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

    The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

    Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

    Stephen R. Covey · 1989

    4.16843,480 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilienceCompany building

    About the book

    In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 2

    The Power of Consistency

    Prosperity Mindset Training for Sales and Business Professionals

    Weldon Long · 2013

    4.25644 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilienceFirst salesCompany building

    About the book

    How to achieve wealth, happiness, and peace of mind through personal responsibility The Power of Consistency is based on the fundamental premise that private declarations dictate future actions. In other words, we tend to take actions with the thoughts and…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 3

    The Ultimate Sales Machine

    Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies

    Chet Holmes · 2007

    3.979,181 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilienceFirst salesCompany building

    About the book

    Chet Holmes has been called “one of the top 20 change experts in the country.” He helps his clients blow away both the competition and their own expectations. And his advice starts with one simple concept: focus! Instead of trying to master four thousand…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 4

    80/20 Sales and Marketing

    The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More

    Perry Marshall · 2013

    4.191,904 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilienceFirst 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 Thousand Weeks

    Time Management for Mortals

    Oliver Burkeman · 2021

    4.18123,505 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilience

    About the book

    Simplified Chinese Edition of [Four Thousand Weeks ]

    On AmazonAudible

  • 6

    Bit Literacy

    Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload

    Mark Hurst · 2007

    3.702,567 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilienceCompany building

    About the book

    "Bit Literacy" is essential reading for anyone who has experienced "digital overload" the daily flood of e-mail, multiple todo lists, a cluttered desktop, documents in various file formats, and the constant distraction of cell phones and other devices. More…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 7

    Business Made Simple

    60 Days to Master Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Execution, Management, Personal Productivity and More

    Donald Miller · 2021

    4.192,054 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilienceFirst 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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 8

    Rich AF

    The Winning Money Mindset That Will Change Your Life

    Vivian Tu · 2023

    4.0610,220 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilience

    About the book

    When Vivian Tu started working on Wall Street fresh from undergrad, all she knew was that she was making more money than she had ever seen in her life. But it wasn’t until she found a mentor of her own on the trading floor that she began to understand what…

    On AmazonAudible

The books most about focus and resilience.

  • 1

    Getting Things Done

    The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

    David Allen · 2001

    4.00170,488 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilience

    About the book

    In today's world, yesterday's methods just don't work. In Getting Things Done, veteran coach and management consultant David Allen shares the breakthrough methods for stress-free performance that he has introduced to tens of thousands of people across the…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 2

    The Wealth Money Can't Buy

    The 8 Hidden Habits to Live Your Richest Life

    Robin Sharma · 2024

    4.206,440 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilience

    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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 3

    Millionaire Success Habits

    The Gateway To Wealth & Prosperity

    Dean Graziosi · 2016

    4.063,061 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilience

    About the book

    Millionaire Success Habits is a book designed with one purpose in mind: to take you from where you are in life to where you want to be in life by incorporating easy-to-implement "Success Habits" into your daily routine. Legendary business coach Dean Graziosi…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 4

    100 Things Successful People Do

    Little Exercises for Successful Living

    Nigel Cumberland · 2016

    3.84778 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilience

    About the book

    Do you have what it takes to succeed in life, in work and in your relationships?100 Things Successful People Do is a guidebook to achieving success in any aspect of your life. 'Inspiring and practical' Marshall Goldsmith, bestselling author of TRIGGERS…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 5

    Focus

    Use Different Ways of Seeing the World for Success and Influence

    Heidi Grant Halvorson · 2013

    3.961,067 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilience

    About the book

    We all want to experience pleasure and avoid pain. But there are really two kinds of pleasure and pain that motivate everything we do. If you are promotion-focused, you want to advance and avoid missed opportunities. If you are prevention-focused, you want to…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 6

    Manage Your Day-to-Day

    Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind

    Jocelyn K. Glei · 2013

    4.0129,778 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilience

    About the book

    Stop doing busywork. Start doing your best work. Are you over-extended, over-distracted, and overwhelmed? Do you work at a breakneck pace all day, only to find that you haven't accomplished the most important things on your agenda when you leave the…

    On AmazonAudible

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

  • 1

    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

    Focus and resilienceMarketing and growthFirst sales

    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

  • 2

    Intentional

    How to Finish What You Start

    Chris Bailey · 2026

    3.86368 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilienceCompany building

    About the book

    From author of Hyperfocus and productivity expert Chris Bailey, a new approach to finishing what you start.Most of us have no problem setting goals. We know what we want, and we have a pretty good sense of what it takes to get it. But consistently making…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 3

    Lean Marketing

    More Leads. More Profit. Less Marketing.

    Allan Dib · 2024

    4.31452 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilienceMarketing 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

  • 4

    The First-Time Manager

    Sales

    Mike Weinberg · 2023

    4.43282 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilienceFirst 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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 5

    Buy Back Your Time

    Get Unstuck, Reclaim Your Freedom, and Build Your Empire

    Dan Martell · 2023

    4.365,076 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilienceCompany building

    About the book

    Wall Street Journal Bestseller Learn to conquer the one real hurdle to scaling your company and growing Time How you use your free time will make or break your success. The secret? It’s not about working harder or finding more time to do work. It’s about…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 6

    Reset

    How to Change What's Not Working

    Dan Heath · 2025

    4.123,193 ratings · Goodreads

    Focus and resilienceCompany building

    About the book

    From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Made to Stick, Switch, and The Power of Moments comes a revolutionary guide to fixing what’s not working, in systems and processes, organizations and companies, and even in our daily lives, by identifying…

    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

    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

  • 3

    Personal History

    A Memoir

    Katharine Graham · 1997

    4.0925,181 ratings · Goodreads

    Founder stories

    About the book

    Madrid. 22 cm. 557 p. Encuadernación en tapa blanda de editorial ilustrada. Graham, Katharine 1917-2001. Traducción de María Luisa Rodríguez Tapia y José Manuel Calvo Roy. Título Personal history .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 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

    Founder storiesCompany building

    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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 5

    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

  • 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

    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

  • 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

    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

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From the record

Written by the people who write the cheques

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