15 Resources for Early Stage Tech Startup Leaders
How I stay up to date with the latest startup & engineering trends
Someone recently asked me what resources I use to keep up to date with the latest in tech and startups. So, I decided to make it easier for me to answer that question by compiling my most used resources.
At first I was going to make this an exhaustive list of every resource I’ve ever used throughout my career, but it became overwhelming for me, and I thought it might be overwhelming to consume as well. Instead, I decided to pare it down to the resources I consult on a weekly or daily basis these days. I hope you find some of it useful!
Startup Resources
All-In Podcast
This is my go-to resource to stay up to date on what’s going on in the tech startup world, as well as other relevant current events. This podcast was created by Jason Calacanis, who is an investor in my current startup, Statusphere, and features conversations with his panel of “besties”, including David Sacks, David Friedberg and Chamath Palihapitiya. It’s super informative and entertaining and I highly recommend it to anyone growing a startup!
This Week in Startups
Calacanis also has another podcast called This Week In Startups that I listen to less frequently, but figured I’d mention anyway.
Also, shameless plug, check out this episode of This Week in Startups featuring Kristen Wiley, CEO at Statusphere (my current startup).
The Pair Program
I just recently started listening to this podcast. In The Pair Program, the hosts pair up two startup focused technologists to discuss topics at the intersection of startups, tech, & career growth. Here are a few episodes that I found pretty relevant:
Tech & Engineering Resources
The Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter
I have a paid subscription to The Pragmatic Engineer on Substack because the content is that good. The posts are usually pretty long and information dense. I look forward to it every time a new post lands in my inbox. Here are some recent posts that I found valuable:
Big Technology Newsletter
I have a free subscription to the Big Technology newsletter on Substack. I haven’t yet found the need to become a paid subscriber and I’m actually not sure whether it has a paid tier. Here are some recent posts that I found valuable:
Engineering Management Resources
Long Thoughts by 37Signals
I often recommend articles from 37Signals, the people who built Basecamp, and more recently, Hey (email), to other founders that ask me about remote work best practices. Here is the article I reference and recommend most often:
Jade Rubick
I recently came across Jade Rubick’s content in a leadership slack that I’m a part of (mentioned later in this post). He writes about engineering leadership with a focus on equity and inclusion which I really appreciate. Here are a few articles I found valuable most recently:
Sergio Pereira
I learned about Sergio Pereira from his guest post, Becoming a Fractional CTO, featured in the Pragmatic Engineer newsletter I mentioned above. Now I follow him on Twitter and occasionally check out his blog to get another perspective on what it takes to be a successful CTO, and learn more about Fractional CTO work.
Blog: https://medium.com/@sergiopereira
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SergioRocks
Product Resources
As an early-stage startup, Statusphere still doesn’t have any dedicated product managers. Product decisions are made primarily through collaboration with myself and our CEO. Because of this I consume a lot of product related resources to help inform our decision making processes.
Silicon Valley Product Group
My first introduction to the world of “product” was through the book, Inspired, by Marty Cagan. I was working at an online tech education startup, Skillcrush, and my manager had mentioned that Cagan’s ideas had influenced a lot of the product processes at the company, which I thought were quite impressive and intriguing. So I got the book, read it, and became a huge fan! From there I found the SVPG blog, then eventually read and loved Empowered. Here’s a quick summary of each of their books:
Inspired - How product teams are structured, what each role is responsible for. A really great intro for anyone who is new to “product”
Empowered - how ordinary people build extraordinary products, its about building an empowered culture where teams are capable of solving complex problems, rather than needing constant direction from the top down.
Loved - I haven’t read this one about product marketing, but I’m sure it’s as good as the others!
Lenny’s Newsletter
Lenny’s Job Board was recommended by one of Statusphere’s west coast investors to help us hire product people. After posting some job openings I learned about his newsletter, thought the content was pretty incredible, so I became a paid subscriber. He recently launched a new podcast that is also quite good!
Creator Economy
I can’t remember exactly how I found this one. It was right after I found Lenny’s newsletter. I vaguely remember seeing Peter’s content pop up on Twitter, and since the creator economy is so relevant to my work at Statusphere, it was a no-brainer for me to subscribe. The content isn’t heavily focused on the creator economy, and it is pretty good short-form product content, so I would recommend it to any product minder person.
Leadership Resources
Rand’s Leadership Slack
I learned about Rand’s Leadership Slack from a blog post, and I’m so glad I joined. I consider it the single most useful tool I have right now to network with other tech leaders and CTOs. The conversations are great, the people are great, the community is quite active. Highly recommended!
Opsy
Website: https://www.opsy.work/
Opsy is a community for Operations leaders. I had the privilege of working alongside the founder when she was Director of Operations at Skillcrush, and I have so much respect for her leadership style and tenacity.
Check out this interview with Statusphere’s COO on the Opsy podcast!
Tim Ferris Podcast
I find that Tim Ferris can be pretty polarizing. Whenever I talk with people about his podcast, they either love him or hate him. Regardless, I think his podcast is pretty fantastic. He interviews top performers and breaks down the specifics of around how they achieve success. The guests are great, the questions are great, and I feel so motivated after listening!
Think Positive: Daily Affirmations Podcast
I started listening to this to help me stay positive while I was going through a really rough time. I appreciate it for how short and easy it is. In usually no more than two minutes the host share 3 affirmations, invites you to write down each one, shares an inspiring quote, and poses an introspective question to ask yourself. It makes for a really great start to the day!
That’s It!
Short and sweet! I find each one of these resources to be pretty powerful in its own way. Aside from these, I’m regularly combing through Twitter and LinkedIn looking for new sources of information. All together they help me feel confident that I’m in the know about the latest in startups, product, engineering and leadership.
I hope some of these resources can be useful for you too! If you have any favorite resources not listed here, please share in a comment! Thanks!