“The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator, Silicon Valley’s Most Exclusive School for Startups” is a must-read for anyone even thinking about creating a startup. Written by Randall Stross (and narrated by Rene Ruiz in the audiobook) it chronicles a cycle of 61 startups who attended one of Y Cominator’s three-month intense program, were they were given money, guidance and the opportunity to interact with the other participants, with the end goal of participating in a massive “demo day” (actually two) before a room full of venture capitalists.

Published in 2012, the book explores the challenges of startups, and the predictable and unexpected turns during the journey. Stross’ compelling storytelling gets your rooting for the teams as they hit lows and highs—and sometimes do complete 180s.

As someone who is definitely not “under-the-hood” I found it mesmerizing, and helped me understand the process of developing a startup. From start to finish,  it was as captivating ride.

★★★★
Publisher hard copy: Portfolio/Penguin
Audible: Audiobook: 8 hours, 49 min.

Read more: Quora conversation with Stross.

★★★★ Legal Procurement Handbook
Buying Legal Council was busy last week, with its “Professional Sourcing and Management of Legal Services” conference in New York City that addressed “Managing (Supplier) Relationships.”

Last year, the organization published its “Legal Procurment Handbook,” edited by its executive director Silvia Hodges Silverstein. The book includes chapters from 26 writers, among them Catherine Alman MacDonagh (CEO, Legal Lean Sigma Institute); Toby Brown (Chief Practice Officer, Akin Gump Strauss Houer & Feld); consultant Timothy Corcoran; Danny Ertel (Partner/Founder, Vantage Partners); D. Casey Flaherty (now principal at Procentas ); Lynn Krauss (Assistant GC and Chief of Staff, Dow Corning); Susan O’Brien (now senior vice president, category manager at Bank of America); and others.

Topics address the challenges faced by corporate counsel and their lawyers, such as determining pricing, discounts; bidding; technology; value; alternative fee arrangements, and other related topics.

Why should the CodeX crowd pay attention to this book? Because legal tech startups are going to be change engines in this arena.

SEE ALSO 
• CodeX Blog: “Calming Big Law / Clients Friction.“
• Above The Law: “Lawyer-Client Relationships: Healthy or Tinder?“
• Bloomberg Big Law Business: “Survey Reveals Role of Procurement in ‘High End’ Legal Services Market.”

Monica Bay is a Fellow at CodeX, and a freelance journalist and consultant. She is a member of the California bar. Email: mbay@codex.stanford.edu. Twitter: @MonicaBay.

Cover image: Clipart.com