I'm Joel and I'm a startup founder and developer. I'm happy that Manoj has given me the opportunity to share the startup reading I come across in May on Techcelerate. It should all be interesting for anyone involved with or interested in early stage tech businesses. I'll update the post every few days.

MARKETING

The thinking behind Mint’s original marketing plan with Noah Kagan: Noah Kagan created the original marketing plan for Mint in 2007. Two years later, Mint was acquired by Intuit for $170M. In this interview with Paul on The Startup Foundry, Noah not only shares what he did to get Mint off the ground in the early days, but also why.

Bootstrap Marketing: Marketing on a budget. Ideas that don't suck: Some absolutely fantastic tips from the successful Spencer Fry, co-founder of Carbonmade. With many nicely separated techniques in this article, it is definitely one to bookmark and keep going back to.

Seven marketing mistakes most startups make: Here are several things to avoid when you start your marketing for your startup. The mistakes include "Hiring a PR firm too early", "Taking strategy or tactical cues from competitors" and "Letting interns drive the social media plan" amongst others. A great read.

PEOPLE

How Startups Should Deal With Cliff Vesting For Employees: If you don't know what employee or founder vesting or a "cliff" is, then definitely take a read of this article on Business Insider. Vesting is a crucial thing to do and is often overlooked, and that still applies if you're not getting funding.

The Co-Founder Mythology: Mark Suster, a 2x entrepreneur who has gone to the Dark Side of VC, has a few somewhat controversial views on co-founder relationships. Don't just believe the conventional "50/50" co-founder method is the best one. Here's a great post with a 4 minute video to persuade you to question the conventional wisdom and consider other options.

CULTURE

TC Cribs: The Sights And Smells Of LikeALittle’s Ridiculous Hacker House: The culture of hot new startup LikeALittle shown in this video is much like how you see Facebook's early hacker house depicted in The Social Network. Whilst we might not all want to take "lean" as far as these guys do, there are certainly a few things we can learn from them in terms of high productivity and low burn rate.

Tony Hsieh of Zappos @ PerfectBusiness Summit - Customer Loyalty and Positive Business Cultures: Who better to tell us about the importance of company culture and the impact it can have on all aspects of your business than Tony Hsieh of Zappos? Do yourself a favour and watch this 40 minute interview instead of regular TV. Some key insights such as how Zappos spend funds which might normally go to marketing on improving the experience for their customers.