10 Books every founder should read
Have you founded a startup? Are you working in an Internet company? Are you planning to develop a "big idea"?
Then you probably know these books already. But if the following titles sound unfamiliar, you should buy and read them all.
I'm reading at least two new books every month and these are the best I've read and re-read and studied in the last two years. Hope these books will help you as much as they helped me to better understand the startup's world.
Zero to One
Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future - by Peter Thiel - 2014
Don’t just be “incremental”, use your life to create something completely bold and new.
Traction
A Startup Guide to Getting Customers - by Gabriel Weinberg & Justin Mares - 2014. 19 Channels for growth. A practical manual on how to gain qualified traffic to your website and grow your business.
Who Do You Want Your Customers to Become?
by Michael Schrage - July 2012 - Always start with the right question. Your business is successful if your customers become successful using your products.
Venture Deals
Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist - by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson - December 2012 - An inside guide to term sheet and VC’s world.
The Lean Startup
How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses - Eric Ries - September 2011 - The new way of building and running your startup.
Pitch Anything
An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal - by Oren Klaff - February 2011 - The best way to pitch your “big Idea”.
Elon Musk
Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future - by Ashlee Vance - May 2015 - Inspiring life of a modern visionary.
Resonate
Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences - by Nancy Duarte - Sep 2013 - How to tell a story that resonate.
Unleashing the Ideavirus
Stop Marketing AT People! Turn Your Ideas into Epidemics by Helping Your Customers Do the Marketing thing for You - by Seth Godin - Oct 2001 - How to create a viral message for your startup.
Remote:
Office Not Required - by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson - Oct 2013 - Why working in the offices is obsolete.
It's on you now. What's your favourite books?
Add a comment to this article with the title and the why.
Owner of Brand With Herr
6yI 100% recommend the listed books! I own a little over half of these. They are great, inspiring, detailed and informative readings. Lots of sticky tabs in the pages of mine!!
Community Growth Marketing @ Unmind | Marketing Strategy
8ythanks!
Innovator, Founder, Investor 🚀
8yJust finished with "Growth Hacker Marketing" by Ryan Holiday. I confirm it's a great book, especially for who's involved in marketing.
Innovator, Founder, Investor 🚀
8yPS.: some books are missing in the list since it’s only a "10 books list" :-). My friends, after the article was published, also suggested : - Bold by Steven Kotler - The everything store by Brad Stone - The hard things about hard things by Ben Horowitz And I purchased them all on Audible: :-) Any other great suggestion?
Manufacturing and Software.
8yOther good choices are "Growth Hacker Marketing" by Ryan Holiday and "Platform Scale" by Sangeet Paul Choudary