Book Review: "Traction: How any Startup can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth", by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares
I think this is the first book I've finished in two months. Kind of crazy how much of a TV bender I've been on. I've experienced this before and the way I've come back to reading is to pick an easy, digestable, and practical read before hopping back onto the hard-book train. So I purchased "Traction" as part of my birthday present to myself (in addition to the 2TB internal hard drive), and I just finished reading through the book.
When I think about the things that make me afraid of commitment to starting a company, I hit on the aspect of getting customers and traction. I think this book does a pretty good job of showcasing the different paths you can take towards getting more customers. It also provides some helpful advice towards mentally modeling your customer acquisition strategy from a small-guy perspective.
I do wish the book got more into sample spreadsheets about the different metrics of each strategy, but I really like the comprehensive number of interviews done with successful founders and partners, since that's information you can't readily find on the Internet. I also like the length of the book, and the overall writing style. I think it favorably complements "Start Small, Stay Small" by Rob Walling, and I think it'll go onto my small personal bookshelf as a book to re-read.