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
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ShortlistThe best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
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…
- 2
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.…
- 3
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…
- 4
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…
- 5
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.…
- 6
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,…
- 7
How to Master the Art of Selling
Tom Hopkins · 1981
4.091,865 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbersFirst salesCompany building
About the book
After he learned the world's best sales techniques, Tom Hopkins applied his new skills and earned more than one million dollars in just three years. Now, in this fully updated and revised edition of the million copy seller, Hopkins shows how you can succeed…
- 8
The Art of Closing the Sale
The Key to Making More Money Faster in the World of Professional Selling
Brian Tracy · 2007
4.231,154 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbersFirst salesCompany building
About the book
"Let me think it over." Early in his sales career, world-renowned sales expert Brian Tracy couldn't find a way to overcome that simple five-word objection and close the sale. Then he discovered a technique that worked. Business boomed. Tracy broke every…
The books most about finance and numbers.
- 1
Managing finance
BPP Learning Media · 2015
13 Open Library reading lists
Finance and numbers
- 2
The Index Card
Why Personal Finance Doesn't Have to Be Complicated
Helaine Olen · 2016
3.904,229 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbers
About the book
TV analysts and money managers would have you believe your finances are enormously complicated and if you don’t follow their guidance, you’ll end up in the poorhouse. They’re wrong. When University of Chicago professor Harold Pollack interviewed Helaine…
- 3
Moneyball
Michael Lewis · 2003
4.27148,833 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbers
About the book
Billy Beane, general manager of MLB's Oakland A's and protagonist of Michael Lewis's Moneyball, had a problem: how to win in the Major Leagues with a budget that's smaller than that of nearly every other team. Conventional wisdom long held that big name,…
- 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 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…
- 6
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…
- 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
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…
What founders at seed need most: company building, finding product-market fit, raising money, first sales, marketing and growth.
- 1
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…
- 2
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…
- 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 Beginners
A Crash Course in 100 Short Lessons
Joel Marsh · 2016
4.04527 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
Apps! Websites! Rubber Ducks! Naked Ninjas! This book has everything. If you want to get started in user experience design (UX), you've come to the right 100 self-contained lessons that cover the whole spectrum of fundamentals. Forget dry, technical…
- 5
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…
- 6
Solving Product Design Exercises
Questions & Answers
Artiom Dashinsky · 2018
4.30675 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
Practice your product design and UX skills. Prepare for your next job interview. "Redesign the NYC metrocard system. Design a dashboard for a general practitioner. Redesign an ATM". Learn how to solve and present exercises like these, that top startups…
- 7
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…
- 8
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…
Leading and managing a team as the company grows.
- 1
Leaders Eat Last
Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't
Simon Sinek · 2014
4.0867,812 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Why do only a few people get to say “I love my job”? It seems unfair that finding fulfillment at work is like winning a lottery; that only a few lucky ones get to feel valued by their organizations, to feel like they belong. Imagine a world where almost…
- 2
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…
- 3
The Goal
A Process of Ongoing Improvement
Eliyahu M. Goldratt · 2004
4.0786,160 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Written in a fast-paced thriller style, The Goal, a gripping novel, is transforming management thinking throughout the world. It is a book to recommend to your friends in industry - even to your bosses - but not to your competitors. Alex Rogo is a harried…
- 4
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…
- 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
The Leader in You
How to Win Friends, Influence People and Succeed in a Changing World
Dale Carnegie · 1993
4.096,485 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
For nearly a century, the words and works of Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc., have translated into proven success, a claim verified by millions of satisfied graduates; a perpetual 3,000-plus enrollment roster per week; and book sales, including the…
- 7
Business Model Generation
Alexander Osterwalder · 2010
4.2160,411 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Business Model Generation is a practical, inspiring handbook for anyone striving to improve a business model or craft a new one. 1) Change the way you think about business models Business Model Generation will teach you powerful and practical…
- 8
Built to Last
Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
Jim Collins · 1994
4.0687,169 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
"This is not a book about charismatic visionary leaders. It is not about visionary product concepts or visionary products or visionary market insights. Nor is it about just having a corporate vision. This is a book about something far more important,…
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
$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…
- 4
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…
- 5
The Wealth Money Can't Buy
The 8 Hidden Habits to Live Your Richest Life
Robin Sharma · 2024
4.206,440 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbers
About the book
A groundbreaking book redefining success to show readers how they can create truly abundant and fulfilling lives by following Sharma’s model of the eight forms of wealth, growth, wellness, family, craft, money, community, adventure, and service, from the #1…
- 6
House of Fidelity
The Rise of the Johnson Dynasty and the Company That Changed American Investing
Justin Baer · 2026
3.91317 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbersCompany building
About the book
The gripping, definitive account of the private family behind one of the most powerful financial institutions in the world. When Edward C. Johnson 2d founded Fidelity in 1946, investing was a pursuit reserved for the elite. Today, more than $15 trillion…
- 7
I Survived Capitalism and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt
Everything I Wish I Never Had to Learn About Money
Madeline Pendleton · 2024
4.514,126 ratings · Goodreads
Finance and numbers
About the book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A big-hearted, no-bullshit memoir from the TikTok superstar about her journey from living paycheck to paycheck to creating a multi-million-dollar business that offers a compassionate alternative to capitalism • Includes no-nonsense…
- 8
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…
How companies like yours were actually built, from the people who built them.
- 1
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,…
- 2
Heartland
A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
Sarah Smarsh · 2018
3.7616,921 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…
- 3
The Jordan Rules
The Inside Story of One Turbulent Season with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls
Sam Smith · 1992
4.2519,445 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…
- 4
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…
- 5
Source Code
My Beginnings
Bill Gates · 2025
4.1515,248 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
The origin story of one of the most influential and transformative business leaders and philanthropists of the modern age. The business triumphs of Bill Gates are widely known: the twenty-year-old who dropped out of Harvard to start a software company that…
- 6
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…
- 7
Alex Ferguson
My Autobiography
Alex Ferguson · 2013
3.9418,818 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
About the book
The celebratory, revealing, inspiring, and entertaining autobiography of the greatest manager in the history of British soccer. Over the past four years, Alex Ferguson has been reflecting on and jotting down the highlights of his extraordinary career, and…
- 8
The Power Broker
Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Robert A. Caro · 1974
4.5329,550 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
About the book
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • A modern American classic, this huge and galvanizing biography of Robert Moses reveals not only the saga of one man’s incredible accumulation of power but the story of his shaping (and mis-shaping) of twentieth-century New York. One of…
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
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…
- 3
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…
- 4
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…
- 5
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…
- 6
The Art of the Start
The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything
Guy Kawasaki · 2004
3.9129,538 ratings · Goodreads
Company buildingMarketing and growth
About the book
A new product, a new service, a new company, a new division, a new organization, a new anything, where there’s a will, here’s the way. It begins with a dream that just won’t quit, the once-in-a-lifetime thunderbolt of pure inspiration, the obsession, the…
- 7
Red Notice
A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice
Bill Browder · 2015
4.44113,920 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
A real-life political thriller about an American financier in the Wild East of Russia, the murder of his principled young tax attorney, and his dangerous mission to expose the Kremlin’s corruption.Bill Browder’s journey started on the South Side of Chicago…
- 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.