Back to blog

Thinkers & Writers Worth Reading

· 3 min read

#resources#startups#reading

Not everything worth reading is about code. These are the founders, investors, and thinkers whose writing has shaped how I think about building products, startups, and life in general.

Startups & Venture

  • Naval Ravikant — Wealth, leverage, and clear thinking. His writing on how to get rich without getting lucky is essential reading.
  • Paul Graham — Co-founder of Y Combinator. Essays on startups, programming, and unconventional thinking that have influenced an entire generation of founders.
  • Balaji Srinivasan — Former CTO of Coinbase, angel investor. Writes about technology, networks, and the future of society at a macro level.
  • Ryan Hoover — Founder of Product Hunt. Writes about product building, community, and the creator economy.
  • Sahil Lavingia — Founder of Gumroad. Honest writing about bootstrapping, fundraising, and building in public.
  • Blake Robbins — Venture capitalist. Writes about investing, gaming, and emerging tech trends.

Building & Business Philosophy

  • Jason Fried — Co-founder of Basecamp and Hey. A strong voice for calm companies, remote work, and questioning the status quo.
  • David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH) — Co-founder of Basecamp, creator of Ruby on Rails. Contrarian takes on tech, business, and how we build software.
  • Patrick Collison — Co-founder and CEO of Stripe. His personal site is a treasure trove — book lists, fast-growing companies, questions worth thinking about.
  • Andrew Bosworth — CTO of Meta. Writes about engineering culture, leadership, and decision-making at scale.
  • Nathan Barry — Founder of ConvertKit. Writes about the creator economy, building SaaS, and growing a business with intention.

Writing & Thinking

  • David Perell — The “Writing Guy.” His essays on writing online, personal monopolies, and the knowledge economy are worth revisiting often.
  • Julian Shapiro — Handbooks on writing, muscle building, and startup growth. Concise, high-signal content that respects your time.
  • Eric Jorgenson — Author of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. Writes about wisdom, business, and applying mental models.
  • Farnam Street (Shane Parrish) — Mental models, decision-making, and clear thinking. One of the best blogs for mastering ideas that compound over time.
  • Visakanv — Prolific writer on thinking, creativity, and self-awareness. Raw and reflective.

Tech & Product

  • Sriram Krishnan — Former partner at a16z, now at AI Fund. Writes about tech, product strategy, and the Indian tech ecosystem.

These are the blogs I keep going back to when I want to think bigger than code. Pair them with Developers & Engineers to Follow and Frontend Tools & Learning Resources for the complete reading list.