I read it about five years ago, but I always flip through it again and have it full of notes and highlights. I was struck by the realization that the way we were doing business with Depto51 was also valid and correct. In a world where nobody launches a startup without millions of dollars of investment, we started with just our savings, without a super elaborated business plan and without the classic five-year sales projections. As Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson say, you have to stop talking and get to work. The book is also very schematic, which makes it easy to read, and is primarily a guide to politically incorrect advice for both those who are just starting and those who have been around for several years. Advice such as “before you sing the ‘not enough’ blues, see how far you can get with what you have”. Or “outside money is Plan Z”, meaning that spending other people’s money is enslaving, addictive and puts investors at the altar, rather than customers.
I recommend it because it makes you rethink everything you thought was established about how you should start and build a company. “Rework” helps you move from idea to action and confirms that the perfect is the enemy of the good.
Magdalena Maino is co-founder of the companies Depto51, Lab51, and Bag51, based in Santiago, Chile. Together with her partner and husband, Nicolás Valenzuela, they have been at the center of the explosive growth of e-commerce in Chile. Contxto invited her to recommend a book that had an impact on her.
