Are books, videos, and blogs targeting startups really useful or are they just a distraction?

These days internet startups have gained a lot of popularity among young people and developers of all ages. Because of this same reason, many people have also started to benefit from this popularity by coming up with all sorts of things to sell and help these startups...

There are books, interviews, etc, that promise to tell you exactly what to do to be a successful startup. There are even "new" methodologies such as the lean startup that claim to have innovative ideas which is funny since all of the stuff they talk about are basic rules of business and common sense which have been around for many decades. It is good that they talk about it to help businesses, I just get tired of listening all these things presented as being innovative ideas when they are really not.

What are your thoughts on this?

I think they are very useful, as long as you don't spend all your time reading them instead of getting the job done. There is a lot of innovation in the way businesses are run, and it's great to see what people are doing these days.

If they aren't interrupting your productivity, they are great, if they are, well you need to find a way to block them out and get your work done.

An overdose of anything is crazy... You'll become a "cookie cutter" entrepreneur and will loose all hope of innovation because you start to believe you have to follow the gurus.

Radical advice: Throw all you business books, audio and video away... Clear your mind... Sit in a closed room for a week - no telephones, no internet, no mobile... and then after the "addiction" has gone... ask yourself... "what do I want to do?'.... and then just go and do it.

Every great business I started - Started spontaneously. I didn't have to sit down and write goals or visualise or even write a business plan. I got passionate and then it happened.

If you know what you want to do in your heart ... the "how" doesn't matter - you'll make it happen... if you're fumbling for how to do something ... It's probably not "it".

Is there a place for learning from others.. OH YES. But seeking a solution on the "outside" won't help.