Books Recommended by Deepak Chhugani

I got a ton of value out of reading The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. I was wasting a lot of time making decisions, ranging from picking our company name and logo to deciding whether to raise money or try and make our company profitable. I read this book over the course of two weekends and I came away with two main conclusions: 1) It’s almost as important to be decisive as it is to make good decisions (speed in decision making is very important with startups) and 2) The only way for me to keep sane with our startup’s journey is to embrace the chaos and uncertainty that comes with not knowing what’s going to happen next, just that we’re doing the best we can to make good decisions with the information at hand. I made 3 or 4 important decisions almost immediately after finishing the book which helped us keep moving forward!

While it was hard to understand why this book would help in work, it was one of the many important readings that helped me be introspective and decide if I actually wanted to go through the hardships of starting a tech startup. There are plenty of easier ways to make money with less headaches, less disapproval from peers, among others, so it helped me figure out what I really wanted to do and find comfort in that decision.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell reinforced a very important concept for me which is that there is no such thing as an overnight success. Every person who became successful “overnight” had countless hours of deliberate & hard work before they reached a point of visible success. This book is mostly a reminder that if I want to achieve my goals, I should focus on putting my head down and trying to get a little bit better every day, instead of trying to find shortcuts.

For those interested in starting their career as investment bankers like I did, I’d highly recommend reading Young Money by Kevin Roose before joining. There are tons of people who go into the industry and truly hate it, but I’d argue that reading this book and/or talking with others in the industry beforehand will prepare you for the reality of what life can be like