The Tiny MBA: 100 Very Short Lessons about the Long Game of Business

by Alex Hillman, Nilofer Merchant (Foreword), Hannah Litvin (Illustrator)

No longer available directly from Amazon. Please find the Paperback or Kindle-compatible Ebook at stackingthebricks.com/tinymba/

You don't need an MBA or fancy investors to succeed in business. Use the 100 ideas in this tiny book to evaluate your current situation: your advantages, your relationships, your potential choices, and the most likely outcomes.

BONUS! If you enjoy The Tiny MBA and want to go deeper on the topics lessons and themes in the book, check out the Tiny MBA Podcast Tour with the author! In each episode, Alex visits with the host of a different podcast or livestream to dig deeper into that hosts favorite pages of the book, and explore specific examples or stories rooted in these lessons.

Check it out now at stackingthebricks.com/podcast/ and subscribe to get new episodes every week.

Genres: Business, Entrepreneurship, Nonfiction, Startup

128 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 26, 2020

Reviews

[Dave Ceddia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a bunch of business books. And by “read,” I mean I usually get about half way through – get distracted – and never go back. The Tiny MBA lives up to its name, though: it’s not much over a hundred pages. This one, I finished.

Taking notes on nearly every page, it took me a couple hours to read through. The pages had plenty of whitespace for notes, too! A nice side effect of the concise writing.

This is the sort of book that you could skim through quick, nodding like a bobblehead… but it’s also the sort of book that you’ll get a lot more out of if you pause, consider, and take notes.

In the spirit of the book, I will jump right to the point: should you buy it? Is it worth your money and your time?

YES, and definitely. It’s like ten dollars and will take you 30 minutes to read, if you don’t stop and think along the way. I really suggest you stop and think along the way, though.

The Tiny MBA is filled with tweet-sized advice and insights that pack a punch, many that made me stop and think, and more than a few that I made a note to take action on.

Whether you’re a freelancer, a SaaS founder, a solo infoproducteur like myself, or someone who aspires to work for themselves in some capacity, there’s something here for you.

Some of the advice is specifically about clients, and building a business that attracts good ones. Some of it touches on taking investment (spoiler: not recommended). Some of the insight is on hiring a team. There’s thoughts on money psychology, and how to succeed at the long game.

I also really appreciated Alex’s book recommendations throughout, and it was great to see titles recommended that aren’t the usual suspects.

If you’ve ever read a book that made you think “this could’ve been a blog post” as they repeat the same thing again for the 10th time and then say it again slightly differently and then once more but with a story this time… well, you won’t have that problem here.

I believe the ideas in The Tiny MBA will be helpful for anyone who creates and sells a product or service, or wants to. Check it out, if that sounds like you!

[Geoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book reminds me of my many conversations with Alex over a drink (a coffee, a beer, an Easy Rider). Why does this matter to you, a person considering spending some time with this book?

Because Alex is one of those people that loves to dig in deep to push past “current thinking” or commonly held misconceptions to get to the counter-intuitive heart of the matter. This book is filled with those hearts.

I will caution the reader that Alex is not “giving you all the answers”. You will have to truly bring yourself to the endeavor of starting or improving your business but I think that’s the point Alex is trying to make. He trusts you too much to pretend that’s even possible. It will be hard. What he is giving you is permission to do things in your own way and to trust and invest in yourself.

One last caveat. If you are just starting out in business, many of these ideas that Alex is sharing will make some sense now but if you stick with your business I guarantee they will make more sense or even mean something completely different each subsequent year. All that to say, maybe make a note to reread every so often.

And just because this is relevant, I’m one of Alex’s business partners and feel lucky to call him a friend.

[Krystal Elliott-Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to start by saying that I have little to no experience/knowledge when it comes to starting or owning a business. I picked up this book because I am curious about potentially stepping into the realm of entrepreneurship, at some point in my life. While I won't say that this book created a foundation of knowledge, I will say that it definitely gave me points to consider, that I would not have come up with on my own. Because it was a short read, it was easy to pick up, at leisure. Some of the content feels a bit out of place, but for the most part I enjoyed the little blurbs of knowledge and i especially appreciated the references provided, so I could dig in to a topic a bit more. My only real criticism is of the letter at the beginning of the text. It felt uncomfortable to read, but I think that's due to a lack of editing--this book and writing style definitely intend to be more casual. Overall, I would recommend it if you're curious about owning a business and are short on time or attention span. 😉

[Lauren Tilghman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the a culmination of every important piece of advice that you wish someone had told you when pursuing your graduate degree and/or jumping into entrepreneurship. It’s the perfect reference book of reminders, and the perfect way to better your professional pursuits. I only wish there were more book references!

[Ryan Frantz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciate the concise approach of this book. Without having to slog through case studies and comparisons of similar businesses, the author describes patterns he has observed running his own business. The reader can use these short statements to think more deeply about how it relates to their own experiences or keep them in mind as a reference later.

[Katel LeDu · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if you could build a business that aligned with being human? Not some impossible, even gross-feeling manifestation of what we’re often told BIZ should look like—but an authentic, sustainable version of what you, a real person, could put into a business and share with the world. Wherever you are in the process of starting a business—regardless of size or industry—stop. Read this book. That’s exactly what Alex will help you do with this tiny yet powerful guide.

[Snorre Lothar von Gohren Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting enough! But if MBAs are this easy, I'm never taking one

[Jacob Voytko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Discovered this presale through some essays written on stackingthebricks.com. As someone who is business-curious, I liked the idea of getting a ground-up foundation in business (MBA) from one of the writers of the site.

The format (100 prompts to use for reflection) has hard tradeoffs. The value seems to come from the insight that the reader can provide - "WHY is this true? Is it untrue? When have I seen examples of this? When have I seen counterexamples? Can I draw a generalization from that?" Paradoxically, a beginner stands to gain the most from these exercises, but they're in the worst position to do so. They don't have any experience to use for reflection. They can't stick anything to the few sentences in the prompts. The prompts make as much sense as someone telling me that Pikachu turns into Raichu. I'll say "ah, that makes sense," but it's gonna bounce right off of me.

The other tradeoff of the book is that there are probably sections that don't apply to you. For example, I've never freelanced, and I've never had a business partner. So you find yourself galloping past them. And then you realize that you were just reading and page-turning for a while. There were a bunch of prompts you could have reflected on. I read the book twice -- not because I immediately had to reread it, but because I was sure that I had missed pages that I should have reflected on. The book made other stylistic choices that I liked.

I liked that it wasn't run by a copy editor, and that the language erred on the colloquial side. It made the little bits of content feel more conversational. I ended up getting value from some of the prompts, so I rated it up from my original 3-star rating based on my struggles with the format. But I can't shake the feeling that more experienced readers got a lot more from it than I did.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so good it got me to reactivate my goodreads account after years of forgetting it existed.

Amazing. oblique strategies for business. picked it up on a recommendation from a friend and already see years of value. 10/10 recommendation, more valuable than books you'll pay 2x or spend 10x the time reading.

It's so important you understand it's only a "book" in its form. It's a 1990s style 365 day desktop calendar, a magic 8 ball, an oblique strategies deck, a trusted advisor, a random guy yelling at you on the street, an investor turning you down, whatever you want it to be. For those of us already on the journey, it's a list of "we did that" and "hmm yeah good point" and "ugh shit i don't want to think about this" — and those aren't static, they will change.

and at no point will you feel
- dumb
- condescended to
- confused
- in over your head

like a lot of other biz books that try to take a "i've been there, done that, check out my press photo and speaking engagements" approach to what we know are not one-size-fits-all problems.

i just love this. it's delightful. thank you for writing it.

[Andrew Askins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, I've been getting more out of reading the Tiny MBA than most business coaches I've paid for. I've been keeping the book by my desk and flipping through the lessons whenever there's a lull in my day. Some of the lessons I've learned the hard way in the past 6 years of building our business, and are a comforting reminder. Some are a nudge to continue improving. Reading it feels like chatting with one of my entrepreneur friends.

The best part of the Tiny MBA though, is how tiny it is. So many business books feel like they need to be long to be valuable. The result is I get halfway through and never pick it up again. The Tiny MBA is the antithesis of this. And it's not prescriptive either. It's not trying to sell you on the right way to do things, but just trying to help you think more clearly. I love it.

Beautifully designed too.

[Alex G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having started a business in the last year and climbing up the metaphorical hill Tiny MBA has been a bit of a forecaster and mind reader for me. Some passages are future insight of what I'll run into and I can only say that because I ended up seeing what Alex wrote in the book play out in real life. Other passages are already answering questions I had about businesses especially ones about partnerships.

I believe most of the value comes from not having to read fluff in business books. While I agree with other reviewers that an expanded version with real examples of why/how those things happened to Alex would have been super nice. I think it's also great that is IS short. It allows for a quick read several times over the span of a year and keeping the insights in mind as you build a business.

[Almad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost gave up on this book during the first 20 pages or so. Talking at length about whether MBA makes sense given expenses and whether you learn that much compared to reading a book is just a noise. It would be a shame: the rest of the book is good.

No individual chapter is worth singling out as a breakthrough, deep analysis or a mind change. But together, they work as an excellent overview of various aspects of running a business. For most of them, the author also gives pointers to other books for additional learning.

I am tempted to recommend this to everyone: even if you are not going to run a business on your own, I think you will still gain a better understanding of your environment if you know how it operates. And this is a short enough read to be worth it.

Short, simple, persuasive language. Except for the beginning, not much fluff. I like this trend in writing.

[Elisa Stancil Levine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The minute this book arrived I flipped through it, and then sat down and read the whole thing. My decorative painting business is a three generation company and my son now has this book in the studio in SF. He too was inspired, amused, relieved and informed by the succinct and direct tone. Issues like choosing your clients, tuning into your instincts and learning from patterns you might not have attuned to brings clarity, humor and learning. As self starters, entrepreneurial business people with a small staff and complex clientele the lessons radiate out and help with strategy, alignment and ethical dilemmas. We use this, as I told the author, as a Runic guide in the studio! I can vouch for the value for all ages of business people...I am 71, my son is 52, and my granddaughter is 26 and we all love using and sharing ideas from this book. Thank you Alex Hillman!

[Ben B · Rating 5 out of 5]

The lessons are direct and the point, without the usual fluff and padding of business books. This book is as short as it could be, not as long as the content could be stretched.

You'll probably read this book two ways - the first time quickly, because you will want to read it all immediately and it truly is the *tiny* MBA so it won't take long. The second reading will be to come back and reflect on the lessons with more time to reflect on them.

Maybe you'll do the second read in an orderly start to finish re-read, maybe you'll come back via the index to relevant topics, or perhaps you'll just flip at random, Oblique Strategies style. But I think most people will come back to this book.

[Kirsten Lambertsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book of business meditations. OK, they might not be meditations in the strict sense of the term. But it's how I like to think about and use this book, one "meditation" per page. No plowing through anecdotes and long lead-ins about how or why the author came to his conclusion. He gets straight to the point. We're getting the baby without the labor pains here! And I'm here for it.

It's honest, pithy, quotable and shareable.

[David Hackett · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a graphic designer turned UX and product designer, I’ve always yearned for more practical business knowledge, acumen, and language. I’ve always wanted an accessible frame of reference for understanding business needs as they evolve and grow into a longer service.

Beyond portfolio development, timesheets, pitch/critique sessions, quotes, and billing—traditional design schools simply do not prepare designers for the business world in which they will likely (hopefully) be offering their minds, services, and ethics.

I’ve read (or attempted to read) several business books for beginners and non-MBA audiences, and they’ve always felt inaccessibly daunting to me. Where to start in applying these lessons in your real work after you’ve closed the book, right? In their breadth, a few of these books were lacuna. Other books in this category never decouple from highly esoteric or technical language. The language in Tiny MBA reminds me of how Rutger Hauer famously rewrote the ‘tears in rain’ soliloquy at the end of Blade Runner because he said it contained too much ‘opera talk’ and ‘hi-tech speech.’ This book is written like the re-written scene we all know.

Tiny MBA just scales and builds in this practical business application with solid and direct business principles and observations. There is a good blend of the timeless and the now. The pacing and tone of this little book are unassumingly authoritative (from a ‘hey we’ve been there on this stuff, trust us’ point of view).
I found myself just jumping in at any page and looking up the references for further reading, listening, and viewing. This is not a book you have to read in page order. It’s more of a map reference where one thing leads to another as your thought expands or as your business questions arise.

I’ve enjoyed Tiny MBA because I’ve felt myself learning and getting more confident in product design discussions at my job and in my side passion projects. Alex Hillman has crafted a mighty gem here.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

It really put a lot into perspective for me, and I've vowed to myself that whenever I doubt myself, it'll be in my regular book inventory. This is the perfect coffee and shorter inspiration book. It comes chopped with the lessons that any new start-up or small business owner would need without having to read a million books. Of course, the recommendations for further reading are nice too, but I do think this is a great read for anyone who's bogged down by getting their business started.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in a giveaway.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tiny MBA is a great, short and sharp read that I’m excited to re-read, especially while I’m working through specific problems in the future. Full of helpful tips and prompts for questions to consider!

Overall a great book to flick through while planning, problem-solving or reflecting and I recommend it.

[Benjamin Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alex has distilled key insights for achieving success in the entrepreneurial journey in this book. Having run my own businesses for several years, I found myself nodding time and again as I flipped through the pages and found principles that echoed my own experiences. Any budding business founder would be well-served by pondering the questions and applying the principles found here.

[Aron Levendel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every page is like an excellent conversation starter with yourself (or your team). I’m lucky enough to know Alex in person and reading The Tiny MBA is like talking with him: simple yet moving thoughts you wish to remember at the next challenge in your life. Good news! now you can have it written down so it’s easy to return and get inspired. Anytime. Anywhere.

[Nick Eubanks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can count the books I go back to after reading on one hand; this is one of them.

It’s not about being practical advice (it is) or even foreshadowing your career (it does) but how well the pages of this book stir feelings of angst and desire to build bigger that I love.

It’s quite literally inspiration on paper. Just f#cking buy it.

[Elayna · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely amazing book for anyone hoping to strike out on ther own. Loved the way each page felt like a prompt, questioning the reader to think deeper about what and why they *really* want out of being an entrepreneur. Know I'll revisit it again and again! This lil book is a triumph.

[Marc Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know a book is fantastic when I find myself highlighting almost every page. This is one of those books. Timeless wisdom for entrepreneurs distilled into bite sized (very highlightable) chunks. Thank you for writing this, Alex.

[Ryder Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's filled with insight that makes you wonder what pain Alex had to endure to learn each nugget. I love these small books where the authors don't need to add a bunch of filler content just to pump up the number of pages!

[Simon Le · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll Be Back

Many, many good bite sized lessons. The book starts with "take a moment with each lesson" and I look forward to coming back when the lessons are more applicable and taking many moments with them.

[Tom]

Tiny MBA only takes a few hours to read, but you’ll feel like you spent that time with a friendly business mentor.

[Eric Nehrlich · Rating 5 out of 5]

The tiny lessons contained in this book are simple and feel like things that you should already know. And therein lies their wisdom - we often discount the simple truths. Taking each page and thinking about how it might apply to my business offered insights into new actions I could take. Sometimes things don't have to be complex to have value, so I appreciated the concentrated learnings expressed by this tiny MBA.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very quick read, but full of good value; I look forward to re-reading this one.

[Seth G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alex Hillman's Tiny MBA is exactly that... a tiny MBA. It is full or bite-sized knowledge bombs that will make you better in business and in life. I highly recommend picking this book up.

[Gareth Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, quick read. Provokes ideas, triggers opportunities to delve into problems in a more meaningful way.