Smartcuts

Shane Snow, a serial entrepreneur and journalist, examines why some people and organizations achieve big things in implausibly short time frames. He calls their methods smartcuts and ties them to what psychologists term lateral thinking, which innovators in art, science and business have used to find better routes to success. Snow challenges conventions such as paying dues, argues that kids should not learn multiplication tables, and explains why building a huge business can be easier than building a small one. Stories of people who chose to work differently come paired with practical takeaways, applying entrepreneurial and technological concepts to life and work.

Bogdan Lucaciu, CTO of Adore Me, called it a light and entertaining read whose anecdotes for each concept inspired him, and Marvin Liao of 500 Startups listed it in a Book-Talk interview.