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
Shepherd's Notes
Lectures to My Students
Albert Meredith · 1889
4.474,121 ratings · Goodreads
Education
About the book
A companion guide to Lectures to My Students. Shepherd's Notes, Christian Classics Series is designed to give readers a quick, step by step overview of some of the enduring treasures of the Christian faith. They are designed to be used along side the…
- 2
The Art of Startup Fundraising
Alejandro Cremades · 2016
4.02819 ratings · Goodreads
EducationCompany 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…
- 3
Millionaire Teacher
The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School
Andrew Hallam · 2011
4.287,337 ratings · Goodreads
EducationCompany building
About the book
Adopt the investment strategy that turned a school teacher into a millionaire Millionaire Teacher shows you how to achieve financial independence through smart investing -- without being a financial wizard. Author Andrew Hallam was a high school English…
- 4
The Legends Club
Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Valvano, and an Epic College Basketball Rivalry
John Feinstein · 2016
4.332,166 ratings · Goodreads
Education
About the book
The riveting inside story of college basketball's fiercest rivalry among three coaching legends, University of North Carolina's Dean Smith, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, and North Carolina State's Jim Valvano, by the king of college basketball writers, #1 New York…
- 5
Learning to See
Value Stream Mapping to Add Value and Eliminate MUDA
Mike Rother · 1999
4.13779 ratings · Goodreads
EducationCompany building
About the book
Much more important, these simple maps - often drawn on scrap paper - showed where steps could be eliminated, flows smoothed, and pull systems introduced in order to create a truly lean value stream for each product family. In 1998 John teamed with Mike…
- 6
Sales EQ
How Ultra High Performers Leverage Sales-Specific Emotional Intelligence to Close the Complex Deal
Jeb Blount · 2017
4.281,376 ratings · Goodreads
EducationFirst salesCompany building
About the book
The New Psychology of Selling The sales profession is in the midst of a perfect storm. Buyers have more power, more information, more at stake, and more control over the sales process, than any time in history. Technology is bringing disruptive change at an…
- 7
Use Your Head
Tony Buzan · 2003
3.871,451 ratings · Goodreads
EducationCompany building
About the book
Are you worried that you're not achieving your full potential? A few years after this classic book on how to improve your brainpower was first published, a fairly average student announced that he intended to try for a place at Cambridge University. His…
- 8
Business Made Simple
60 Days to Master Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Execution, Management, Personal Productivity and More
Donald Miller · 2021
4.192,054 ratings · Goodreads
EducationFirst 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…
Books on education.
- 1
A More Beautiful Question
The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas
Warren Berger · 2014
3.956,643 ratings · Goodreads
EducationInnovationCompany building
About the book
In this groundbreaking book, journalist and innovation expert Warren Berger shows that one of the most powerful forces for igniting change in business and in our daily lives is a simple, under-appreciated tool, one that has been available to us since…
- 2
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World
An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children
John Wood · 2006
4.104,682 ratings · Goodreads
EducationCompany building
About the book
John Wood discovered his passion, his greatest success, and his life's work, not at business school or leading Microsoft's charge into Asia in the 1990s, but on a soul-searching trip to the Himalayas. Wood felt trapped between an all-consuming career and a…
- 3
Blended
Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools
Michael B. Horn · 2014
3.85460 ratings · Goodreads
EducationMoats and competitionInnovation
About the book
Navigate the transition to blended learning with this practical field guide Blended is the practical field guide for implementing blended learning techniques in K-12 classrooms. A follow-up to the bestseller Disrupting Class by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael…
- 4
Now You See It
How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn
Cathy N. Davidson · 2011
3.831,257 ratings · Goodreads
Education
About the book
A digital innovator shows how we can thrive in the new technological age. When Cathy Davidson and Duke University gave free iPods to the freshman class in 2003, critics said they were wasting their money. Yet when students in practically every discipline…
- 5
Geek Heresy
Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology
Kentaro Toyama · 2015
3.98432 ratings · Goodreads
Education
About the book
After a decade designing technologies meant to address education, health, and global poverty, award-winning computer scientist Kentaro Toyama came to a difficult Even in an age of amazing technology, social progress depends on human changes that gadgets…
- 6
Disrupting Class
How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns
Clayton M. Christensen · 2008
3.861,894 ratings · Goodreads
EducationMoats and competitionInnovation
About the book
Selected as one of the "Best Books on Innovation, 2008" by BusinessWeek magazine Named the "Best Human-Capital Book of 2008" by Strategy + Business magazine A crash course in the business of learning-from the bestselling author of The Innovator's Dilemma and…
- 7
What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School
Notes from a Street-smart Executive
Mark H. McCormack · 1984
3.605,703 ratings · Goodreads
EducationCompany building
About the book
This business classic features straight-talking advice you’ll never hear in school. Featuring a new foreword by Ariel Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell Mark H. McCormack, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in American business, is widely credited as the…
- 8
Creating Innovators
The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World
Tony Wagner · 2012
3.872,216 ratings · Goodreads
EducationInnovationCompany building
About the book
From a prominent educator, author, and founder of Harvard’s Change Leadership Group comes a provocative look at why innovation is today’s most essential real-world skill and what young people need from parents, teachers, and employers to become the innovators…
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
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…
- 6
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…
- 7
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…
- 8
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…
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
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,…
- 3
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…
- 4
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…
- 5
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…
- 6
A Different Kind of Power
Jacinda Ardern · 2025
4.4521,916 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
From the former prime minister of New Zealand, then the world’s youngest female head of government and just the second to give birth in office, comes a deeply personal memoir chronicling her extraordinary rise and offering inspiration to a new generation of…
- 7
Launching a Leadership Revolution
Mastering the Five Levels of Influence
Chris Brady · 2005
4.372,964 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Sooner or later, we are all called to lead in some capacity. Leadership skills are vital in corporate settings, small businesses, church or community organizations, and even within the home. Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward have recognized this need and have…
- 8
Lincoln on Leadership
Executive Strategies for Tough Times
Donald T. Phillips · 1993
4.167,865 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
You think you have it rough? Only ten days before Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office in 1861, the Confederate States of America seceded from the Union taking all Federal agencies, forts, and arsenals within their territory. To make matters worse,…
Published in the last three years, newest first, for what you told us.
- 1
Hey, Hun
Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing
Emily Lynn Paulson · 2023
3.5814,654 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthFirst salesCompany 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…
- 2
Arise
The Art of Transformational Coaching
Elena Aguilar · 2024
4.40217 ratings · Goodreads
Education
About the book
A hands-on guide for transformational coaches working in school environments In The Art of Coaching 2.0: How to Thrive as a Transformational Coach , renowned author and coach Elena Aguilar delivers a compelling and inspirational message about how to coach in…
- 3
Coming Up Short
A Memoir of My America
Robert B. Reich · 2025
4.502,794 ratings · Goodreads
Education
About the book
From political economist, cabinet member, beloved professor, media presence, and bestselling author of Saving Capitalism and The Common Good, a deeply-felt, compelling memoir of growing up in a baby-boom America that made progress in certain areas, fell short…
- 4
What's Your Dream?
Find Your Passion. Love Your Work. Build a Richer Life.
Simon Squibb · 2025
3.772,249 ratings · Goodreads
EducationCompany building
About the book
#1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER • Kickstart your dream business and see it through to success with actionable advice and inspirational stories from entrepreneur, investor, YouTuber, and founder of HelpBnk Simon SquibbFrom early on, we are taught that there's only…
- 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…
- 6
Second Class
How the Elites Betrayed America's Working Men and Women
Batya Ungar-Sargon · 2024
3.97524 ratings · Goodreads
Education
About the book
Second Class is the most important book you will read all year. A political realignment is coming, and it’s my hope that the end result will work in favor of our all-too-neglected American working class. When that realignment comes, Batya and her book will…
- 7
The Infinity Machine
Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence
Sebastian Mallaby · 2026
4.423,320 ratings · Goodreads
Company 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
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
The Man Watching
A Biography of Anson Dorrance, the Unlikely Architect of the Greatest College Sports Dynasty Ever
Tim Crothers · 2006
4.37342 ratings · Goodreads
EducationFounder stories
About the book
Former Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Crothers took a year off to write a book; that year became a five-year odyssey chronicling one of the most successful coaches in the history of sports. The Man Watching reveals, for the first time, the story of the…
- 2
The Education of Cyrus
Xenophon
4.051,259 ratings · Goodreads
EducationFounder stories
About the book
Cyropaedia: The Education of Cyrus by Xenophon is a historical and philosophical work that details the life and education of Cyrus the Great. The text, translated by Henry Graham Dakyns and revised by F. M. Stawell, explores themes of leadership, governance,…
- 3
Walden on Wheels
On The Open Road from Debt to Freedom
Ken Ilgunas · 2013
4.018,091 ratings · Goodreads
EducationFounder stories
About the book
In this memoir, Ken Ilgunas lays bare the existential terror of graduating from the University of Buffalo with $32,000 of student debt. Ilgunas set himself an ambitious mission: get out of debt as quickly as possible. Inspired by the frugality and philosophy…
- 4
Elon Musk and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
Young Readers' Edition
Ashlee Vance · 2017
4.211,288 ratings · Goodreads
EducationFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
South African born Elon Musk is the renowned entrepreneur and innovator behind PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity. Musk wants to save our planet; he wants to send citizens into space, to form a colony on Mars; he wants to make money while doing these…
- 5
Steve Jobs
The Man Who Thought Different
Karen Blumenthal · 2012
3.956,600 ratings · Goodreads
EducationFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
A riveting biography of the groundbreaking innovator who was a giant in the worlds of computing, music, filmmaking, design, smart phones, and more. A finalist for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award! "Your time is limited. . . . have the courage to…
- 6
The Rise and Fall of American Growth
The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War
Robert J. Gordon · 2016
4.192,210 ratings · Goodreads
EducationFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
How America's high standard of living came to be and why future growth is under threat In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing,…
- 7
Burn Rate
Launching a Startup and Losing My Mind
Andy Dunn · 2022
4.323,017 ratings · Goodreads
EducationFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
The co-founder of the menswear startup Bonobos opens up about the struggle with bipolar disorder that nearly cost him everything in this gripping, radically honest memoir of mental illness and entrepreneurship. "Arrestingly candid . . . the most powerful…
- 8
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…
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
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…
- 6
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman · 2011
4.16616,355 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
In the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more…
- 7
Zero to One
Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
Peter Thiel · 2014
4.14419,155 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
If you want to build a better future, you must believe in secrets. The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how…
- 8
Moneyball
Michael Lewis · 2003
4.27148,833 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
Billy Beane, general manager of MLB's Oakland A's and protagonist of Michael Lewis's Moneyball, had a problem: how to win in the Major Leagues with a budget that's smaller than that of nearly every other team. Conventional wisdom long held that big name,…
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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.