This Post Has 9 Comments

1. One of the top five business books!
   I am writing this review out of anger, for all of the so-called “helpful” negative reviews that for some reason are at the top of the heap, these reviews are dangerously misleading, and proof positive that the best way to buy books on Amazon is simply to buy the book, check it out, and if the negative reviews are right, return it, and if they are wrong, keep it.Trust me, this is a book you are going to want to keep, as I read a book I take notes, and the more notes I take, the better the book is, and this book is in the top five of the notes I have taken, it is chock-filled with essential observations about how to solve the chicken egg problem, with lots of case studies and lots of details from numerous companies. It’s an essential book for anyone who is starting a company.The author is clearly an insider and knows these companies from the inside as well, and you are not going to find much information in this book from other sources, for that reason. Several of the things that he has talked about I have done Google searches for, and come up completely empty, so if you believe that information is gold, as I do, that means that to not read this book is to be giving up lots of pieces of gold.Do yourself a favor, get this book, start reading it, and after you’ll have learned a valuable lesson about how essential it is to ignore negative reviews and just try things out yourself.

   Reply

2. Some interesting info but a bit verbose
   This book is really for someone who is starting a new marketplace — which I am. I took away some good points but those have to be uncovered in the chapters. The book is not that well written. I had a difficult time completing it; the stories often didn’t seem on point and forced. His introductions are not clear and end of chapters have no summaries. I think he needs a proper business editor to help him next time. Nonetheless you may get a few nuggets. I’d suggest to focus on his one experience at Uber with clear points and then add some anecdotes from others.

   Reply

3. Must read for any product executives (tech or not) and GMs
   This was recommended to me by one of the greatest product people in fintech (who shall remain nameless). Great ideas and expansion upon Metcalfe’s law and good lenses on product adoption methodology. While Andrew throws Metcalfe’s Law out the window, i do read his book as a set of important corollaries and conditions around the dynamics of Metcalfe’s Law (which metcalfe himself never turned into a formal law !)Most books can be essays, most essays can be blogs, most blogs can be tweets, and most tweets can be deleted. This book should stay a book, but it is about 150 pages too long. Most of the important ideas and examples will be found scattered throughout the book but you have to bear with overused Uber examples. Additionally, Andrew could have added in non Silicon Valley based product use cases to make this very important work more useful to a much broader audience.All that said, despite my complaints about the length — this is one of the best business books ever – strongly recommended.

   Reply

4. Fabulous, obviously 🙂
   I summarized my review as “fabulous, obviously” because Andrew Chen, from my reading of his newsletter, tweets etc over the years, seems to know this content absolutely “cold”. He IS the guru.Among the many things I liked about the book is it’s structure that matches the “stages of the cold start framework” (Figure 8 on page 44 of the hardcover edition). The stories (“case studies” as we call them in enterprise software sales) are well written, short and easy to read.I read the first half of the book diligently, taking notes, highlighting, re-reading sections etc. I read the second half a lot faster and skimmed quite a few sections.Strange as this may sound, one of the best parts about the book is in the “acknowledgments” section (last “chapter”) where Andrew gives credit to everyone that helped him write and produce the book. One realizes that it takes a village to raise a child, produce a book, close a deal etc.One final note: my standard for a truly amazing book is “is it worth reading a secondtime?”. My favorite books (eg., “Thinking Fast and Slow” by Kahneman, “Ascent of Money” by Niall Ferguson, “The Future of Money” by Prasad, “Naked Economics” and “Naked Money” by Wheelan, “Basic Economics” by Sowell … these come to mind) are ones that I’ve read multiple times. Does “The Cold Start .. “ make that list ?…. The answer is “no”, and the main reason is that the topic is a little dry and unrelated to my core love of economics, finance, neuroscience and lately geopolitics…However, I recommend every tech marketeer read this book.Awesome job Andrew Chen !

   Reply

5. i keep referencing this book whenever I’m on working with new clients. i always uncover something new each time i read it

   Reply

6. To those who want to build 1 billion plus active paying users daily companies

   Reply

7. This book is like the bible for marketplace startups. Filled with practical advice based on real-world experience.

   Reply

8. Ottimi spunti per approfondire e scovare nuovi punti di visti su temi davvero importanti per sviluppare strategicamente prodotti innovativi

   Reply

9. Best book ever the way the things are described ,the order of the content and the in depth detailed step by step operational challenges faced by the big companies adds a lot of value to the users who want to build their own company

   Reply