The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia

I sought a book about entrepreneurship to inspire me, to set my internal fire. And I think I could not have found a better book than “The Minimalist Entrepreneur” written by Sahil Lavingia.

The book not only inspired me to start doing something — even something small, like writing this blog post. But I also got a good framework for building a lifestyle-friendly kind of business.

The problem is that when you think about building a startup, the picture of unicorn companies arises in front of your eyes. You immediately recall all these stories about chasing for investors, series A celebrations, and exits. And you think that there is no other way rather than pitch your idea to early-stage investors, go to VC funds for raising money and start growing as quickly as possible to become a monopoly in the market of your choice.

Sahil was there and done that. He lived in Silicon Valley and raised about $8 million from the top investors to build Gumroad. He wanted to create a monopoly in creator space with a fast growth rate no matter what. And he failed to grow the company as quickly as investors wanted.

Eventually, he is doing pretty well and improving Gumroad every day. Now, it is more a lifestyle business than a startup. And the company gives a lot of free time to spend on painting and meetings with the community.

The book is valuable because he shares his journey, and there is a lot to learn from it, and because he derives lessons from his journey and provides a structured and straightforward way to start your own lifestyle business.