# 2026 Reading List ## Articles 1. [YC's essential startup advice](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/4D-yc-s-essential-startup-advice) 2. [Users You Don't Want](https://www.michaelseibel.com/blog/users-you-don-t-want) In the early days, by focusing on solving one problem really well, you’re betting on making a small amount of people very happy. If you let any user that walks in the door steer the product roadmap you’re going to end up doing a shitty job at half-solving a lot of problems. 3. [Startup Priorities](https://blog.geoffralston.com/startup-priorities) `(b * d) / c` **b** tells you how many of your users, current or new, will be impacted by a new feature, **d** describes how important that feature will be to the average user, and **c** gives you how hard it is to build the feature. The application of this simple formula tends to arrive at a blindingly obvious conclusion: first build the features that affect lots of users as profoundly as possible, and which you can build quickly and cheaply. It is surprising how profoundly hidden the obvious can be and how enlightening it can be to bring it into focus. 4. [The Real Product Market Fit](https://www.michaelseibel.com/blog/the-real-product-market-fit) In a good market, an MVP is all you need to get your initial customers in the door, interacting with you, and offering the feedback that will inform your v2, v3, and v4. The advantage that small companies have over big ones is that they can move fast, deal with problems by having unusually good customer service, and their customers expect less. So to find product market fit, choose a market where users have a real, meaningful problem, launch quickly, and listen to your users. Once you’ve actually reached product/market fit, congratulations, you can begin optimizing your core product, hiring specialists to increase your efficiency, and make strategic investments. Also, you’ve made it further than most startups ever dream. 5. [The Guide to Startups](https://pmarchive.com/guide_to_startups_part4.html) In a great market—a market with lots of real potential customers—the market _pulls_ product out of the startup. The market needs to be fulfilled and the market _will_ be fulfilled, by the first viable product that comes along. The product doesn’t need to be great; it just has to basically work. And, the market doesn’t care how good the team is, as long as the team can produce that viable product. ## Books 1. The Mom Test by [Rob Fitzpatrick](https://www.momtestbook.com/) ---