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How Do You Compete Against $1B Companies When You’re A Tiny Startup?
I celebrated my birthday two months after I started working at Maxim. My boss, Ziya Boyacigiller, took me out to lunch.
I can’t remember where we went to lunch, but it was probably sushi since Ziya and I liked sushi. However, I do remember the book Ziya gave me for my birthday.
The book was Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Ziya wrote the following inscription:
“Read this once a year and you won’t have to fight.”
I thought it was an interesting thing for Ziya to write. Then I read The Art of War, and I totally got it. It’s the essence of Sun Tzu’s genius:
Only fight battles that you know you’re going to win.
I took Ziya’s advice, and every year I read The Art of War. The lessons are so appropriate for anyone starting a business, especially the lesson about only fighting battles that you know you will win.
Right when I was starting my company, I had dinner with Ziya. Ziya, ever the professor, recommended I read another book. This time his recommendation was Clayton Christensen’s masterpiece, The Innovator’s Dilemma.
