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The 34 Best Books for Entrepreneurs Starting a Business in 2025

Every entrepreneur is a life-long learner. And that’s not just because you have the mindset for it. You don’t have a choice. New challenges appear every day and you need to learn and figure out how to solve them. That’s true for you, as it is for any one of my founders here at Altar.io. They are all ex-startup founders who learned the lean way by doing it, but also by reading an unhealthy amount of books over the years. So I sat down with them, as well as many of the entrepreneurs we work with or have interviewed in the past, to discover which books had an impact on them and shaped their entrepreneurial journey. The result of those conversations is this list. In which I’ve combined the top 32 recommendations, and why they found them so valuable. Regardless of your entrepreneurial journey, you’ll be sure to find something on this list that will help you. In the interest of full transparency Neither myself, Altar.io nor the entrepreneurs I spoke to create this list receive any money to recommend the following books. They were chosen based on personal experience and the experience of those I spoke to. Contents 1. The […]

Jamie Russell-Curtis

7 Steps to Bring Your Tech Startup Idea to Life in 2025

When our founder Daniel first had the idea to build Altar, he’d already built six startups from the ground up. Earlier in his entrepreneurial career, being a non-tech founder, he faced a challenge that is quite common to anyone in that position, wanting to start a tech startup: Finding a skilled technical expert to help him out with nothing but an idea on a napkin. At some point, he even had to learn how to do some basic coding by himself. That’s when he fell in love with technology. Although he knew he’d never be proficient enough to build something complex by himself, that started him on a mission to create a company that would make sure no great idea would be lost for the lack of technical talent to execute it. So he teamed up with a few other startup founders and some highly skilled technical people. Altar.io was born. Throughout the years, applying our accumulated startup experience and working with dozens of startup teams, we created and fine-tuned a framework intended to drastically reduce the failure rate of startups. And it’s safe to say we nailed it. It’s what’s helped over half of the 60+ founding teams that […]

20+ Entrepreneurial Platforms that will Help You Overcome Startup Hurdles in 2025

The internet is full of entrepreneurial platforms geared towards helping you succeed. From networking to educational resources, you’re spoilt for choice. And that’s before you start looking into the tools out there to help you get through each day efficiently and effectively. But, as you start your entrepreneurial journey, which platforms should you be looking at? And how to make sure you find valuable allies, not distractions? In my experience working closely with dozens of successful founders, the two most important things to focus on in the beginning are building your network and learning from people who’ve been in your shoes. For that reason, I’ve split this article into two sections to cover both of these vital components. Let’s jump straight in with the first section. Contents Networking & Community Platforms Building a network and community around you and your startup is vital to your success. From sharing your idea with potential investors and clients to meeting potential hires and advisors – none of it is possible without building connections. There’s no point in creating a great startup story if there’s no one to tell it to. Here are nine platforms you can use to help grow your network and get out into the startup […]

Jamie Russell-Curtis

The 30 Most Active Angels & VCs for Seed Startup Investments in 2025

For startup founders actively seeking investment, choosing the right investor isn’t just about securing funds—it’s about finding a partner who will help shape the future of your company. Take, for instance, Brian Chesky’s partnership with Sequoia Capital. It wasn’t just about the funding—Sequoia brought critical strategic insight that helped Airbnb achieve its remarkable growth. Similarly, consider Patrick and John Collison, who partnered with top investors like Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz to transform Stripe into a global payments leader. These investors offered not only financial support but also invaluable expertise, which played a pivotal role in Stripe’s incredible success. That’s what the right investor can do: become an integral part of your startup’s journey. The right investor brings expertise, industry connections, and the mentorship you need to thrive in a competitive landscape. This is especially important when you’re making early-stage decisions about your product, market fit, and growth strategies. This guide showcases the 30 most active seed investors in 2024. The list comes from my team’s close connections with over 90 founders we’ve supported in building their products. I’ve also cross-referenced this information with data from Crunchbase, Private Equity List, and AngelList. These investors—both angels and VCs—are actively shaping the next […]

Jamie Russell-Curtis

24 Entrepreneurs Share the Tools They Can’t Live Without in 2025

Think about someone you know. A family member, a friend, a colleague. I’ll bet that at some point you’ve heard that person say something like: ” there aren’t enough hours in the day.” For an entrepreneur that’s an everyday rule. Marketing. Product Development. That quick chat but turned into an hour-long meeting. Remembering to eat. Enhancing your social media presence. Project Management. The list goes on. Luckily, there are a plethora of tools for entrepreneurs out there to keep you organised and make life easier. Slack for easy communication, Trello to stay on track of tasks, LinkedIn to build your network, the list goes on. So I reached out to some entrepreneurs in my network, to find out which tools they can’t live without. Full Transparency This article does not contain affiliate links. Meaning neither I nor Altar.io receives any commission if you should choose to use any of the tools for entrepreneurs listed here. This list was created based on personal recommendations, the recommendations of entrepreneurs I work with. Contents The Tools Entrepreneurs Can’t Live Without 1. Adi Azaria, CEO of Workiz Inc. Workiz Inc. is a SaaS CRM platform for small to medium-sized on-demand field service businesses, such as […]

Jamie Russell-Curtis

Startup Advice Startup Expert Interviews

9 Founders Share What To Expect From a Startup Accelerator in 2025

Startup accelerators have rapidly increased in popularity ever since Y Combinator came into existence in 2005. Since then the “accelerator model” has come into its own, providing entrepreneurs with a wealth of expertise and access to capital that simply wasn’t available in the past. A quick look at Seed-DB will attest to that. According to their data, accelerators have pumped over $88M into the global startup ecosystem. But, as an entrepreneur thinking about applying to a startup accelerator, it can often be tough to know what to expect from the process or how to do it (and whether or not it will actually benefit your startup). To help give you a peek behind the curtain, and answer some of the key questions related to startup accelerators, I enlisted some help from people who’ve actually done it. Just recently, I spoke to nine startup accelerator alumni and asked them to share their experiences. The first conversation I had was with 500 Startups alumni, Bethany Stachenfeld. She’s the co-founder and CEO of Sendspark, a startup that’s revolutionising how companies connect with their customers using video communication. Launched just three years ago, Sendspark has already completed two seed rounds and has quickly grown to over 10,000 users. Then I sat […]

Startup Advice Startup Expert Interviews