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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643 books written by investors and founders
Now readingAtomic HabitsJames Clear4.31★
Change your answersFounder · Seed · Finance and numbers
Your reading list
ShortlistThe best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
The best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
- 1
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.…
- 2
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.…
- 3
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…
- 4
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,…
- 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…
- 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…
- 7
Sales Dogs
You Do Not Have to Be an Attack Dog to Be Successful in Sales
Blair Singer · 2001
3.923,176 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbersFirst salesCompany building
About the book
By knowing the five basic breeds of people-the Pit Bull, the Golden Retriever, the Poodle, the Chihuahua, & the Basset Hound-readers will have the necessary insight to improve their business & selling savvy. SalesDogs * Introduce Five Breeds of SalesDogs! *…
- 8
$100M Offers
How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No
Alex Hormozi · 2021
4.5419,221 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbersCompany building
About the book
Here’s exactly what this book will show you how to do: How To Charge a Lot More Than You Currently Are… a- The Tiny Market Big Money Process we use to laser focus on niche markets overflowing with cash b- The “Unfair” Pricing formula….how we 100x’d our…
The books most about finance and numbers.
- 1
Principles of Managerial Finance, Brief
Lawrence J. Gitman · 1976
34 Open Library reading lists
Finance and numbers
- 2
Intermediate Accounting, Volume 2
Donald E. Kieso · 2000
4.08255 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbers
About the book
Due to the emergence of IFRS as the required convention for reporting to stock exchanges in the European Union and other important markets, accountants must gain a strong understanding of these standards. Intermediate Accounting integrates this new…
- 3
Real estate finance and investments
William B. Brueggeman, Jeffrey Fisher · 1993
55 Open Library reading lists
Finance and numbers
- 4
Financial Shenanigans
How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports
Howard Schilit · 1993
4.242,807 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbers
About the book
Techniques to uncover and avoid accounting frauds and scams Inflated profits . . . Suspicious write-offs . . . Shifted expenses . . . These and other dubious financial maneuvers have taken on a contemporary twist as companies pull out the stops in seeking to…
- 5
The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs
The Investor's Guide to Defining Your Renovation Plan, Building Your Budget, and Knowing Exactly How Much It All Costs
J. Scott · 2013
4.201,003 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbers
About the book
Entirely revised and updated! How much does it really cost to flip a house? Learn detailed tips, tricks, and tactics to accurately budget all house flipping projects from expert real estate investor and fix-and-flipper J Scott. Discover the…
- 6
Financial Fitness
The Offense, Defense, and Playing Field of Personal Finance
Chris Brady · 2013
4.62436 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbers
About the book
We call it "The Money Thing": the elusive, often difficult mystery of acquiring, keeping, and continuing to produce enough money to be able to life the life of our choosing. While prescriptions and advice about one's money are as available and varied as diet…
- 7
Lower Ed
The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy
Tressie McMillan Cottom · 2015
4.261,560 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbers
About the book
“The best book yet on the complex lives and choices of for-profit students.” The New York Times Book Review As seen on The Daily Show , NPR’s Marketplace , and Fresh Air , the “powerful, chilling tale” (Carol Anderson) of higher education becoming an…
- 8
The investment, financing, and valuation of the corporation
Myron J. Gordon · 1962
18 Open Library reading lists
Finance and numbers
What founders at seed need most: company building, finding product-market fit, raising money, first sales, marketing and growth.
- 1
The Elements of User Experience
User-Centered Design for the Web
Jesse James Garrett · 2002
4.014,134 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fitCompany 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…
- 2
Get Backed
Craft Your Story, Build the Perfect Pitch Deck, and Launch the Venture of Your Dreams
Evan Baehr · 2015
4.36356 ratings · Goodreads
Raising moneyCompany 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…
- 3
Selling the Invisible
A Field Guide to Modern Marketing
Harry Beckwith · 1997
3.9410,059 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthFirst salesCompany 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…
- 4
UX for Lean Startups
Faster, Smarter User Experience Research and Design
Laura Klein · 2013
4.092,097 ratings · Goodreads
Company buildingFinding product-market fit
About the book
Great user experiences (UX) are essential for products today, but designing one can be a lengthy and expensive process. With this practical, hands-on book, you’ll learn how to do it faster and smarter using Lean UX techniques. UX expert Laura Klein shows you…
- 5
Risky is the New Safe
The Rules Have Changed . . .
Randy Gage · 2012
3.86348 ratings · Goodreads
Raising moneyCompany building
About the book
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and #1 WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER Risky Is the New Safe is a different kind of book for a different kind of thinking--a thought-provoking manifesto for risk takers. It will challenge you to think laterally, question…
- 6
Simple Marketing For Smart People
The One Question You Need to Win Customers without Gimmicks, Hype, or Hard Selling
Billy Broas · 2024
4.35305 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthFirst salesCompany building
About the book
Why do so many smart people struggle with marketing? The answer is smart people love complexity, and complexity brews problems. Does your marketing feel like it has way too many moving parts? If so, Simple Marketing for Smart People is the solution you’ve…
- 7
Observing the User Experience
A Practitioner's Guide to User Research
Mike Kuniavsky · 2003
3.99695 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fit
About the book
The gap between who designers and developers imagine their users are, and who those users really are can be the biggest problem with product development. Observing the User Experience will help you bridge that gap to understand what your users want and need…
- 8
LinkedIn Riches
How To Use LinkedIn For Business, Sales and Marketing! Updated and Revised
John Nemo · 2014
4.07319 ratings · Goodreads
First salesMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
SPECIAL Includes Free Access to 25+ LinkedIn Training Videos!Discover How To Use LinkedIn For Sales, Business and Marketing, including how Find New Sales Leads and Prospective Clients on LinkedIn FAST- Turn Your Existing LinkedIn Connections into Paying…
Leading and managing a team as the company grows.
- 1
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Patrick Lencioni · 2002
4.11144,022 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Patrick Lencioni once again offers a leadership fable that is as enthralling and instructive as his first two best-selling books, The Five Temptations of a CEO and The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive. This…
- 2
The One Minute Manager
Kenneth H. Blanchard · 1981
3.95149,478 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
For more than twenty years, millions of managers in Fortune 500 companies and small businesses nationwide have followed The One Minute Manager's techniques, thus increasing their productivity, job satisfaction, and personal prosperity. These very real results…
- 3
Rising Strong
The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution
Brené Brown · 2015
4.2590,292 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Social scientist Brené Brown has ignited a global conversation on courage, vulnerability, shame, and worthiness. Her pioneering work uncovered a profound truth: Vulnerability, the willingness to show up and be seen with no guarantee of outcome, is the only path…
- 4
The Ride of a Lifetime
Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company
Robert Iger · 2019
4.4099,495 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
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…
- 5
The Outsiders
Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
William N. Thorndike Jr. · 2012
4.2214,412 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
”It is impossible to produce superior performance unless you do something different.”, John TempletonWhat makes a successful CEO? Most people call to mind a familiar definition: a seasoned manager with deep industry expertise. Others might point to the…
- 6
Leadership Strategy and Tactics
Field Manual
Jocko Willink · 2020
4.409,277 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
The ultimate guide on leadership from the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of Extreme Ownership.In the military, a field manual provides instructions in simple, clear, step-by-step language to help soldiers complete their mission. In the civilian…
- 7
To Rescue the American Spirit
Teddy Roosevelt and the Birth of a Superpower
Bret Baier · 2025
4.542,106 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
From #1 New York Times bestselling author and Fox News Channel’s Chief Political Anchor, a captivating biography of Theodore Roosevelt, the stalwart naturalist, writer, ranchman, soldier, president, and avatar of our modern era. There has never been a…
- 8
EntreLeadership
20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches
Dave Ramsey · 2011
4.1914,050 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Total Money Makeover and radio and podcast host Dave Ramsey comes an informative guide based on how he grew a successful, multimillion dollar company from a card table in his living room. Your company is only…
Published in the last three years, newest first, for what you told us.
- 1
Future Rich Person
The New Rules for Building Wealth
Haley Sacks · 2026
4.08420 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbers
About the book
From Zillennial Finance Expert Mrs. Dow Jones comes a groundbreaking, judgment-free personal finance guidebook about how to grow wealth on your own terms.You’re not bad with money. It’s just no one ever taught you how to win a game rigged against…
- 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…
- 3
The 5 Types of Wealth
A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life
Sahil Bloom · 2025
4.1312,431 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbersCompany building
About the book
A groundbreaking guide to rejecting the default path and designing your dream life, a life centered around The 5 Types of Wealth. Launch your journey to fulfillment with this transformative system from inspirational writer, speaker, and entrepreneur Sahil…
- 4
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…
- 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…
- 6
Incorruptible
Why Good Companies Go Bad... and How Great Companies Stay Great
Eric Ries · 2026
4.37355 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbersCompany building
About the book
Incorruptible is Eric Ries’s boldest work since The Lean Startup. Where his earlier books offered tools for product innovation and scaling, this one tackles a deeper, systemic why do even the best companies drift from their missions, betraying the trust of…
- 7
Gambling Man
The Secret Story of the World's Greatest Disruptor, Masayoshi Son
Lionel Barber · 2025
4.081,743 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbersCompany building
About the book
The unputdownable first Western biography of SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, financial disruptor and personification of the 21st century’s addiction to instant wealth, from the former editor of the Financial Times. As Wall Street swooned and boomed through the…
- 8
Chokepoints
American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare
Edward Fishman · 2025
4.342,959 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbersCompany building
About the book
The epic story of how America turned the world economy into a weapon, upending decades of globalization to take on a new authoritarian axis, Russia, China, and Iran. It used to be that ravaging another country’s economy required blockading its ports and…
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…
- 2
American Kingpin
Catching the Billion-Dollar Baron of the Dark Web
Nick Bilton · 2017
4.4155,362 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
About the book
From New York Times-bestselling author Nick Bilton comes a true-life thriller about the rise and fall of Ross Ulbricht, aka the Dread Pirate Roberts, the founder of the online black market Silk Road. In 2011, Ulbricht, a 26-year-old libertarian idealist…
- 3
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…
- 4
Elon Musk
Walter Isaacson · 2023
4.3281,328 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era, a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles,…
- 5
The Situation Room
The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis
George Stephanopoulos · 2024
4.3211,278 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
About the book
George Stephanopoulos, former senior advisor to President Clinton and for more than 20 years anchor of This Week and co-anchor of Good Morning America , recounts the crises that decided the course of history, from the place 12 presidents made their…
- 6
Disney High
The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel's Tween Empire
Ashley Spencer · 2024
3.949,197 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
The first unauthorized look at the inner workings―and ultimate breakdown―of the Disney Channel machine For many kids growing up in the 2000s, there was no cultural touchstone more powerful than Disney Channel, the most-watched cable channel in prime time…
- 7
Bad Blood
Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
John Carreyrou · 2018
4.40285,283 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of a multibillion-dollar startup, by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end in the face of pressure and threats from the CEO and her lawyers. In…
- 8
It Doesn't Take a Hero
The Autobiography of General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Norman Schwarzkopf · 1992
4.113,536 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
About the book
He set his star by a simple motto: duty, honor, country. Only rarely does history grant a single individual the ability, personal charisma, moral force, and intelligence to command the respect, admiration, and affection of an entire nation. But such a man…
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…
- 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…
- 3
Inspired
How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
Marty Cagan · 2008
4.2226,350 ratings · Goodreads
Company buildingFinding 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…
- 4
Building A Story Brand
Donald Miller · 2017
4.2726,500 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthCompany 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…
- 5
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…
- 6
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Dale Carnegie · 1936
4.211,172,289 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
"How to Win Friends and Influence People' is one of the first best-selling self-help books ever published. Just after publishing, it quickly exploded into an overnight success, eventually selling more than 15 million copies worldwide, and pioneering an entire…
- 7
Contagious
Why Things Catch On
Jonah Berger · 2013
3.9834,129 ratings · Goodreads
Company buildingMarketing and growth
About the book
New York Times bestseller and named Best Marketing Book of 2014 by the American Marketing AssociationWhat makes things popular? Why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what…
- 8
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.
The Lean Startupby Eric Ries, Eric Ries2011 · 4.11★L
Lean Inby Sheryl Sandberg, Meta2013 · 3.94★T
The Hard Thing About Hard Thingsby Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz2014 · 4.19★D
Delivering Happinessby Tony Hsieh, Tony Hsieh2000 · 4.04★#
#Girlbossby Sophia Amoruso2014 · 3.64★T
The One Thingby Gary Keller, Pocketchange Investments2012 · 4.12★P
Principlesby Ray Dalio2017 · 4.09★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.