Neal’s Reads and Listens

Sharing valuable resources as of 2024

Lately, I’ve been diving into some incredible books—many recommended by friends, and some even written by them. Here are my top picks, along with the books I most frequently gift.

Brant Cooper – Brant’s entrepreneurial insights are a treasure for founders and aspiring entrepreneurs alike. As a NY Times bestselling author, he’s not only provided foundational resources but also bridged the gap between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship with Disruption Proof. His contributions, including the memorable Brant’s Rant on the SD startup community, will be deeply missed.

Rest in peace, Brant.

Books by Brant Cooper

Dan Martel – I first met Dan when he spoke at a Brant Cooper SD Tech Founders event in San Diego. His book, Buy Back Your Time, is an essential read for CEOs, offering strategies to optimize time management and leverage executive assistants effectively. It’s a book I’ve shared with many founders.

Brad Feld and Ian Hathaway – Startup Communities, Startup Community Way, and Venture Deals. These books are my guiding lights. As a startup community builder, I consider them my Bible. I frequently recommend them to city economic development managers. Venture Deals, in particular, is a fantastic introduction to venture capital, complete with live case studies available throughout the year.

Books by Brad Feld

Cheryl Goodman – Cheryl’s book is a straightforward guide to incorporating AI into daily life. It’s practical, accessible, and speaks with you, not above you.

Jeff Fenster – Relationship Bank Account proves the value of nurturing your network. It’s filled with practical examples of how to build meaningful connections, beyond just networking for the sake of it. Jeff also has a great podcast worth checking out.

Brent Gleeson - Embrace The Suck resonated with me deeply. It’s about transforming pain—both mental and physical—into fuel for progress, a mindset I’ve cultivated as an ultrarunner.

Bonus: Podcast listens. (Summer 2024)

All In Pod – I’ve been listening to the podcast long before David Friedberg spoke at our Interlock Summit in 2023. In fact we had Jason Calacanis as our San Diego Startup Week keynote in 2017.  Though I often find myself disagreeing with Sacks on politics, the varied perspectives and lively discussions keep me tuning in.

This Week in SaaS – I’m a big fan of Harry Stebbings, especially when he interviews Jason Lemkin about the current state of SaaS.

SaaStr Podcast – Jason Lemkin is the go to source for all things SaaS so when Harry misses a week, I go to the source. All @jasonlk/SaaStr, all the time.

Vinny Vidi Vici – Vinny Lingham’s podcast covers great entrepreneurial topics, and I’m honored to have been a guest on one of his first episodes.

Acquired – This podcast is incredible. The hosts do 3-4+ hour deep dives on the history of companies, most of the time without the founders but also sometimes with them. My most recent favorite is Starbucks with Howard Schultz. Incredible stories over 4 hours. The history of Qualcomm and Costco also were amazing and showed some deep dives into San Diego history.

The Tacos and Tech Podcast – a favorite amongst my friends ;)  I enjoy interviewing people one-on-one, publishing event panel audios, and discussing weekly tech news with guest co-hosts.

Blogs/Newsletters

Just like you’re reading mine (thanks!), I read many others:

Pro Rata / Term Sheet - Daily beat on all things VC and PE.

Howard Lindzon - Howard has been a source of financial/money wisdom for 11+ years. Keep an eye out for an upcoming podcast episode together.

The Social Coyote - A weekly digest on local tech events.

Business of San Diego - A deep dive into local tech companies by local tech journalist Fred Grier.

For Fun

I’m a fan of historical fiction like Aubrey-Maturin British Naval novels by Patrick O’Brien, and I love reading historical novels by David McCullough. Biographies about CEOs and finance-related novels by Michael Lewis are also on my list.

And keep an eye out for my upcoming book/e-book on startup community building—coming soon!