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The Minimalist Entrepreneur

How Great Founders Do More with Less

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The Minimalist Entrepreneur

By: Sahil Lavingia
Narrated by: Sahil Lavingia
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About this listen

A revolutionary road map for building start-ups that go the distance.

Cracks are forming in the myth of the VC-funded, IPO-driven billion-dollar company. They're unprofitable, unethical and unsustainable - so why bother chasing unicorns? The Minimalist Entrepreneur is the manifesto for a new generation of founders who would rather build great companies than big ones.

Packed with hard-won, battle-tested lessons from Lavingia's own journey of building Gumroad, The Minimalist Entrepreneur teaches founders how to start from anywhere to build any kind of software-enabled business. You will learn how to:

  • Resist investments that set you up to fail
  • Run a tight ship amid the rise of the gig economy and remote work
  • Develop and release products without failing fast or often
  • Get to profitability and stay there

The Minimalist Entrepreneur offers essential knowledge for every founder aspiring to build a business worth building.

2022, Business Book Awards, International Business Book category, Short-listed

©2021 Sahil Lavingia (P)2021 Hachette Audio UK Business Development Business Development & Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship Organisational Behaviour Small Business Workplace & Organisational Behaviour Business Minimalism

Critic Reviews

Pay attention (Jason Fried, founder and CEO of Basecamp and bestselling author)
A must-read for any potential founder. Brilliant insights into starting something simply and sensibly. Best guide to the new world of starting from anywhere (Derek Sivers, founder of CDBaby and author of Anything You Want)
A timely, hard-won guide for entrepreneurs looking to build sustainable, profitable businesses with real-world impact. This is the path to a world in which people are able to do what they love for a living, with creativity, ownership and freedom (Li Jin, founder of Atelier Ventures)
Few people can simplify a complex topic like Sahil. This book is as fun to read as it is informative (Morgan Housel, author of The Psychology of Money)
In a world where things have become grossly overcomplicated, The Minimalist Entrepreneur teaches us how to strip away the unnecessary and do more with less. Sahil has a profound understanding of the power of community and how to build a business with intention, which makes this book a must-read for any aspiring founder (Alexis Ohanian, Founder, Seven Seven Six and Former Executive Chair, Reddit)
Sahil Lavingia's book changed the way I think about my life and my business, and opened my mind to possibilities for a different - and better - model for successful entrepreneurship. A brilliant, fascinating read (John Green, cofounder of Complexly and author of The Fault in Our Stars and The Anthropocene Reviewed)
All stars
Most relevant  
Really loved listening to Sahil's story with Gumroad and I found all of the advice to be super relevant. A must read for people wanting to bootstrap their business that's full of actionable advice.

Most relevant business book I've listened to

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Excellent! in my short life I’ve started 3 businesses ( varying levels of success ), raised capital, lost business partners and friends. This book provides the framework to let founders know there is another way, an alternate path to the high growth, fast pace that investors and publications encourage.

If 4-hour work week was re-written for tech startups this would be it.

The conversation many founders are afraid to have put into a book.

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Loved it! Covered all the essentials and fantastic advice given to anyone starting a business.

All the essentials and nothing you don't need.

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I’m convinced now of the conclusions reached here. Its really good book. Well read an even entertaining, from a business perspective. Well done Sahil.

Really Interesting

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