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.

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Atomic HabitsJames Clear · 4.31★FreakonomicsSteven D. Levitt · 4.01★The Tipping PointMalcolm Gladwell · 4.01★Rich Dad Poor DadRobert T. Kiyosaki · 4.08★BlinkMalcolm Gladwell · 3.96★Thinking, Fast and SlowDaniel Kahneman · 4.16★The Art of WarSun Tzu · 3.94★
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The best matches for everything you told us, ranked.

  • 1

    Undercover User Experience Design

    Learn How to Do Great UX Work with Tiny Budgets, No Time, and Limited Support

    Cennydd Bowles · 2010

    4.02505 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbersFinding product-market fitCompany building

    About the book

    Once you catch the user experience bug, the world changes. Doors open the wrong way, websites don't work, and companies don't seem to care. And while anyone can learn the UX remedies usability testing, personas, prototyping and so on unless your organization…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 2

    Copywriting Secrets

    Jim Edwards · 2019

    4.311,193 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbersMarketing and growthCompany building

    About the book

    What if you could sell anything to anyone? Nobody is born knowing how to sell. But the truth is, you can learn how to sell more . . . a LOT more . . . when you discover the right words that make people buy. Copywriting is selling. Whether online,…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 3

    Venture Deals

    Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist

    Brad Feld · 2011

    4.1117,486 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbersRaising moneyCompany 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 AmazonAudibleAuthor's Podcasts

  • 4

    80/20 Sales and Marketing

    The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More

    Perry Marshall · 2013

    4.191,904 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbersFirst salesMarketing and growth

    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

    The 1-Page Marketing Plan

    Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand out From The Crowd

    Allan Dib · 2016

    4.3211,134 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbersMarketing and growthCompany building

    About the book

    Do Not Read This Book If You Hate Money To build a successful business, you need to stop doing random acts of marketing and start following a reliable plan for rapid business growth. Traditionally, creating a marketing plan has been a difficult and…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 6

    The Art of Startup Fundraising

    Alejandro Cremades · 2016

    4.02819 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbersCompany buildingRaising money

    About the book

    The Art of Startup Fundraising takes a fresh look at raising money for startups, with a focus on the changing face of startup finance. New regulations are making the old go-to advice less relevant, as startup money is increasingly moving online. These new…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 7

    Principles of Managerial Finance, Brief

    Lawrence J. Gitman · 1976

    34 Open Library reading lists

    Finance and numbers

    On AmazonAudibleOpen Library

  • 8

    Profit First

    Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine

    Mike Michalowicz · 2014

    4.2615,184 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbersCompany building

    About the book

    Author of cult classics The Pumpkin Plan and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur offers a simple, counterintuitive cash management solution that will help small businesses break out of the doom spiral and achieve instant profitability. Conventional accounting…

    On AmazonAudible

The books most about finance and numbers.

  • 1

    Bubbly on Your Budget

    Live Luxuriously with What You Have

    Marjorie Hillis · 1937

    3.82433 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbers

    About the book

    Bubbly on Your Budget is an effervescent guide to living on a budget without sacrificing style. First published in 1937, these tips stand the test of time. Author Marjorie Hillis proves that it isn't how much we have, but how we act, that matters. With a…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 2

    Essentials of Accounting

    Robert N. Anthony · 1976

    4.071,125 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbers

    About the book

    For courses in Introductory Accounting. This programmed text has a proven format that involves a unique reversal of pages in the later chapters. This design was conceived as a way to allow the answer column to always appear in th right margin. The book is…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 3

    Accounting Principles

    Jerry J. Weygandt · 1987

    4.02408 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbers

    About the book

    This engaging book lays the foundation for readers to succeed on the CPA exam and ultimately in their professional practice. The new edition continues to reflect the conversational style and clarity that has made this a leader in the market. It explores the…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 4

    A Practical Guide to Quantitative Finance Interviews

    Xinfeng Zhou · 2008

    4.43201 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbers

    About the book

    This book will prepare you for quantitative finance interviews by helping you zero in on the key concepts that are frequently tested in such interviews. In this book we analyze solutions to more than 200 real interview problems and provide valuable insights…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 5

    Real estate finance and investments

    William B. Brueggeman, Jeffrey Fisher · 1993

    55 Open Library reading lists

    Finance and numbers

    On AmazonAudibleOpen Library

  • 6

    The Barefoot Investor

    The Only Money Guide You'll Ever Need

    Scott Pape · 2016

    4.3722,058 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbers

    About the book

    ** Reviewed and updated for the 2020-2021 financial year** This is the only money guide you'll ever need That's a bold claim, given there are already thousands of finance books on the shelves. So what makes this one different? Well, you won't be…

    On AmazonAudible

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

  • 1

    Buy What You Love Without Going Broke

    Transform Your Spending and Get More of What Money Can’t Buy―An Empowering Personal Finance Guide with a Mindful Spending Plan

    Jennifer Louise Smith · 2025

    3.911,144 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbers

    About the book

    A relatable personal finance guide that gives a fresh take on how to control your impulse spending so you can stick to a budget and pay off debt, without the guilt and shame of traditional financial advice, from the hosts of the beloved Frugal Friends podcast.…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 2

    Our Dollar, Your Problem

    An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead

    Kenneth Rogoff · 2025

    4.161,111 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbersCompany building

    About the book

    A leading economist explores the global rise of the U.S. dollar and shows why its future stability is far from assured. Our Dollar, Your Problem argues that America’s currency might not have reached today’s lofty pinnacle without a certain amount of good…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 3

    Hey, Hun

    Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing

    Emily Lynn Paulson · 2023

    3.5814,654 ratings · Goodreads

    Marketing and growthFirst salesCompany 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

  • 4

    $100M Money Models

    How To Make Money

    Alex Hormozi · 2025

    4.541,436 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbersCompany building

    About the book

    *Guinness World Fastest Selling Non-Fiction Book in History*** OVER 5,000,000 COPIES SOLD IN THE $100M SERIES!! ** This book will show you the art of getting more customers to spend more money faster.If you have a business, this book will help you make more…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 5

    Lean Marketing

    More Leads. More Profit. Less Marketing.

    Allan Dib · 2024

    4.31452 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbersMarketing and growthCompany 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

    Never Enough

    From Barista to Billionaire

    Andrew Wilkinson · 2024

    4.384,207 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbersCompany building

    About the book

    Andrew Wilkinson, touted as the Warren Buffett of tech, pulls back the curtain on the lives of the ultra-rich in this memoir outlining Wilkinson’s rapid rise from barista to successful entrepreneur. Readers will get fresh insights into building a…

    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

    4.45389,310 ratings · Goodreads

    Founder storiesCompany 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

    Never Die Easy

    The Autobiography of Walter Payton

    Walter Payton · 2000

    4.231,581 ratings · Goodreads

    Founder stories

    About the book

    "Never die easy. Why run out of bounds and die easy? Make that linebacker pay. It carries into all facets of your life. It's okay to lose, to die, but don't die without trying, without giving it your best." His legacy is towering. Walter Payton, the man they…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 3

    Elon Musk

    Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

    Ashlee Vance · 2015

    4.12456,221 ratings · Goodreads

    Founder storiesCompany 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

  • 4

    Steve Jobs

    Walter Isaacson · 2011

    4.161,391,990 ratings · Goodreads

    Founder storiesCompany 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

  • 5

    Sam Walton

    Made in America

    Sam Walton · 1992

    4.1527,178 ratings · Goodreads

    Founder storiesCompany building

    About the book

    As Sam Walton himself said, this is "...a story about entrepreneurship, and risk, and hard work, and knowing where you want to go and being willing to do what it takes to get there. And it's a story about believing in your idea even when maybe some other…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 6

    Walt Disney Imagineering

    A Behind the Dreams Look At Making the Magic Real

    The Imagineers · 1996

    4.121,961 ratings · Goodreads

    Founder storiesCompany building

    About the book

    Making dreams come true is what Disney does best -- and the Imagineers unite art and science to create a world in which reality surpasses imagination. The Imagineers are like Santa's elves: they are the nuts-and-bolts workers who allow Disney's magic to take…

    On AmazonAudible

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

  • 1

    Crossing the Chasm

    Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers

    Geoffrey A. Moore · 2002

    4.0332,109 ratings · Goodreads

    Marketing and growthCompany buildingFirst sales

    About the book

    Here is the bestselling guide that created a new game plan for marketing in high-tech industries. Crossing the Chasm has become the bible for bringing cutting-edge products to progressively larger markets. This edition provides new insights into the realities…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 2

    The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

    Violate Them at Your Own Risk

    Al Ries · 1993

    4.0522,738 ratings · Goodreads

    Marketing and growthCompany 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

    The Long Tail

    Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More

    Chris Anderson · 2006

    3.8330,263 ratings · Goodreads

    Company buildingFirst sales

    About the book

    The New York Times bestseller that introduced the business world to a future that s already here -- now in paperback with a new chapter about Long Tail Marketing and a new epilogue. Winner of the Gerald Loeb Award for Best Business Book of the Year. In…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 4

    To Sell is Human

    The Surprising Truth About Moving Others

    Daniel H. Pink · 2012

    3.8726,914 ratings · Goodreads

    Company buildingFirst 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

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From the record

Written by the people who write the cheques

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