# Best books for founders and investors

> The books worth reading for your business model and industry, or your investment thesis. Picked from 30,000 books on building and backing companies.

Source: https://millionrounds.com/reading-list (Millionrounds; every figure on the page links to its filing or article)

Reading List

# The books for *what you are building*.

Tell us your business model, industry and stage, or how you invest, and get the books worth your time, picked from 30,000 on building and backing companies. Chosen by ratings and what they are about.

Fill in your cardOr browse a starter list

Atomic Habits James Clear · 4.31★ Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt · 4.01★ The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell · 4.01★ Rich Dad Poor Dad Robert T. Kiyosaki · 4.08★ Blink Malcolm Gladwell · 3.96★ Thinking, Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman · 4.16★ The Art of War Sun Tzu · 3.94★

**30,000** books on building and backing companies

**27,964** with a checked cover

**3.86★** average reader rating across the library

**643** written by 367 investors and founders on our records

**Tell us about you**

## A reading list to start with

What we would give a seed-stage founder with no other answers.

[↻ Show different picks](https://millionrounds.com/reading-list?seed=1&role=founder#shelves)

The best matches for everything you told us, ranked.

- 1 The Elements of User Experience User-Centered Design for the Web Jesse James Garrett · 2002 **4.01** 4,134 ratings · Goodreads Finding product-market fit Company building About the book Smart organizations recognize that Web design is more than just creating clean code and sharp graphics. A site that really works fulfills your strategic objectives while meeting the needs of your users. Even the best content and the most sophisticated… On AmazonAudible
- 2 Get Backed Craft Your Story, Build the Perfect Pitch Deck, and Launch the Venture of Your Dreams Evan Baehr · 2015 **4.36** 356 ratings · Goodreads Raising money Company building About the book HOW DO YOU LAUNCH THE VENTURE OF YOUR DREAMS? Get Backed isn’t just about startup fundraising. It’s a handbook for anyone who has an idea and needs to build relationships to get it off the ground. Over the last 3 years, entrepreneurs Evan Loomis and… On AmazonAudible
- 3 Selling the Invisible A Field Guide to Modern Marketing Harry Beckwith · 1997 **3.94** 10,059 ratings · Goodreads Marketing and growth First sales Company building About the book You can't touch, hear, or see your company's most important products... So how do you sell, develop, make them grow? That's the problem with services. This "phenomenal" book, as one reviewer called it, answers that question with insights on how markets work… On AmazonAudible
- 4 80/20 Sales and Marketing The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More Perry Marshall · 2013 **4.19** 1,904 ratings · Goodreads First sales Marketing and growth Company building About the book Stop "Just Getting By"... Master The 80/20 Principle And Make More Money Without More Work. When you know how to walk into any situation and see the 80/20's, you can solve almost ANY marketing problem. 80/20 can demolish any sales and advertising problem.… On AmazonAudible
- 5 Venture Deals Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist [Brad Feld](https://millionrounds.com/person/brad-feld) · 2011 **4.11** 17,486 ratings · Goodreads Raising money Company building About the book Praise for Venture Deals"My biggest nightmare is taking advantage of an entrepreneur without even realizing it. It happens because VCs are experts in financings and most entrepreneurs are not. Brad and Jason are out to fix that problem with Venture Deals.… On AmazonAudible[Author's Podcasts](https://millionrounds.com/person/brad-feld#podcasts)
- 6 A Project Guide to UX Design For User Experience Designers in the Field or in the Making Russ Unger · 2009 **3.87** 1,774 ratings · Goodreads Finding product-market fit Company building About the book “If you are a young designer entering or contemplating entering the UX field this is a canonical book. If you are an organization that really needs to start grokking UX this book is also for you. " -- Chris Bernard, User Experience Evangelist, Microsoft User… On AmazonAudible
- 7 Lean UX Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience Jeff Gothelf · 2012 **3.99** 6,766 ratings · Goodreads Finding product-market fit Company building About the book The Lean UX approach to interaction design is tailor-made for today’s web-driven reality. In this insightful book, leading advocate Jeff Gothelf teaches you valuable Lean UX principles, tactics, and techniques from the ground up, how to rapidly experiment with… On AmazonAudible
- 8 Fanatical Prospecting The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling Jeb Blount · 2015 **4.25** 7,328 ratings · Goodreads First sales Company building About the book Ditch the failed sales tactics, fill your pipeline, and crush your number Fanatical Prospecting gives salespeople, sales leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives a practical, eye-opening guide that clearly explains the why and how behind the most important… On AmazonAudible

Published in the last three years, newest first, for what you told us.

- 1 Hey, Hun Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing Emily Lynn Paulson · 2023 **3.58** 14,654 ratings · Goodreads Marketing and growth First sales Company building About the book She signed up for the sisterhood, free cars, and the promise of a successful business of her own. Instead, she ended up with an addiction, broken friendships, and the rubble of a toppled pyramid... scheme. Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the… On AmazonAudible
- 2 The Pricing Roadmap How to Design B2B SaaS Pricing Models That Your Customers Will Love Ulrik Lehrskov-Schmidt · 2023 **4.43** 207 ratings · Goodreads Finding product-market fit Company building About the book "The definitive resource on SaaS pricing, I absolutely can not recommend this book enough." Viktor Heide, COO of Contractbook.com, Forbes "30 under 30" A foolproof method to achieve skyrocketing sales, growth, and profits for your software as a service… On AmazonAudible
- 3 Personal Branding for Introverts Goldie Chan · 2025 **4.41** 211 ratings · Goodreads Marketing and growth Company building About the book A top expert in personal branding shows introverts how to leverage their unique strengths to get ahead To build a career, you need a personal brand to showcase your distinct skills, experience, and expertise. Building that brand can feel… On AmazonAudible
- 4 The First-Time Manager Sales Mike Weinberg · 2023 **4.43** 282 ratings · Goodreads First sales Company building About the book The First Time Manager Series has sold over 500,000 copies and is a go-to guide for new and aspiring sales managers on what to expect and how to succeed. The jump from sales superstar to sales manager has made or broken many a sales career. As a… On AmazonAudible
- 5 Lean Marketing More Leads. More Profit. Less Marketing. Allan Dib · 2024 **4.31** 452 ratings · Goodreads Marketing and growth Company building About the book Bigger Results with Less Marketing You keep being told to do more marketing―more complex, more aggressive, and more expensive marketing. Chasing the latest bright, shiny object is exhausting. Increased efforts keep leading to disappointment. The overwhelm… On AmazonAudible
- 6 Little Bosses Everywhere How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America Bridget Read · 2025 **3.96** 5,793 ratings · Goodreads Company building Marketing and growth About the book A groundbreaking work of history and reportage that unveils the stranger-than-fiction world of multilevel marketing, from the shadowy cabals at the top to the strivers at the bottom, whose deferred dreams churn a massive money-making scam that has remade… On AmazonAudible

How companies like yours were actually built, from the people who built them.

- 1 Shoe Dog A Memoir by the Creator of Nike Phil Knight · 2016 **4.45** 389,310 ratings · Goodreads Founder stories Company building About the book In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world’s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable… On AmazonAudible
- 2 Heartland A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth Sarah Smarsh · 2018 **3.76** 16,921 ratings · Goodreads Founder stories About the book During Sarah Smarsh’s turbulent childhood in Kansas in the 1980s and 1990s, the forces of cyclical poverty and the country’s changing economic policies solidified her family’s place among the working poor. By telling the story of her life and the lives of the… On AmazonAudible
- 3 Steve Jobs Walter Isaacson · 2011 **4.16** 1,391,990 ratings · Goodreads Founder stories Company building About the book Walter Isaacson's worldwide bestselling biography of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. Based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs conducted over two years--as well as interviews with more than 100 family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and… On AmazonAudible
- 4 The Ride of a Lifetime Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company Robert Iger · 2019 **4.40** 99,495 ratings · Goodreads Founder stories Company building About the book A grand vision defined: The CEO of The Walt Disney Company shares the ideas and values he has used to reinvent one of the most beloved companies in the world, and inspire the people who bring the magic to life. In 2005, Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt… On AmazonAudible
- 5 Elon Musk Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future Ashlee Vance · 2015 **4.12** 456,221 ratings · Goodreads Founder stories Company building About the book Elon Musk, the entrepreneur and innovator behind SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, sold one of his internet companies, PayPal, for $1.5 billion. Ashlee Vance captures the full spectacle and arc of the genius's life and work, from his tumultuous upbringing in… On AmazonAudible
- 6 The Jordan Rules The Inside Story of One Turbulent Season with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls Sam Smith · 1992 **4.25** 19,445 ratings · Goodreads Founder stories About the book Sam Smith’s seminal, New York Times bestselling “eye-opener” (The San Diego Union-Tribune) on Michael Jordan and the 1990-1991 Chicago Bulls team, perfect for fans of ESPN’s hit documentary series The Last Dance. This is the book that changed the way the… On AmazonAudible

What founders at seed keep coming back to, if you have not read them yet.

- 1 Inspired How to Create Tech Products Customers Love Marty Cagan · 2008 **4.22** 26,350 ratings · Goodreads Company building Finding product-market fit About the book Learn to design, build, and scale products consumers can't get enough of How do today's most successful tech companies–Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Tesla–design, develop, and deploy the products that have earned the love of literally billions of… On AmazonAudible
- 2 The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing Violate Them at Your Own Risk Al Ries · 1993 **4.05** 22,738 ratings · Goodreads Marketing and growth Company building About the book There are laws of nature, so why shouldn't there be laws of marketing? As Al Ries and Jack Trout, the world-renowned marketing consultants and bestselling authors of Positioning, note, you can build an impressive airplane, but it will never leave the ground if… On AmazonAudible
- 3 Building A Story Brand Donald Miller · 2017 **4.27** 26,500 ratings · Goodreads Marketing and growth Company building About the book New York Times bestselling author Donald Miller uses the seven universal elements of powerful stories to teach readers how to dramatically improve how they connect with customers and grow their businesses. Donald Miller’s StoryBrand process is a proven… On AmazonAudible
- 4 To Sell is Human The Surprising Truth About Moving Others Daniel H. Pink · 2012 **3.87** 26,914 ratings · Goodreads Company building First sales About the book From the bestselling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind comes a surprising--and surprisingly useful--new book that explores the power of selling in our lives.According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in nine Americans works in sales. Every day… On AmazonAudible

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Which books we recommend never depends on it: they are chosen from their ratings and what they are about.

From the record

## Written by the people who write the cheques

Books by investors and founders we hold records for. The author links to what they have done, not just what they wrote.

[Z **Zero to One** by Peter Thiel, Founders Fund 2014 · 4.14★](https://millionrounds.com/person/peter-thiel-2#books)[T **The Lean Startup** by Eric Ries, Eric Ries 2011 · 4.11★](https://millionrounds.com/person/eric-ries#books)[L **Lean In** by Sheryl Sandberg, Meta 2013 · 3.94★](https://millionrounds.com/person/sheryl-sandberg#books)[T **The Hard Thing About Hard Things** by Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz 2014 · 4.19★](https://millionrounds.com/person/ben-horowitz#books)[D **Delivering Happiness** by Tony Hsieh, Tony Hsieh 2000 · 4.04★](https://millionrounds.com/person/tony-hsieh#books)[# **#Girlboss** by Sophia Amoruso 2014 · 3.64★](https://millionrounds.com/person/sophia-amoruso#books)[T **The One Thing** by Gary Keller, Pocketchange Investments 2012 · 4.12★](https://millionrounds.com/person/gary-keller#books)[P **Principles** by Ray Dalio 2017 · 4.09★](https://millionrounds.com/person/ray-dalio#books)

## Read what the people you are pitching read.

Every investor and founder on our records links to their books and the podcasts they are on.

[Explore the people](https://millionrounds.com/people)[Or the podcasts](https://millionrounds.com/podcasts)