# Andrew Wilkinson's founder reading list; Casado and Levie argue for open AI cyber defense *By Recommended Reading from Tech Founders β€’ October 25, 2026* Andrew Wilkinson names the books and podcast he gives young entrepreneurs. Martin Casado and Aaron Levie share posts arguing that broad access to AI models helps defenders. ## Andrew Wilkinson: a reading list for founders in their 20s In [an interview about how he would get rich in his 20s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99jiWjDn_Yk), Wilkinson named several resources: - **Founders podcast (David Senra).** He says he "always" tells young people to listen. In each episode, Senra summarizes a biography in about an hour. Listeners learn about hundreds of great entrepreneurs and can find the archetype that fits them. [^1] - ***Influence* by Robert Cialdini.** If he could recommend only one strategy or tactics book, it would be this one. He describes it as an overview of how psychology is used to persuade people and calls it "probably the most powerful book I've ever read." He uses ideas from it every day. [^1] - ***Made to Stick* by Dan and Chip Heath.** He recommends it for learning to write so that people pay attention and remember what you say. [^1] - ***How to Get Rich* by Felix Dennis.** He calls it "absolutely incredible." Dennis started out selling Bruce Lee posters and went on to build a publishing empire. After reading about "super genius" figures like Steve Jobs, Wilkinson found it encouraging to read about "a normal dude." [^1] - ***Getting Everything You Can Out of What You've Got* by Jay Abraham.** He recommends it for building customer loyalty, especially the small details that keep customers coming back. [^1] - ***The Defining Decade* by Meg Jay.** He calls it a great book on how small choices in your 20s can lead to very different places later in life. [^1] ## Martin Casado and Aaron Levie: AI arms defenders **Casado** endorsed [Eric S. Raymond's post](https://x.com/esrtweet/status/2113954429883801742). He wrote that "ESR gets it" and said he was glad to see legends from past tech shifts offer "a reasonable voice" now. [^2] ESR argues against locking down public access to frontier models after a wave of vulnerabilities found with LLMs: "when lockpicks are outlawed, only outlaws will have lockpicks." [^3] In his view, the defects in human code are finite, and defenders can fix them now by red-teaming their own software. [^3] **Levie** called [EnclaveAI's Node2Shell post](https://x.com/enclaveai/status/2114072722040819849) "a good argument" for spreading AI models that can be used for cyber defense. He expects new agent swarms to scan for and detect enterprise risks, and he expects 1,000X more tokens flowing through these agents in the future. [^4] The post describes a memory bug in Brotli, a compression library bundled into Node.js, Python and other software. It is promoting Enclave's own scanning agents, so treat it as vendor material. [^5] ## Andrew Chen: Ben Horowitz on betting on yourself Chen shared an [a16z clip](https://x.com/a16z/status/2114107256778432986) of his speedrun conversation with Horowitz, adding "Bet on yourself." [^6][^7] Horowitz's message to founders is to ignore self-doubt and make the bet pay off. He says the worst doubts are the ones you put on yourself. [^7] On fear, he says: "If your guts aren't boiling, you're not even trying at this thing." [^7] ## Tim Ferriss: Elad Gil's *High Growth Handbook* On [his show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVlptpfld-4), Ferriss called Gil's book (subtitled *Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People*) "an outstanding book" that people "should really check it out," especially in the venture-backed world. [^8] Gil said he meant it as a tactical companion: when an M&A or hiring question comes up, you jump to that chapter. He added that he is now writing a "zero to one version." [^8] ## Shorter mentions - **Ryan Hoover** called Block's [Dessa](https://block.xyz/dessa) demo, shared by Jack, "the best voice demo I've heard." He said human-level voice conversations will open up many more consumer use cases. [^9] Block describes Dessa as a full-duplex speech model. [^10] - **Elon Musk** endorsed [@Object_Zero_'s list](https://x.com/object_zero_/status/2114100925077885381) of limits on building supercomputers as "a fuller list," saying that if any item is missing, "the compute doesn't work." [^11] The list ranges from permits and grid access to transformers and large lathes. It adds that the best sites are already taken. [^12] - **Tobi LΓΌtke** called [Moritz Kremb's video](https://x.com/moritzkremb/status/2107021822155985254), which Kremb made by asking Claude for a video about being European, "criminally overlooked." [^13][^14] Without comment, he also shared the EFF's article [opposing Canada's C-22 surveillance bill](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/10/canadians-are-running-out-time-oppose-dangerous-c-22-surveillance-bill). [^15] --- ### Sources [^1]: [From broke dropout to BILLIONAIRE, here's how he'd get rich in his 20s | Andrew Wilkinson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99jiWjDn_Yk) [^2]: [𝕏 post by @martin_casado](https://x.com/martin_casado/status/2114022673516986474) [^3]: [𝕏 post by @esrtweet](https://x.com/esrtweet/status/2113954429883801742) [^4]: [𝕏 post by @levie](https://x.com/levie/status/2114085515234615422) [^5]: [𝕏 post by @EnclaveAI](https://x.com/EnclaveAI/status/2114072722040819849) [^6]: [𝕏 post by @andrewchen](https://x.com/andrewchen/status/2114184825443959158) [^7]: [𝕏 post by @a16z](https://x.com/a16z/status/2114107256778432986) [^8]: [#863: Elad Gil, Consigliere to Empire Builders β€” How to Spot Billion-Dollar Companies Before Ever...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVlptpfld-4) [^9]: [𝕏 post by @rrhoover](https://x.com/rrhoover/status/2113996803037180246) [^10]: [𝕏 post by @jack](https://x.com/jack/status/2113697902916751661) [^11]: [𝕏 post by @elonmusk](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2114167331056140414) [^12]: [𝕏 post by @Object_Zero_](https://x.com/Object_Zero_/status/2114100925077885381) [^13]: [𝕏 post by @tobi](https://x.com/tobi/status/2114134282637602828) [^14]: [𝕏 post by @moritzkremb](https://x.com/moritzkremb/status/2107021822155985254) [^15]: [𝕏 post by @tobi](https://x.com/tobi/status/2113977785689473084)