This is also something Paul Hawken touches on in "Growing a Business", along with a suggestion (IIRC) not to pay sales staff a commission:

https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Business-Paul-Hawken/dp/06716...

Growing a Business [1] is the book you're talking about it. I picked it up on a whim from a book sale a couple years ago and it was an interesting read. Like this one, some things are fairly outdated (talks a fair bit about catalog sales), but overall pretty sound advice for building a sustainable business.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Business-Paul-Hawken/dp/067167...

A few years ago I was reading "Growing a Business" by Paul Hawken[1], in which he shares his experiences in entrepreneurship (which are quite dated, but interesting). One thing that stuck out to me was that in his first business, he used $1000 to get up and started, and in the latest one at the time of writing, had used over $100,000. He said in the first he would have felt uncomfortable with more than a grand in the first experience and uncomfortable with less than a hundred grand in the last example.

I took away the point that the amount of funding needed to start a business is variable, and so are the needs of the founders. Founders shouldn't deal with more or less than they are comfortable with. Personally, I lean more in the direction you do, wanting a business to be cash flow positive before I took any outside capital. But that would be extremely difficult in many situations, and limiting yourself to having a product that is very small profitable now may limit your ability to build a product that is hugely profitable in the future. My thinking is that a founder needs to take time and evaluate carefully whether they should seek investment or bootstrap.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Business-Paul-Hawken/dp/067167...

I agree about Jim "Business Guru" Collins: his books seem a bit like "empty calories" to me. I was left without much of a sense of any practical takeaways.

My favorite business book, I think, is "Growing a Business" by Paul Hawken. Pretty down to earth and he says a lot of things you'll see by people like 37 signals, except he said them back in the 80ies: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0671671642?tag=dedasys-20

Books by Paul Hawken, like "Growing a Business"

http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Business-Paul-Hawken/dp/067167...

"Growing a Business" by Paul Hawken - hands down one of the best books on starting a business I have read. Don't let yourself be scared away by the release date 1988, the advice in there is timeless. Lots of the author's advice can still be found in other books on that topic. http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Business-Paul-Hawken/dp/067167...

You might also think the title sounds "treehuggerish", I found the book not to be like that at all but very inspiring and useful.

I would be more inclined to do this if the book is non-technical. When you commit to reading a technical book, you're committing yourself to more than just the time spent reading: you're committing yourself to the time spent applying and fully understanding what you read -- installing tools, tinkering with syntax, coding, and so on. I've got enough of that now.

With non-technical books (literature, history, quality-of-life), most of the time will be invested into actual reading, with a bit of pondering and maybe discussing. We can have a conversation right away, and there's still knowledge and insight to be gained.

Here are some non-technical books I'd like to read:

* How to Read a Book - http://amazon.com/dp/0671212095

* Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion - http://amazon.com/dp/006124189X

* Liar's Poker - http://amazon.com/dp/0140143459

* Growing a Business - http://amazon.com/dp/0671671642

For those of you interested in growing a business, read Paul Hawken's, "Growing a Business": http://www.amazon.com/dp/0671671642

For those of you arguing for or against, read Joel's Strategy Letter I: Ben and Jerry's vs. Amazon: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000056.html

I am with the 37signals guys on this one. DHH's startup school presentation was refreshing.