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 · Leading and managing
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ShortlistThe best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
The best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
- 1
Product Management in Practice
A Real-World Guide to the Key Connective Role of the 21st Century
Matt Lemay · 2017
4.341,157 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingFinding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
Product management has become a critical connective role for modern organizations, from small technology startups to global corporate enterprises. And yet the day-to-day work of product management remains largely misunderstood. In theory, product management…
- 2
How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling
Frank Bettger · 1947
4.2817,376 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingFirst salesCompany building
About the book
A business classic endorsed by Dale Carnegie, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling is for anyone whose job it is to sell. Whether you are selling houses or mutual funds, advertisements or ideas, or anything else, this book is for you. When…
- 3
Solving Product Design Exercises
Questions & Answers
Artiom Dashinsky · 2018
4.30675 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingFinding 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…
- 4
Lean Customer Development
Building Products Your Customers Will Buy
Cindy Alvarez · 2014
4.181,270 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingFinding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
How do you develop products that people will actually use and buy? This practical guide shows you how to validate product and company ideas through customer development research--before you waste months and millions on a product or service that no one needs…
- 5
Epic Content Marketing
How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less
Joe Pulizzi · 2013
3.961,339 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
One of FORTUNE Magazine's Top 5 Business Book Must-Reads How do you cut through the noise, commotion, and bad information that is right now cluttering up your customers' digital space? EPIC CONTENT MARKETING One of the world's leading experts on content…
- 6
Business Made Simple
60 Days to Master Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Execution, Management, Personal Productivity and More
Donald Miller · 2021
4.192,054 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingFirst salesMarketing and growth
About the book
Is this blue book more valuable than a business degree? Most people enter their professional careers not understanding how to grow a business. At times, this makes them feel lost, or worse, like a fraud pretending to know what they're doing. It's hard to be…
- 7
Sales Management. Simplified.
The Straight Truth About Getting Exceptional Results from Your Sales Team
Mike Weinberg · 2015
4.361,637 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingFirst salesCompany building
About the book
Why do sales organizations fall short? Every day, expert consultants like Mike Weinberg are called on by companies large and small to find the answer, and it’s one that may surprise you. Typically, the issue lies not with the sales team, but with how it is…
- 8
Venture Deals
Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist
Brad Feld · 2011
4.1117,486 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingRaising 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.…
The books most about leading and managing.
- 1
Start with Why
How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Simon Sinek · 2009
4.09281,577 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Why do you do what you do? Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to…
- 2
Gang Leader for a Day
A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
Sudhir Venkatesh · 2008
4.0726,029 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
The story of the young sociologist who studied a Chicago crack-dealing gang from the inside captured the world's attention when it was first described in Freakonomics. Gang Leader for a Day is the fascinating full story of how Sudhir Venkatesh managed to gain…
- 3
The Trident
The Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader
Jason Redman · 2013
4.382,609 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Decorated US Navy SEAL lieutenant Jason Redman served his country courageously and with distinction in Colombia, Peru, Afghanistan, and Iraq, where he commanded mobility and assault forces. He conducted over forty capture/kill missions with his men in Iraq,…
- 4
Four Thousand Weeks
Time and How to Use It
Oliver Burkeman · 2021
4.17133,825 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
The average human lifespan is absurdly, outrageously, insultingly brief: if you live to 80, you have about four thousand weeks on earth. That’s a pretty good argument for spending less time on Twitter.Of course, nobody needs telling that there isn’t enough…
- 5
The Wisdom of the Bullfrog
Leadership Made Simple
William H. McRaven · 2023
4.408,634 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Make Your Bed, a short, inspirational book of advice and leadership lessons that Admiral McRaven collected over his four decades as a Navy SEAL. The title “Bullfrog” is given to the Navy SEAL who has served the…
- 6
The Cubs Way
The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse
Tom Verducci · 2017
4.453,556 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports,…
- 7
Creativity, Inc.
Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
Ed Catmull · 2014
4.20105,625 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
“What does it mean to manage well?” From Ed Catmull, co-founder (with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) of Pixar Animation Studios, comes an incisive book about creativity in business, sure to appeal to readers of Daniel Pink, Tom Peters, and Chip and Dan Heath.…
- 8
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…
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
80/20 Sales and Marketing
The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More
Perry Marshall · 2013
4.191,904 ratings · Goodreads
First salesMarketing and growthCompany 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.…
- 5
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…
- 6
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…
- 7
Cashvertising
How to Use More Than 100 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make BIG MONEY Selling Anything to Anyone
Drew Eric Whitman · 2008
4.352,705 ratings · Goodreads
First salesCompany buildingMarketing and growth
About the book
Your brain is being controlled-and you don't even know it. Because if you think the ads you're seeing today are just pretty pictures with nice, creative copy, you're mistaken. Truth is, you are being powerfully influenced by dozens of proven scientific…
- 8
Copywriting Secrets
Jim Edwards · 2019
4.311,193 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthCompany buildingFirst sales
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,…
Leading and managing a team as the company grows.
- 1
Extreme Ownership
How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink · 2015
4.24106,151 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
The #1 New York Times bestseller Sent to the most violent battlefield in Iraq, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin’s SEAL task unit faced a seemingly impossible help U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a city deemed “all but lost.” In gripping firsthand accounts of heroism,…
- 2
Leadership
In Turbulent Times
Doris Kearns Goodwin · 2018
4.4016,361 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Are leaders born or made? Where does ambition come from? How does adversity affect the growth of leadership? Does the leader make the times or do the times make the leader? In Leadership, Goodwin draws upon the four presidents she has studied most…
- 3
The Effective Executive
The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done
Peter F. Drucker · 1966
4.0938,437 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
What makes an effective executive? The measure of the executive, Peter F. Drucker reminds us, is the ability to "get the right things done." This usually involves doing what other people have overlooked as well as avoiding what is unproductive. Intelligence,…
- 4
La quietud es la clave
Ryan Holiday · 2019
4.2240,098 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
The most lucid minds in history have had something in common that has allowed them to control their emotions, avoid distractions, discover new ways of looking at the world and achieve all their goals. Zen Buddhist thinkers called it inner peace, an essential…
- 5
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…
- 6
The Manager's Path
A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change
Camille Fournier · 2017
4.2510,686 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Managing people is difficult wherever you work, but the tech industry as a whole is pretty bad at it. Tech companies in general lack the experience, tools, texts, and frameworks to do it well. And the handful of books that share tips and tricks of engineering…
- 7
Winning
Proven Leadership and Management Principles for Strategic Career Excellence and Business Success
Jack Welch · 2005
3.8643,588 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
A champion manager of people, Jack Welch shares the hard-earned wisdom of a storied career in what will become the ultimate business bible With Winning, Jack Welch delivers a wide-ranging, in-depth, no-holds-barred management guidebook about the tough…
- 8
Leading
Learning from Life and My Years at Manchester United
Alex Ferguson · 2015
4.138,056 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
After an astonishing career-first in Scotland, and then over 27 years with Manchester United Football Club- Sir Alex Ferguson delivers Leading , in which the greatest soccer coach of all time will analyze the pivotal leadership decisions of his 38 years as a…
Published in the last three years, newest first, for what you told us.
- 1
How to Run a Country
An Ancient Guide for Modern Leaders
Marcus Tullius Cicero · 2044
3.82431 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Marcus Cicero, Rome's greatest statesman and orator, was elected to the Roman Republic's highest office at a time when his beloved country was threatened by power-hungry politicians, dire economic troubles, foreign turmoil, and political parties that refused…
- 2
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…
- 3
The First-Time Manager
Sales
Mike Weinberg · 2023
4.43282 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingFirst salesCompany 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…
- 4
Vermilion Strong Ground.
Brené Brown · 2025
4.156,637 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingCompany building
About the book
Brené Brown returns with an urgent call to reimagine the essentials of courageous leadership. In a time when uncertainty runs deep and bluster, hubris, and even cruelty are increasingly framed as acceptable leadership, Brown delivers practical, actionable…
- 5
The Power of Mattering
How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance
Zach Mercurio · 2025
4.27408 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingCompany building
About the book
Your people have a fundamental need to be seen, heard, and valued.More people than ever report feeling ignored and underappreciated at work, simply put, they don't feel like they matter to their leaders or their organizations. And these feelings have dire…
- 6
Personal Branding for Introverts
Goldie Chan · 2025
4.41211 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingMarketing and growthCompany 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…
- 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
The Thinking Machine
Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World's Most Coveted Microchip
Stephen Witt · 2025
4.295,636 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingCompany building
About the book
“Stephen Witt’s deep reporting shines through every page of The Thinking Machine. The result is a page-turning biography of perhaps the most consequential CEO and company in the world.”, David Epstein, New York Times bestselling author of Range Nvidia is…
How companies like yours were actually built, from the people who built them.
- 1
Steve Jobs
Walter Isaacson · 2011
4.161,391,990 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany buildingLeading and managing
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…
- 2
Sam Walton
Made in America
Sam Walton · 1992
4.1527,178 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany buildingLeading and managing
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…
- 3
Wizard
The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla
Marc J. Seifer · 1996
3.736,658 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
About the book
Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), credited as the inspiration for radio, robots, and even radar, has been called the patron saint of modern electricity. Based on original material and previously unavailable documents, this acclaimed book is the definitive…
- 4
The Elon Musk Blog Series
Wait But Why
Tim Urban · 2016
4.701,837 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
In 2015, Elon Musk reached out to blogger Tim Urban and asked him if he'd take a crack at explaining Elon's endeavors, and the industries surrounding them, to the world. Tim accepted, and after extensive meetings with Elon and his staff, he wrote four blog…
- 5
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…
- 6
It Doesn't Take a Hero
The Autobiography of General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Norman Schwarzkopf · 1992
4.113,536 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesLeading and managing
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…
- 7
Shoe Dog
A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
Phil Knight · 2016
4.45389,310 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany buildingLeading and managing
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…
- 8
The Situation Room
The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis
George Stephanopoulos · 2024
4.3211,278 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesLeading and managing
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…
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
- 4
Lok Vyavhar
Diamond Books · 1936
4.221,157,905 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
This is the translation of famous - HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE - a classic book that gave birth to the self-help industry. Through this book, Dale Carnegie offers practical and proven advice on how to deal with people and understand them in order…
- 5
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…
- 6
- 7
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…
- 8
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…
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.