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 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★
30,000books on building and backing companies
27,964with a checked cover
3.86★average reader rating across the library
643written by 367 investors and founders on our records
Change your answersFounder · Seed · Finance and numbers
I am
Your rolePick one
Business modelUp to three
Your stagePick one
Working onUp to four
Your rolePick one
How you investUp to three
To sharpenUp to three
IndustryUp to three
More ways to narrow it: kind of book, and when it was written
Kind of bookAny
WrittenPick one

Nothing is stored. Your answers live in the page's address, so the list can be kept or shared.

Your reading list

↻ Show different picks

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.…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 2

    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

  • 3

    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

  • 4

    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

  • 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

    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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 7

    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

  • 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…

    On AmazonAudible

The books most about finance and numbers.

  • 1

    On My Own Two Feet

    A Modern Girl's Guide to Personal Finance

    Manisha Thakor · 2007

    3.94771 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbers

    About the book

    Most young women would love to live a carefree lifestyle filled with lunches, Louis Vuitton, and lattes, but what you might not know is that doing so can lead to future financial breakdown.Whether you've been living paycheck-to-paycheck, are trying to save…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 2

    Worry-Free Money

    Stop budgeting, Start Living

    Shannon Lee Simmons · 2017

    4.291,178 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbers

    About the book

    "A fresh way to think about your money." David Chilton, author of The Wealthy BarberStop budgeting. Start living. Managing your money can be frustrating and confusing. Life is expensive. Whether you make $30,000 or $130,000 a year, it can feel like you’re…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 3

    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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 4

    Keys to Heaven's Economy

    An Angelic Visitation from the Minister of Finance

    Shawn Bolz · 2005

    4.40328 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbers

    About the book

    The Lord's audible voice filled the room, introducing the angel standing before me: "Welcome the Minister of Finance for the Kingdom." So begins the unfolding of Shawn Bolz's visitations from God's heavenly messenger, His Minister of Finance. Heavenly…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 5

    Valuation

    Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, Fourth Edition

    McKinsey & Company Inc. · 2000

    4.291,838 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbers

    About the book

    Hailed by financial professionals worldwide as the single best guide of its kind, Valuation , Fourth Edition is thoroughly revised and expanded to reflect business conditions in today's volatile global economy. Valuation provides up-to-date insights and…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 6

    Real estate finance and investments

    William B. Brueggeman, Jeffrey Fisher · 1993

    55 Open Library reading lists

    Finance and numbers

    On AmazonAudibleOpen Library

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

  • 1

    The Art of Spending Money

    Simple Choices for a Richer Life

    Morgan Housel · 2025

    4.1126,132 ratings · Goodreads

    Finance and numbers

    About the book

    From the bestselling author of The Psychology of Money and Same as Ever, lessons on harnessing the power of money to live a happier lifeCan money buy happiness? Yes. Can spending it make you happier? Absolutely. Yet, many of us struggle to unlock its full…

    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

    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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 4

    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…

    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

    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,…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 2

    Jim Henson

    The Biography

    Brian Jay Jones · 2013

    4.0415,877 ratings · Goodreads

    Founder stories

    About the book

    For the first time ever-a comprehensive biography of one of the twentieth-century's most innovative creative artists: the incomparable, irreplaceable Jim Henson. He was a gentle dreamer whose genial bearded visage was recognized around the world, but most…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 4

    Bitter Brew

    The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer

    William Knoedelseder · 2012

    4.056,011 ratings · Goodreads

    Founder storiesCompany building

    About the book

    “Bitter Brew deftly chronicles the contentious succession of kings in a uniquely American dynasty. You’ll never crack open a six again without thinking of this book.”, John Sayles, Director of Eight Men Out and author of A Moment in the Sun The creators of…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 6

    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…

    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

    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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 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…

    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.

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.