So You Want To Be An Entrepreneur.

Your crash course on Entrepreneurship

Photo by Garrhet Sampson on Unsplash

Take a look below to see lighthouse-approved entrepreneurial resources, newsletters, podcasts, and more. This guide is curated by our own lighthouse Founder & CEO, Courtney Brand.

5 Ways You Can Get Involved in Entrepreneurship

#1: Start your own thing
Whether that’s a venture-scalable start-up, side project, or after-hours consulting business, go out and start #building.

#2: Take on an Intrapreneurship Role at your Company
“Intrapreneurs are employees who do for corporate innovation what an entrepreneur does for his or her start-up.” Learn more here.

#3: Join a Start-Up Studio as an Entrepreneur in Residence
Start-Up Studios provide the resources, connections, support, and capital to co-found companies with Entrepreneurs in Residence. It’s a great path for those looking to build a company from scratch, while still being on payroll. Some NYC local ones to check include Innovation Department and Human Ventures.

#4: Join an Early-Stage StartUp
Angelist is a great resource to find local start-up roles. You can also find great new ideas on Product Hunt or by tracking recent graduating companies from accelerator programs or startups that closed a round of funding (i.e. are probably #hiring).

#5: Participate in a Startup Weekend
Over the course of 54 hours, you will ideate, build, launch, and pitch a new business. This is a great way to flex your entrepreneurial skills, see if it’s for you, and meet mentors, investors, and fellow entrepreneurs.

In-Person Resources

• Not ready to quit your job but want to test out your idea? Work nights and weekend on your own, or you can check out Course Horse How to Start: 30 Days from Idea to Decision, Founder Institute, or Tacklebox.
• Founders Friday NYC Events are an awesome Friday morning gathering featuring one local founder talking about his or her founder story.
• A great alternative to accelerator programs are programs like WeWork Labs and Company — they offer the community and support, without taking any equity.

Online Resources

• Y Combinator Startup School helps you learn how to start a startup with YC’s free 10-week online course.
• Check out Alex Iskold’s site — he’s the former Managing Director of Techstars NY and his site is full of resources from pitch deck must-haves to how to email with investors.
• Read this piece on the 27 best websites and resources for startup founders or check out this condensed list of the top 10 by The Muse.
• Read great pieces from A Smart Bear by serial entrepreneur, Jason Cohen, writing on entrepreneurial life and business best practices.

Helpful Podcasts

• Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world’s best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists — and the movements they built.
• The Pitch podcast is where real entrepreneurs pitch to real investors — for real money.
• Angel investor Joanne Wilson turned her blog series “Woman Entrepreneur of the week” into Gotham Gals podcast, where she tells the story of the countless women entrepreneurs out there in a new format.

Entrepreneur Newsletters

• Get all your startup, entrepreneurship, social media, and technology-related information delivered to your inbox from Gary’s Guide.
• Join the Startup One Stop community by startups, for startups, and get to know and help fellow members.
• Keep up to date on NYC tech events and commentary by signing up for Charlie O’Donnell’s newsletter.
• P.S. We also recommend choosing VC’s that invest in industries that you’re interested and signing up to their newsletters / following them on Twitter.

Video Prep

• Check out these 10 Must-See TED Talks for Entrepreneurs.
• Watch these 15 Must Watch YouTube Channels for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners.

Books

• Traction covers the 19 channels you can use to build a customer base, and how to pick the right ones for your business.
• Venture Deals is a must-read for anyone looking to raise or invest money in the start-up world.
• Zero to One is the product of one incredibly fast writer and Stanford Business School student who took incredible notes on Peter Thiel’s Start-Up course and worked with the legendary investor to turn it into a book.
• The Lean Startup is all about starting small and smart. Don’t let not having millions of dollars in funding get in the way of you and bringing your solution to life.
• Blue Ocean Strategy by w. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne who argue that lasting success comes from creating ‘blue oceans’: untapped new market spaces ripe from growth.
• Play Bigger by Al Ramadan about inventing a whole new game — defining a new market category, developing it, and dominating it over time.
• Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore. The bible for bringing cutting-edge products to larger markets.
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap And Others Don’t by Jim Collins
• The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup by Noah Wasserman
• Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days by Jake Knapp
• Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs by John Doerr
• The Enlightened Capitalists by James O’Toole
• The Startup Owner’s Manual by Steve Blank & Bob Dorf
• Business Generation Model by Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur

Join the club

We know navigating your career is tough. It’s personal and strategic and stressful. It’s also incredibly important. That’s why we created thelighthouse. Apply to join thelighthouse membership to tap into a network of industry professionals who are here to help you start (or continue) your entrepreneurial journey.

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