Business is never a fair fight: Why some startups change the future #BookSummary

Big ideas from a new book Pattern Breakers

I do not read books around startups anymore. Running my own startup for the last many years, my general feedback with startup books is that most of them fall under ‘a-lot-of-BS’ and are completely disconnected from the real world.

For instance, every startup book wants you to believe that PMF, i.e. product-market fit is the happy ending to aim for, but if you have been a part of startups you’d know that it is always a moving target - in fact it should be (otherwise the startup rusts and dies eventually).

After The Hard thing about hard things, here is one book that I actually not just enjoyed reading, but also took a lot of notes - Pattern breakers by

Mike Maples

The book essentially helps one understand why certain startups grow bigger while others with same level of talent/funding/opportunity fail to do so.

Was it dumb luck that made Uber so successful?
Hint: no, it was iPhone 4S!

From the official description: With intriguing and entertaining storytelling based on a lifetime of experience, Pattern Breakers vividly illustrates what differentiates breakthrough ideas from those that initially seem promising but that meet with mediocre results, and why others that initially seem unworthy—even idiotic—end up radically changing how people live.

The future doesn’t happen to us. It happens because of us. It comes to life when someone dares to supplant old ways with a different way

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Here is a summary of the Pattern Breakers book (yeah, you won’d find it anywhere else).

Pattern Breaking vs. Pattern Matching

Many founders make the mistake of trying to think of a start-up idea and then let their optimism convince them it’s an idea worth pursuing.