The co-founder of Autodesk, John Walker, chronicled the company's journey from founding through IPO and beyond: https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/
I haven't read all of it (~900 pages), but he seems like an honest man, humble with minimal ego, who doesn't sugarcoat the challenges of building a business from scratch as a non-business guy. He also includes internal memos and the like, so you do get a feel for the "mechanics" of company-building.
I haven't read all of it (~900 pages), but he seems like an honest man, humble with minimal ego, who doesn't sugarcoat the challenges of building a business from scratch as a non-business guy. He also includes internal memos and the like, so you do get a feel for the "mechanics" of company-building.