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We've collated some resources to help you build your venture, from trusted sources we know and recommend:
Oxford's Sainsbury Library: Entrepreneurship resources: University of Oxford Said Business School resources. Open to all Oxford students from any division.
Digital Business Academy, free courses from Tech Nation
The Disciplined Entrepreneurs Workbook: Practical steps from our friend and expert Professor Bill Aulet at MIT.
The Start-up Owner's Manual, Bob Dorf, serial entrepreneur
Venture Adventures, Jon Moorhouse
Creating the perfect pitchdeck
Stoicism, Tim Ferriss and “Stoicism 101: a practical guide for entrepreneurs”
Podcasts we recommend:
Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman
The Tim Ferriss show
The Reboot podcast
Mailchimp: Lifecycle of a Business
Here are 10 steps we recommend to help you start your journey:
What skills do you already have? What do you want to improve on? What are your motivations for exploring entrepreneurship?
Future Learn: Uncovering your entrepreneurial potential
Future Learn: Demystifying entrepreneurship: How to think like an entrepreneur
Think of an idea - What problems do you experience? What problems can you see in society that need solving?
EY- how to size your market (presentation). How AI is transforming business videos
IBM: Enterprise Design Thinking Practitioners Badge - 2 hour online course: https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/#Practitioner
IBM, Design Thinking: The Toolkit:
1. Hopes and Fears: ibm.com/design/thinking/page/toolkit/activity/hopes-and-fears
2. Playbacks: https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/page/toolkit/activity/playbacks
3. Empathy Maps: https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/page/toolkit/activity/empathy-map
Big Ideas - https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/page/toolkit/activity/big-idea-vignettes
Prioritisation Grid - https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/page/toolkit/activity/prioritization
Design Research: https://www.ibm.com/design/research/guiding-principles/principles-overview
Field guide: www.ibm.biz/fieldguide-public
Experience-Based Roadmaps - https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/page/toolkit/activity/experience-based-roadmapping
A combination of primary and secondary market research. Define who your potential customers are and the size of the market. Don't make assumptions. Pick up the phone and speak to people. Get at least ten champions on board to test your product. Build audience personas and map their journeys.
The Mom test by Rob Fitzpatrick
AsIs - https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/page/toolkit/activity/as-is-scenario-map
Tobe - https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/page/toolkit/activity/to-be-scenario-map
Storyboarding: https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/page/toolkit/activity/storyboard
What makes you and your venture different from competitors? What added value do you provide? How do you make your customers lives easier or better?
The Business Model Canvas: Visualise and communicate the vision and model of your business, all in one simple page.
Value Proposition Canvas: Understand your customers, including their jobs-to-be-done, pains, and gains.
How will you go about getting your first paying users? Map the process to acquiring a paying customer.
Design your business model, financial and pricing frameworks. What is the lifetime value of your customer?
Build your minimum viable product. If it's an app this could be the concept on paper or basic website. Test your assumptions, get feedback, iterate, get feedback, iterate.
Lean startup revisited, Teppo Felin, Professor of Strategy at University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.
Investigate Intellectual Property (IP) and legal 101.
OUI: IP and commercialisation https://innovation.ox.ac.uk/university-members/commercialising-technology/ip-patents-licenses/
Venture Adventures, Jon Moorhouse
What events and networks can you attend and join to meet a co-founder and team members? What skills do they need to have? How can they complement your skillset?
Explore different sources of funding for your startup - bootstrapping, friends and family, grants, angel investor groups, crowdfunding, bank loan.
The definitive guide to London Seed funds
https://runwayea.st/blog/67-seed-investors-london-2019-vcsventure-capitalists-invest-startups/
How to raise money: Why raise investment, fundraising versus bootstrapping, what does pre-seed, seed and Series A-C+ mean?, types of investors, crowdfunding, Initial Public Offering, pitching, risk, multiples and more.
Incentivise your customers, reward loyality, have great customer service and build trust in you and your brand. Develop a product plan and calculate the Total Addressable Market. Take on the world!
Books can be borrowed from the Oxford Foundry. If you have borrowed a book please return it so someone else can use it. A-Z by title.
12 Rules of Creativity, Michael Atavar
64 Shots: Leadership in a Crazy World, Kevin Roberts
A Business Guide for Beginners An Explanation of Business Concepts and Terminology, Des O'Keeffe
A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled, Ruby Wax
Accelerated Leadership Development How to Turn your Top Talent into Leaders, Ines Wichert
Adapt Why Success Always Starts With Failure, Tim Harford
Agile Risk Management, Alan Moran
Barack Obama: Quotable Wisdom, Carol Kelly-Gangi
Be Happy, Make Money How To Turn Your Skills, Talents, Hobbies & Ideas Into Multiple Income Streams, Jackie Headland
Beat Accelerating Customer Expectations With Trend-Driven Innovation Beat Accelerating Customer Expectations Henry Mason
Becoming Steve Jobs How a Reckless Upstart Became a Visionary Leader, Brent Schlender,
Beyond the Business Plan 10 Principles for New Venture Explorers, S. Bridge
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcom Gladwell
Blockchain Revolution How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business and the World ,Don Tapscott
Brand You Turn Your Unique Talents Into a Winning Formula, John Purkiss
Branding Element Logos 4 Volume 4, Shijian Lin
Branding Inside Out Internal Branding in Theory and Practice, Nicholas Ind
Branding Yourself How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself, Erik Deckers
Brilliant Pitch What to Know, Do and Say to Make the Perfect Pitch, Shaun Varga
Build Your First Web App Learn to Build Your First Web Applications from Scratch, Deborah Levinson
Building Progressive Web Apps Bringing the Power of Native to the Browser, Tal Ater
Burn the Business Plan What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do (Hardback), Carl J. Schramm
Business Economics, Andrew Gillespie
Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers, Alexander Osterwalder
Calm: Calm the Mind. Change the World, Michael Acton Smith
Chaos Monkeys: Inside the Silicon Valley Money MachinAntonio, Garcia Martinez
Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age, Clay Shirky
Communicating Your Research With Social Media A Practical Guide to Using Blogs, Podcasts, Data Visualisations and Video, Amy Mollett
Content Design, Sarah Richards
Copy, Copy, Copy: How to Do Smarter Marketing by Using Other People's Ideas, Mark Earls
Creativity for Innovation Management, Ina Goller
Creativity in Engineering Novel Solutions to Complex Problems, David H Cropley
Customer Experience Branding Driving Engagement Through Surprise and Innovation, Thomas Gad
Dear Data, Giorgia Lupi
Demographics of Innovation Why Demographics Is a Key to the Innovation Race, James Liang
Digital Branding A Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Strategy, Tactics, Tools and Measurement, Daniel Rowles
Disciplined Entrepreneurship, Bill Aulet
Disciplined Entrepreneurship Workbook, Bill Aulet
Drive, Daniel H Pink
Dual Transformation How to Reposition Today's Business and Create the Future Scott D. Anthony
Envisioning Information, Edward R Tufte
Everyone's a Genius Unleashing Creativity for the Sake of the World, Alan Briggs
Experiential Marketing A Practical Guide to Interactive Brand Experiences, Shirra Smilansky
Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it), Salim Ismail
Fans not Customers, Vernon W Hill
Financial Management for Technology Start-Ups A Handbook for Growth, Alnoor Bhimani
Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team, Simon Sinek
Finding My Virginity The New Autobiography, Sir Richard Branson
Fire and Fury Inside the Trump White House, Michael Wolff
Franchise Organizations, Jeffrey L Bradach
Free: How today's smartest businesses profit by giving something for nothing, Chris Anderson
Fundamentals of Project Management Joseph HEAGNEY
GDP: A brief by affectionate history, Diane Coyle
Get Backed Craft Your Story, Build the Perfect Pitch Deck, and Launch the Venture of Your Dreams, Evan Baehr
Getting It Done How to Lead When You're Not in Charge, Roger Fisher
Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Successful Web Application, Jason Fried
Good Morning Beautiful Business, Judy Wicks
Growth Hacker Marketing A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing and Advertising, Ryan Holiday
Guide to your own Business, Kim Hills Spedding
Hacking growth – Sean Ellis & Morgan Brown
Handbook of CRM, Adrian Payne
Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn and TensorFlow, Aurelien Goren
Happiness Your Route Map to Inner Joy, Andy Cope
Hegarty on Creativity There Are No Rules, John Hegarty
Helvetica/Objectified/Urbanized: The Complete Interviews: The Design Trilogy Interviews, Gary Hustwit
Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature, Mark Earls
Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, Clay Shirky
Hiding in the Bathroom An Introvert's Roadmap to Getting Out There (When You'd Rather Stay Home),Morra Aarons-Mele
High Output Management, Andrew S Grove
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, Yuval Noah Harari
Hooked: How to build habit-forming products Nir Eyal
Hope Runs, Claire Diaz Ortiz
How to Be Brilliant at Public Speaking Learn the Six Qualities of an Inspiring Speaker - Step by StepSarah Lloyd-Hughes
How to Build a Billion Dollar App Discover the Secrets of the Most Successful Entrepreneurs of Our Time, George Berkowski
How to Develop Self Confidence and Influence People by Public Speaking, Dale Carnegie
How to Improve Your Critical Thinking & Reflective Skills, Jonathan Weyers
How to Make Sense of Any Mess: Information Architecture for Everybody, Abby Covert
How to Predict the Unpredictable The Art of Outsmarting Almost Everyone, William Poundstone
How to Sell With Complete Confidence, Gavin Presman
How to Speak Money What the Money People Say - And What They Really Mean, John Lanchester
How We Got to Now: Six Innovations that Made the Modern World, Steven Johnson
I Want to Be Creative Thinking, Living and Working More Creatively, Harriet Griffey
Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies and Symbols, Nancy Duarte
Information Doesn't Want to Be Free: Laws for the Internet AgeCory Doctorow
Information is beautiful, David McCandless
Innovators The Stories Behind the People Who Shaped the World With 25 Projects, Marcia Amidon Lusted
Knowledge is beautiful, David McCandless
Leadership and Self-Deception Getting Out of the Box, The Arbinger Institute
Lessons for Nonprofit and Start-Up Leaders Tales from a Reluctant CEO, Maxine Harris
Life's a Pitch... How to Sell Yourself and Your Brilliant Ideas, Stephen Bayley
Little Rice: Smartphones, Xiaomi, and the Chinese Dream Clay Shirky
Live Your Dreams and Not Your Fears It is Possible. Become an Entreprenuer/Whatever You Want to Become, Peter Osalor
Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing the Digital Revolution, Andrew Mcafee
Make Your Own Luck: A DIY Attitude to Graphic Design and Illustration, Kate Moross
Makers: The New Industrial Revolution, Chris Anderson
Making it happen Peter Sheahan
Management and Creativity From Creative Industries to Creative Management, Chris Bilton
Management C.R.A.P. I Learned, That Seems to Work. Second Edition.James R Guenther
Managing Change, Creativity & Innovation, Patrick Dawson
Marketing Paul Baines
Marketing Communications Discovery, Creation and Conversations, Chris Fill
Marketing Research Tools & Techniques, Nigel Bradley
Michelle Obama In Her Own Words, Lisa Rogak, Michelle Obama
Mindfulness for Busy People Turning from Frantic and Frazzled Into Calm and Composed, Michael Sinclair
Mindfulness on the Go Simple Meditation Practices You Can Do Anywhere, an Chozen Bays
Money Talks Explaining How Money Really Works, Nina Bandelj
Move Fast and Break Things: How Facebook, Google, and Amazon Have Cornered Culture and What It Means For All Of Us, Jonathan Taplin
Myths of Leadership Banish the Misconceptions and Become a Great Leader, Jo Owen
Never Eat Alone And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time, Keith Ferrazzi
Never Split the Difference Negotiating as If Your Life Depended on It, Chris Voss
New Routes to Funding, Barry E James
No Is Not Enough: Defeating the New Shock Politics, Naomi Klein
No Logo, Naomi Klein
Now For Then: How to Face the Digital Future Without Fear, Ben Hammersley
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness, Richard H Thaler
Originals How Non-conformists Change the World, Adam Grant
Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell
Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations (TED 2)Dan Ariely
Perfect Phrases for Business Proposals and Business Plans Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases, Don Debelak
Personal Brands Manage Your Life With Talent and Turn It Into a Unique Experience, Roberto Álvarez del Blanco
Pitch Anything, Oren Klaff
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions ,Dan Ariely
Python Data Science Handbook: Tools and Techniques for Developers, Jake VanderPlas
Python for Data Analysis, 2e, Wes Mckinney
Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life, Adam Greenfield
Remote:office not required, David Heinmeier Hansson
Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences, Nancy Duarte
ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever, David Heinmeier Hansson
Riding the Innovation Wave Learning to Create Value from Ideas, John Bessant
Riding the Innovation Wave Learning to Create Value from Ideas, Professor John Bessant
Rough Diamond: Turning Disruption Into Advantage in Business and Life, Nicole Yershon
Running Lean, Ash Maurya
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari
Secrets of Social Media Marketing How to Use Online Conversations and Customer Communities to Turbo-Charge Your Business! Paul Gillin
Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager Gain the Mindset and Skillset for Getting What You Need to Succeed, Ken Blanchard
Seven Mobile Apps in Seven Weeks Native Apps, Multiple Platforms, Tony Hillerson
Shape of Ideas: An Illustrated Exploration of Creativity, Grant Snider
Shaping Social Enterprise Understanding Institutional Context and Influence, Janelle A. Kerlin
Small Business, Big Vision Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entreprenuers Who Did It Right, Matthew Toren
Social Media Strategy Tools for Professionals and Organizations, Phillip G. Clampitt
Social Media How to Engage, Share, and Connect, Regina Luttrell
Social Research Methods, Alan Bryman
Software Development, Design and Coding With Patterns, Debugging, Unit Testing, and Refactoring, John F. Dooley
Sprint: How to solve big problems and test new ideas in just five day, Jake Klnapp
Start It Up Why Running Your Own Business Is Easier Than You Think, Luke Johnson
Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action, Simon Sinek
Strengths Finder, Tom Rath
Successful Time Management, Patrick Forsyth
Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies, Nick Bostrom
Talent is overrated Geoff Colvin
Team WORKS! The Gridiron Playbook for Building a Championship Business Team, Chris Valletta
Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech, Sara Wachter-Boettch
TED Talks The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking, Chris Anderson
The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding How to Build a Product or Service Into a World-Class Brand, Al Ries
The 50 Secrets of Self-Confidence The Confidence to Do Whatever You Want to Do, Richard Nugent
The Alliance Managing Talent in the Networked Age, Reid Hoffman
The Art of Thinking Clearly (Hardback), Rolf Dobelli
The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google, Nicholas Carr
The Business of Creativity How to Build the Right Team for Success, Keith Granet
The Business Plan Workbook A Practical Guide to New Venture Creation and Development (Hardback)Colin Barrow
The Creative Shopkeeper, Lucy Johnston
The Crossroads of Should and Must Find and Follow Your Passion, Elle Luna
The Crowd-Funding Revolution How to Raise Venture Capital Using Social Media, Kevin Lawton
The Curve: Turning Followers into Superfans, Nicholas Lovell
The Economics of Enough: How to Run the Economy as If the Future Matters, Diane Coyle
The Fintech Book The Financial Technology Handbook for Investors, Entrepreneurs and Visionaries Susanne Chrisiti
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Klaus Schwab
The Glass Cage: Who Needs Humans Anyway, Nicholas Carr
The Goal (Third edition), Eliyahu M Goldraft
The Growing Business Handbook Inspiration and Advice from Successful Entrepreneurs and Fast Growing UK Companies Adam Jolly
The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology that Fuel Success and Performance at Work, Shawn Achor
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers, Ben Horowitz
The Highly Paid Expert Turn Your Passion, Skills, and Talents Into a Lucrative Career by Becoming the Go-to Authority in Your Industry, Debbie Allen
The Idea in You How to Find It, Build It and Change Your Life, Martin Amor
The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future, Kevin Kelly
The Language of Branding Theory, Strategies, and Tactics, Dawn Lerman
The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator, Silicon Valley's Most Exclusive School for Startups, Randall Stross
The Leadership Skills Handbook 90 Essential Skills You Need to Be a Leader, Jo Owen
The lean start-up Eric Ries
The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses Eric Ries
The Legal Guide for Writers, Artists and Other Creative People Protect Your Work and Understand the Law, Kenneth P Norwick
The Little Black Book of Innovation, With a New Preface How It Works, How to Do It, Scott D. Anthony
The Meaning Revolution The Power of Transcendent Leadership (Hardback), Fred Kofman
The Million Dollar Blog, Natasha Courtenay-Smith
The Mind Management, Prof Steve Peters
The One Page Business Plan Start with a Vision, Build a Company! Jim Horan
The Second Machine Age - Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies, Erik Brynjolfsson
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Naomi Klein
The Smart Entrepreneur How to Build for a Successful Business Bart Clarysse
The Social Enterprise Zoo A Guide for Perplexed Scholars, Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists, Leaders, Investors and Policymakers, Dennis R. Young
The Start-Up of You Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career, Ben Casnocha, Reid Hoffman
The Startup Way: How Entrepreneurial Management Transforms Culture and Drives Growth, Eric Ries
The Talent Lab How to Turn Potential Into World-Beating Success, Owen Slot
The Tech Entrepreneur's Survival Guide How to Bootstrap Your Startup, Lead Through Tough Times, and Cash in for Success, Fraser Doherty
The Unauthorized Guide to Doing Business the Bill Gates Way 10 Secrets of the World's Richest Business Leader, Des Dearlove
The Unauthorized Guide to Doing Business the Richard Branson Way 10 Secrets of the World's, Des Dearlove
The University of Oxford A History, L.w.b Brockliss
Think Like Zuck The Five Business Secrets of Facebook's Improbably Brilliant CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Ekaterina Walter
Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, Naomi Klein
Tim Cook Industrial Engineer and CEO of Apple, Amy Hayes
Tips for Public Speaking, Louise Spilsbury
Tools of Titans The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers, Timothy Ferriss
Tribe of Mentors Short Life Advice from the Best in the World (Hardback)Timothy Ferriss
Turn Your Talent Into a Business A Guide to Earning a Living from Your Hobby, Emma Jones
Turn Your Talents Into Gold Create the Business of Your Dreams with Your Unique Abilities, Skills, and Experience, Debbie Barwick
Ultimate CV Over 100 Winning CVs to Help You Get the Interview and the Job, Martin John Yate
Ultimate Interview 100S of Great Interview AnswersLynn Williams
Ultimate Job Search The Definitive Guide to Networking, Interviews and Follow-Up Strategies, Lynn Williams
Un Contain ableKip Tindell
Understanding Social Enterprise Theory and Practice, Rory Ridley-Duff
Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home, Dan Ariely
Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want (Strategyzer), Alexander Osterwalder
Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, Cathy O'Neil
Whatever You Think Think the Opposite, Paul Arden
Who Can You Trust?: How Technology Brought Us Together – and Why It Could Drive Us Apart, Rachel Botsman
Why Women Mean Business + How Women Mean Business Set, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox
Wild Courage, Elle Harrison
Women & Power: A Manifesto Professor Mary Beard
Women in Business Theory and Cases, Martha E Reeves
Women in Business The Changing Face of Leadership, Patricia Werhane
Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World, Steven Johnson
WTF?: What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us, Tim O-Reilly
Zero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future Peter Thiel