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Drew Marshall
Drew Marshall

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📚 Reading With Intention as a Builder

Lately I’ve been trying to be more intentional about what I read—not just consuming information, but actually learning things I can apply while building.

Here’s the current list I’ve been working through:

âś… Finished

  • Zero to One
  • The Cold Start Problem
  • The Lean Startup

đź“– In Progress / Up Next

  • High Output Management
  • Platform Revolution
  • Obviously Awesome
  • Redeeming Science
  • Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs

🧠 What I’m Starting to Notice

Even though these books come from different angles—startups, product, management, finance—they keep pointing to the same ideas:

  • Building something “cool” isn’t enough
  • Growth is designed, not accidental
  • Positioning determines whether people care
  • Simplicity and clarity win over complexity
  • And understanding business is just as important as writing code

⚙️ Applying This in Real Time

I’m not reading these passively—I’m trying to apply them across the things I’m building right now.

Whether that’s:

  • Thinking about distribution before development
  • Designing systems instead of one-off solutions
  • Or being more intentional about how ideas are positioned

The goal is simple:

Build things that actually work in the real world—not just in theory.


🤝 Always Learning

If you’ve read any of these, I’d love to hear what stuck with you—or what I should add next.

I’m always looking to sharpen both the technical and business side of building.

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