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
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ShortlistThe best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
The best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
- 1
Genius Makers
The Mavericks Who Brought AI to Google, Facebook, and the World
Cade Metz · 2021
4.263,395 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
"This colorful page-turner puts artificial intelligence into a human perspective. Through the lives of Geoff Hinton and other major players, Metz explains this transformative technology and makes the quest thrilling." Walter Isaacson, author of The Code…
- 2
Human + machine
Paul R. Daugherty · 2018
28 Open Library reading lists
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how we work right now. Are you ready? In the past, robots were typically large pieces of machinery, sectioned off from human workers to perform precise, mechanical tasks on an assembly line. But now, bots and other…
- 3
Everybody Lies
Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz · 2017
3.9043,226 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
Foreword by Steven Pinker Blending the informed analysis of The Signal and the Noise with the instructive iconoclasm of Think Like a Freak, a fascinating, illuminating, and witty look at what the vast amounts of information now instantly available to us…
- 4
The Connection Algorithm
Take Risks, Defy the Status Quo, and Live Your Passions
Jesse Tevelow · 2015
3.73450 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
A #1 Bestseller in Entrepreneurship A #1 Bestseller in Management A #1 Bestseller in Personal Success A #1 Bestseller in Knowledge Capital "Young Jesse Tevelow is on to something. His new book, The Connection Algorithm, is chock full of phenomenal strategies…
- 5
The Future Is Faster Than You Think
How Converging Technologies Are Transforming Business, Industries, and Our Lives
Peter H. Diamandis · 2020
4.135,412 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
From the New York Times bestselling authors of Abundance and Bold comes a practical playbook for technological convergence in our modern era.In their book Abundance, bestselling authors and futurists Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler tackled grand global…
- 6
Power And Prediction
The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence
Ajay Agrawal · 2022
4.217,462 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
Disruption resulting from the proliferation of AI is coming. The authors of the bestselling Prediction Machines describe what you can do to prepare. Banking and finance, pharmaceuticals, automotive, medical technology, retail. Artificial intelligence (AI)…
- 7
The Infinity Machine
Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence
Sebastian Mallaby · 2026
4.423,320 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
From one of our leading chroniclers of the intersection of innovation and capitalism, a landmark reckoning, based on unprecedented access, with one of the world’s most brilliant and driven tech visionaries and his game-changing company.Even by the standard…
- 8
The Lights in the Tunnel
Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future
Martin Ford · 2009
3.72717 ratings · Goodreads
AI and data
About the book
What will the economy of the future look like? Where will advancing technology, job automation, outsourcing and globalization lead? This groundbreaking book by a Silicon Valley computer engineer explores these questions and shows how accelerating technology…
Books on ai and data.
- 1
Supremacy
AI, ChatGPT, and the Race That Will Change the World
Parmy Olson · 2024
4.046,375 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
In November of 2022, a webpage was posted online with a simple text box. It was an AI chatbot called ChatGPT, and was unlike any app people had used before. It was more human than a customer service agent, more convenient than a Google search. Behind the…
- 2
Blood in the Machine
The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech
Brian Merchant · 2023
4.192,069 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
Longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year The "rich and gripping" true story of the first time machines came for human jobs, and how the Luddite uprising explains the power, threat, and toll of big tech and AI today (Naomi Klein) The most…
- 3
The Scaling Era
An Oral History of AI, 2019–2025
Dwarkesh Patel · 2025
3.87570 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
An inside view of the AI revolution, from the people and companies making it happen.How did we build large language models? How do they think, if they think? What will the world look like if we have billions of AIs that are as smart as humans, or even…
- 4
The Nvidia Way
Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant
Tae Kim · 2024
4.304,727 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
"The definitive look at the most remarkable business story of this era.", Morgan Housel, New York Times best-selling author of The Psychology of Money and Same As Ever"The Nvidia Way is a riveting history of Nvidia’s unexpected ascent to the top of the tech…
- 5
The Industries of the Future
Alec J. Ross · 2016
3.968,471 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
This book answers the question: 'What's next?' The Internet had a world-changing impact on businesses and the global community over the twenty years from 1994 to 2014. In the next ten years, change will happen even faster. As Hillary Clinton's Senior…
- 6
The Art of Statistics
How to Learn from Data
David Spiegelhalter · 2019
4.155,969 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
In this "important and comprehensive" guide to statistical thinking ( New Yorker ), discover how data literacy is changing the world and gives you a better understanding of life’s biggest problems. Statistics are everywhere, as integral to science as…
- 7
Future Ethics
Cennydd Bowles · 2018
4.29273 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
‘Eloquent, insightful and utterly a must read for anyone who is inventing the future or cares about living in it.’, Christina Wodtke, Stanford University ‘Cennydd’s long-lens view of ethics is exactly what designers, product managers and builders of today’s…
- 8
Predictive Analytics
The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die
Eric Siegel · 2013
3.662,129 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
"Mesmerizing & fascinating...", The Seattle Post-Intelligencer "The Freakonomics of big data.", Stein Kretsinger , founding executive of Advertising.com Award-winning | Used by over 30 universities | Translated into 9 languages An introduction for everyone.…
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
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.…
- 4
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…
- 5
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…
- 6
A Project Guide to UX Design
For User Experience Designers in the Field or in the Making
Russ Unger · 2009
3.871,774 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
“If you are a young designer entering or contemplating entering the UX field this is a canonical book. If you are an organization that really needs to start grokking UX this book is also for you. " -- Chris Bernard, User Experience Evangelist, Microsoft User…
- 7
Achieving Excellence in Fundraising + Website
Eugene R. Tempel · 2003
4.02249 ratings · Goodreads
Raising moneyCompany building
About the book
The third edition of this acclaimed resource, Achieving Excellence in Fundraising, explains the fundraising profession's major principles, concepts, and techniques. With contributions from noted experts in the field, and filled with illustrative examples,…
- 8
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…
Leading and managing a team as the company grows.
- 1
Good to Great
Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
Jim Collins · 2001
4.12312,279 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
The Challenge: Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning. But what about the…
- 2
Rising Strong
The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution
Brené Brown · 2015
4.2590,292 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Social scientist Brené Brown has ignited a global conversation on courage, vulnerability, shame, and worthiness. Her pioneering work uncovered a profound truth: Vulnerability, the willingness to show up and be seen with no guarantee of outcome, is the only path…
- 3
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…
- 4
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…
- 5
Joker One
A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood
Donovan Campbell · 2009
4.154,545 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
After graduating from Princeton, Donovan Campbell, motivated by his unwavering patriotism and commitment, decided to join the service, realizing that becoming a Marine officer would allow him to give back to his country, engage in the world, and learn to…
- 6
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…
- 7
Originals
How Non-Conformists Move the World
Adam M. Grant · 2016
3.9559,008 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
In Originals the author addresses the challenge of improving the world from the perspective of becoming original: choosing to champion novel ideas and values that go against the grain, battle conformity, and buck outdated traditions. How can we originate new…
- 8
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…
Published in the last three years, newest first, for what you told us.
- 1
Reshuffle
Who wins when AI restacks the knowledge economy
Sangeet Paul Choudary · 2025
4.32316 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
What happens when the “know-how” that once defined expertise migrates from humans to AI tools? How do organizations reorganize when machines take over not just tasks but entire workflows? And most importantly, how does this reshaping of knowledge work change…
- 2
Rewired
The McKinsey Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI
Eric Lamarre · 2023
3.87490 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
In Rewired, the world's most influential management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, delivers a road-tested, how-to manual their own consultants use to help companies build the capabilities to outcompete in the age of digital and AI. Many companies are…
- 3
The Age of Extraction
How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity
Tim Wu · 2025
3.871,213 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
Tech platforms manipulate attention, extract wealth, and deepen inequality. In this new book, Tim Wu (The Attention Merchants) explains how we can reclaim control and create a balanced economy that works for everyone.“The magic of Tim Wu’s The Age of…
- 4
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…
- 5
The Technological Republic
Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West
Alexander C. Karp · 2025
3.533,868 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A cri de coeur that takes aim at the tech industry for abandoning its history of helping America and its allies.”, The Wall Street Journal From the Palantir co-founder, one of tech’s boldest thinkers and The…
- 6
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…
- 7
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…
- 8
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…
How companies like yours were actually built, from the people who built them.
- 1
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…
- 2
Steve Jobs
Walter Isaacson · 2011
4.161,391,990 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
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…
- 3
Power and Progress
Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity
Daron Acemoğlu · 2023
3.942,496 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
The bestselling co-author of Why Nations Fail and the bestselling co-author of 13 Bankers deliver a bold reinterpretation of economics and history that will fundamentally change how you see the world A thousand years of history and contemporary evidence…
- 4
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…
- 5
Life After Google
The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy
George Gilder · 2018
3.542,407 ratings · Goodreads
AI and dataCompany building
About the book
A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE MONTH FROM THE WALL STREET " Nothing Mr. Gilder says or writes is ever delivered at anything less than the fullest philosophical decibel.. . Mr. Gilder sounds less like a tech guru than a poet, and his words tumble out in a…
- 6
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…
- 7
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…
- 8
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…
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
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…
- 4
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…
- 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
Empire of Pain
The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
Patrick Radden Keefe · 2021
4.53151,147 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
The highly anticipated portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, by the prize-winning, bestselling author of Say Nothing .The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford, the Louvre. They are one of…
- 7
The Power of Habit
Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
Charles Duhigg · 2012
4.13576,931 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
In "The Power of Habit", award-winning "New York Times" business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to…
- 8
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…
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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.