And life's too short to write a book that no one will read.

This week we've invited someone to help us understand how to minimise the risk of writing books that aren't actually useful or reach their audience.

His name is Rob Fitzpatrick and he's the author of Write Useful Books, The Workshop Survival Guide and, one that we've been recommending for years, The Mom Test.

I've been reading his latest book "Write Useful Books" and thought it was a really useful  take on how to approach writing non-fiction that helps people.

He combines the product design, lean strategy and marketing concepts to provide a practical and structured approach that helps you focus on writing something of value.

Rob is an entrepreneur of 14 years and has written three books about his learnings along the way, including the best-selling handbook for doing better Customer Development, The Mom Test: How to talk to customers and figure out if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you.

Back in 2007, he dropped out of grad school to go through YCombinator with his first startup, and has been building products and businesses ever since. Beyond software, he has also kickstarted a physical card game, built an education agency, and more.

A programmer by training, Rob was forced to learn enterprise sales the hard way at his first company. With a foot in each of those worlds, and with his experience both bootstrapping and raising funding across a wide range of products, industries, and business models, he offers an broad and balanced view of the entrepreneurial journey.

The Friday Fireside - How to write useful books with Rob Fitzpatrick