I am an avid reader of Joel Spolsky and Paul Graham. Both of them are an inspiration to people considering a startup. They have several articles which motivates people to do stuff they love and make money in the process. But there are differences in their approaches. Below, I try list 10 of them.

Starting up PG: Get seed funding worth 3 months living expenses and start up! JS: Don't have enough to support you for 2 years? Come join my company. It is cool working environment here. Angels/VCs PG: Take further investment from Angels/VCs as and when required. JS: Don't ever think of VCs. They are morons. Magic formula PG: Start a startup. Work (really) hard for 4 years. Sell it to someone. Solve the money problem. JS: Build a BIG company little by little. Microsoft PG: Microsoft is evil. JS: Microsoft is good. Basic principle PG: Based on his principle that working with co-founders on a rented apartment is the most productive phase. ie., eliminate MBAs. JS: Based on his principle "built a company that is a great place to work". Specs PG: Prototype early. ie., Start with something. Then hack and hack. No need for a spec. (LISP foundation) JS: Spec it before you start implementing. Process PG: No mention of process. His approach is get the darn thing released. JS: Implement the processes early: "12 Steps to Better Code". Planning PG: Great hackers plan themselves when stuff happens. There is no need to plan stuff. JS: Plans for everything. Painless schedules, painless bug tracking to be followed at a very early stage in the company. Microsoft at Core PG: Start-up company founders building their company with MS tools for core things is doomed. (Since great hackers hate it/don't use MS tools voluntarily) JS: Use MS or any tools if you are comfortable and can pay the $$ to M$. Add your comments and I will put the best one I have missed here.

Personally, my favorite is (you guessed it!) Paul. But I like Joel's essays also because of the Software Engineering related stuff.

[UPDATE: Thanks everybody for adding the comments. I am afraid I can't pick the best one I from the comments as there are a few good ones. I think it is best kept in the comments column itself.]