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Notes on The Alliance by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, and Chris Yeh

2/18/2026

A long time ago, a recruiter friend recommended to me the book The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, and Chris Yeh, and I recently finally got around to reading it. I enjoyed Reid's other book The Startup of You, and this one was great too.

It proposed a different framework for the employer/employee relationship and used a military analogy of a "tour of duty" to represent a more balanced relationship and perspective, in which the employee can have a significant positive impact while also growing in their career. I liked the concrete advice in the book on how to structure and agree on the details of these tours, as well as other advice, such as nurturing corporate alumni networks.

Below are my main notes and takeaways. This is a great book for any founder or manager.

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Notes on Founder Brand by Dave Gerhardt

2/18/2026

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I heard another B2B SaaS founder recommend Founder Brand: Turn Your Story Into Your Competitive Advantage by Dave Gerhardt, and I recently finished reading it. It was a nice, quick read that summarized a lot of great points about founder social media and marketing in general. It reminded me of Gary Vaynerchuk's books, which I loved as well.

I loved the ideas about picking an enemy to vanquish, learning from role models, and the importance of becoming a publisher on social media and your own podcast. It makes a lot of sense.

Below are my main notes and takeaways. This is a really good book about founder-driven marketing.

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Notes on Always Be Qualifying by Darius Lahoutifard

2/12/2026

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I finally got a chance to read ALWAYS BE QUALIFYING: M.E.D.D.I.C. by Darius Lahoutifard, which many had recommended to me. I had heard of MEDDPICC as a qualification framework but mostly only had direct experience with BANT, so I was excited to learn more about MEDDPICC.

I really liked the book's intro, and most of the pain points and challenges with qualification and sales resonated with me and sounded familiar. I liked the concise and tactical nature of this book, and I learned a lot. I'm excited to apply this stuff!

My main notes and takeaways are below.

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Notes on The Alliance by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, and Chris Yeh

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