The book is so concise and to the point that the index itself is a good enough note for the whole book.

FIRST

  • The new reality

TAKEDOWNS

  • Ignore the real world
  • Learning from mistakes is overrated
  • Planning is guessing
  • Why grow?
  • Workaholism
  • Enough with “entrepreneurs”

GO

  • Make a dent in the universe
  • Scratch your own itch
  • Start making something
  • No time is no excuse
  • Draw a line in the sand
  • Mission statement impossible
  • Outside money is Plan Z
  • You need less than you think
  • Start a business, not a startup
  • Building to flip is building to flop
  • Less mass

PROGRESS

  • Embrace constraints
  • Build half a product, not a half-assed product
  • Start at the epicenter
  • Ignore the details early on
  • Making the call is making progress
  • Be a curator
  • Throw less at the problem
  • Focus on what won’t change
  • Tone is in your fingers
  • Sell your by-products
  • Launch now

PRODUCTIVITY

  • Illusions of agreement
  • Reasons to quit
  • Interruption is the enemy of productivity
  • Meetings are toxic
  • Good enough is fine
  • Quick wins
  • Don’t be a hero
  • Go to sleep
  • Your estimates suck
  • Long lists don’t get done
  • Make tiny decisions

COMPETITORS

  • Don’t copy
  • Decommoditize your product
  • Pick a fight
  • Underdo your competition
  • Who cares what they’re doing?

EVOLUTION

  • Say no by default
  • Let your customers outgrow you
  • Don’t confuse enthusiasm with priority
  • Be at-home good
  • Don’t write it down

PROMOTION

  • Welcome obscurity
  • Build an audience
  • Out-teach your competition
  • Emulate chefs
  • Go behind the scenes
  • Nobody likes plastic flowers
  • Press releases are spam
  • Forget about the Wall Street Journal
  • Drug dealers get it right
  • Marketing is not a department
  • The myth of the overnight sensation

HIRING

  • Do it yourself first
  • Hire when it hurts
  • Pass on great people
  • Strangers at a cocktail party
  • Resumes are ridiculous
  • Years of irrelevance
  • Forget about formal education
  • Everybody works
  • Hire managers of one
  • Hire great writers
  • The best are everywhere
  • Test-drive employees

DAMAGE CONTROL

  • Own your bad news
  • Speed changes everything
  • How to say you’re sorry
  • Put everyone on the front lines
  • Take a deep breath

CULTURE

  • You don’t create a culture
  • Decisions are temporary
  • Skip the rock stars
  • They’re not thirteen
  • Send people home at 5
  • Don’t scar on the first cut
  • Sound like you

The insights that I especially liked are:

  1. Decisions are temporary. Keep making tiny decisions.
  2. Throw less at the problem. Underdo your competition. You need less than you think.
  3. Long lists don’t get done.
  4. Hire great writers.
  5. Out teach your competition.
  6. Don’t write it down. User feedback can, will & should stay on top of your mind.
  7. Say no by default. No is no to one thing. Yes is no to many things.
  8. Send people home at 5.
  9. Don’t scar on the first cut.
  10. Be at-home good.
  11. Sell your by-products.