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

    Sell It Like Serhant

    How to Sell More, Earn More, and Become the Ultimate Sales Machine

    Ryan Serhant · 2018

    4.293,699 ratings · Goodreads

    First salesCompany building

    About the book

    This national bestseller is a lively and practical guide on how to sell anything and achieve long-term success in business. Ryan Serhant was a shy, jobless hand model when he entered the real estate business in 2008 at a time the country was on the verge…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 2

    Ninja Selling

    Subtle Skills. Big Results.

    Larry Kendall · 2017

    4.502,013 ratings · Goodreads

    First salesCompany building

    About the book

    2018 Axiom Business Book Award Winner, Gold Medal Amazon Best Seller in Sales & Selling and Consumer Behavior Stop Selling! Start Solving! In Ninja Selling , author Larry Kendall transforms the way readers think about selling. He points out the problems…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 3

    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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 4

    How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling

    Frank Bettger · 1947

    4.2817,376 ratings · Goodreads

    First 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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 5

    Sales Dogs

    You Do Not Have to Be an Attack Dog to Be Successful in Sales

    Blair Singer · 2001

    3.923,176 ratings · Goodreads

    First 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! *…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 6

    The Ultimate Sales Letter

    Attract New Customers. Boost Your Sales

    Dan S. Kennedy · 1994

    4.161,875 ratings · Goodreads

    First salesCompany building

    About the book

    Write Well to Sell Big! In the age of e-mail and instant communication, great sales copy is indispensable to closing a deal. But too many sales letters end up in the junk file or the wastebasket. In this new edition of his top-selling book, author Dan…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 7

    Way of the Wolf

    Become a Master Closer with Straight Line Selling

    Jordan Belfort · 2017

    3.9410,160 ratings · Goodreads

    First salesCompany building

    About the book

    Jordan Belfort immortalized by Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit movie The Wolf of Wall Street reveals the step-by-step sales and persuasion system proven to turn anyone into a sales-closing, money-earning rock star. For the first time ever, Jordan Belfort opens…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 8

    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.…

    On AmazonAudible

The books most about first sales.

  • 1

    The SPIN Selling Fieldbook

    Practical Tools, Methods, Exercises, and Resources

    Neil Rackham · 1996

    4.13492 ratings · Goodreads

    First sales

    About the book

    Put into practice today's winning strategy for achieving success in high-end sales! The SPIN Selling Fieldbook is your guide to the method that has revolutionized big-ticket sales in the United States and globally. It's the method being used by one-half of…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 2

    New Sales. Simplified.

    The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development

    Mike Weinberg · 2012

    4.302,914 ratings · Goodreads

    First sales

    About the book

    No matter how much repeat business you get from loyal customers, the lifeblood of your business is a constant flow of new accounts. Packed with tested strategies and anecdotes, New Sales. Simplified. offers a proven formula for prospecting, developing, and…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 3

    Great Leads

    The Six Easiest Ways To Start Any Sales Message

    Michael Masterson · 2011

    4.56797 ratings · Goodreads

    First sales

    About the book

    Marketing research shows that 80% of an ad’s or sales letter’s success comes from the headline and lead. Every marketer worth the name can tell you how important the headline is. But far too many of those same marketers ignore the critical importance of the…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 4

    MEDDICC

    Using the Powerful MEDDPICC Enterprise Sales Framework to Close High-Value Deals and Maximize Business Growth

    Andy Whyte · 2020

    4.23496 ratings · Goodreads

    First sales

    About the book

    MEDDICC is taking the Enterprise Sales, SaaS, and B2B Sales worlds by storm. MEDDICC is used by elite sales companies like Sprinklr, CrowdStrike, and Snowflake to generate billion-dollar revenues. But, these revolutionary sales success systems can be…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 5

    Mastering Technical Sales

    The Sales Engineer's Handbook

    John Care · 2014

    4.24221 ratings · Goodreads

    First sales

    About the book

    Take your career to new heights by adding powerhouse sales and presentation skills to you technical background. This newly revised and expanded edition of Mastering Technical Sales; The Sales Engineer's Handbook oilers invaluable insights and tips for every…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 6

    SELL LIKE CRAZY

    How to Get As Many Clients, Customers and Sales As You Can Possibly Handle

    Sabri Suby · 2019

    4.233,132 ratings · Goodreads

    First sales

    About the book

    $1.33 billion in sales. That’s what this ‘selling system’ is responsible for generating, in 416 different industries and niches. It works. And it will work for you. How do I know? Well, five short years ago I was dead broke. I had just started my business…

    On AmazonAudible

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

  • 1

    The First-Time Manager

    Sales

    Mike Weinberg · 2023

    4.43282 ratings · Goodreads

    First 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

  • 2

    Hey, Hun

    Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing

    Emily Lynn Paulson · 2023

    3.5814,654 ratings · Goodreads

    First salesMarketing and growthCompany 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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 3

    Personal Branding for Introverts

    Goldie Chan · 2025

    4.41211 ratings · Goodreads

    Marketing 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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 4

    Lean Marketing

    More Leads. More Profit. Less Marketing.

    Allan Dib · 2024

    4.31452 ratings · Goodreads

    Marketing 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

  • 5

    The Pricing Roadmap

    How to Design B2B SaaS Pricing Models That Your Customers Will Love

    Ulrik Lehrskov-Schmidt · 2023

    4.43207 ratings · Goodreads

    Finding product-market fitCompany building

    About the book

    "The definitive resource on SaaS pricing, I absolutely can not recommend this book enough." Viktor Heide, COO of Contractbook.com, Forbes "30 under 30" A foolproof method to achieve skyrocketing sales, growth, and profits for your software as a service…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 6

    Little Bosses Everywhere

    How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America

    Bridget Read · 2025

    3.965,793 ratings · Goodreads

    Company buildingMarketing and growth

    About the book

    A groundbreaking work of history and reportage that unveils the stranger-than-fiction world of multilevel marketing, from the shadowy cabals at the top to the strivers at the bottom, whose deferred dreams churn a massive money-making scam that has remade…

    On AmazonAudible

How companies like yours were actually built, from the people who built them.

  • 1

    Sam Walton, Made in America

    My Story

    Sam Walton · 1992

    4.1628,881 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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 2

    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…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 3

    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

  • 4

    Walt Disney

    An American Original

    Bob Thomas · 1960

    4.345,851 ratings · Goodreads

    Founder storiesCompany building

    About the book

    Walt Disney is an American hero--the creator of Mickey Mouse, and a man who changed the face of American culture. After years of research, with the full cooperation of the Disney family and access to private papers and letters, Bob Thomas produced the…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 5

    Never Finished

    Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within

    David Goggins · 2022

    4.3850,509 ratings · Goodreads

    Founder stories

    About the book

    This is not a self-help book. It's a wake-up call! Can't Hurt Me, David Goggins' smash hit memoir, demonstrated how much untapped ability we all have but was merely an introduction to the power of the mind. In Never Finished, Goggins takes you inside his…

    On AmazonAudible

  • 6

    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

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

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