritos
Who? Ethan Austin is the Co-founder of GiveForward, a crowdfunding platform designed for users to raise money for a friend or family member in need. Last July, the company announced a $2m Series A round.
Why? Because Austin started his blog “as a way to pass on some of the lessons to others trying to hack it in the startup world”. Also, he sometimes writes about burritos.
Excerpt from “Idea assassin“:
Don’t get emotionally attached to your ideas. Be ruthless about killing off the medium performing ideas and just keep the absolute best.
9) Jason Goldberg – betashop
Who? Seasoned entrepreneur Jason Goldberg is the CEO and Founder of Fab, the flash designer sales site. Prior to that, he was Chief Product Officer at Xing, Founder of socialmedian and Co-founder of Jobster.
Why? Lately, Goldberg’s website has been closely resembling a company blog. But if you dig into his archives, you’ll find gems like “5 things young people don’t know“.
Excerpt from “90 things I’ve learned founding 4 tech companies“:
Spend the majority of your time figuring out how to cultivate pockets of traction amongst your early adopters and optimize around that traction. Traction begets more traction if you are able to jump on it.
10) Dan Martell
Who? Dan Martell is the CEO and Founder of Clarity, a tool that connects experts with advice-seekers. Previously, he co-founded Spheric Technologies and Flowtown, which were acquired in 2008 and 2011 respectively.
Why? Because Martell is also an angel investor in over 15 companies, a 500 Startups mentor and has been an entrepreneur for most of his life.
Excerpt from “Entrepreneurship is not a career move“:
Most entrepreneurs are like artists: passionate and starving
Image credit: © olly – Fotolia.com
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