The book this episode covers
Play Nice But Win
Michael Dell with James Kaplan · Reading rank 48 · in 8 other episodes
David says he will heavily recommend the book and try to convince listeners to buy it.
Dedicated episode · Explicit praise · Founder theme · Reread language
Books David recommends along the way
Shoe Dog
Phil Knight · Reading rank 3 · in 24 other episodes
David calls Shoe Dog Phil Knight's excellent autobiography.
Cross-episode reference · Explicit praise · Founder theme
The Wright Brothers
David McCullough · Reading rank 15 · in 12 other episodes
David directly recommends picking up Wright Brothers by David McCullough.
Cross-episode reference · Explicit praise · Founder theme
How to Do Great Work
Paul Graham · Reading rank 22 · in 12 other episodes
David calls How to Do Great Work an excellent essay.
Cross-episode reference · Explicit praise · Founder theme
In the Company of Giants
Rama Dev Jager and Rafael Ortiz · Reading rank 27 · in 22 other episodes
David calls In the Company of Giants fantastic and highly recommends buying it.
Explicit praise
The Score Takes Care of Itself
Bill Walsh with Steve Jamison and Craig Walsh · Reading rank 50 · in 17 other episodes
David calls Bill Walsh's book excellent twice.
Cross-episode reference · Explicit praise · Founder theme
The NVIDIA Way
Tae Kim · Reading rank 64 · in 4 other episodes
David uses Jensen’s “ship the whole cow” strategy to explain defending against competition from the low end of a market.
Cross-episode reference · Founder theme
Hardball
George Stalk Jr. and Rob Lachenauer · Reading rank 419 · in 1 other episode
David applies Hardball's cost-structure line to the founders studied on the podcast.
Founder theme
Direct from Dell
Michael Dell with Catherine Fredman · Reading rank 434
David uses Direct from Dell to draw the founder theme of eliminating unnecessary steps and middlemen.
Founder theme
Also mentioned
Marc Andreessen's Blog Archive
Marc Andreessen · Reading rank 25 · in 14 other episodes
David draws the founder theme that a strong market pulls the product out of a startup.
Cross-episode reference · Founder theme
The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie · Reading rank 49 · in 13 other episodes
David traces the invest-in-technology cost-advantage idea back to Andrew Carnegie's autobiography.
Founder theme
Damn Right!
Janet Lowe · Reading rank 164 · in 5 other episodes
David applies Damn Right's Munger passage about building durable companies to Dell's resilient operating model.
Founder theme
The Innovator's Dilemma
Clayton M. Christensen · Reading rank 382 · in 5 other episodes
David presents the book-linked theme that competitive threats can come from below.
Cross-episode reference · Founder theme
Each note is a short paraphrase of why David brings the book up. Book pages show every piece of evidence and its review status. How ranking works