Founders at Work

Why it’s on the list: Thirty-odd interviews by Y Combinator co-founder Jessica Livingston with founders — Wozniak, Kapor, Hurst, Blake Ross, Craig Newmark and others — about the first year specifically. The industry being explained is start-ups themselves.

Where I heard about it

• Photographed in October 2015 (Books photo album)

• Photographed in June 2018 (Books photo album)

• Replies to @WillManidis — named in the replies to his question “what is the single best book you can read that will explain an entire industry?”, June 2025. The full list from that thread lives on what is the single best book… (tweet).

Connections

• what is the single best book… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.
• Y Combinator — Livingston is a co-founder; the book is effectively YC’s founding source material.
• Startups — the industry the book explains.
• Company Building — the portfolio idea this sits closest to.