Best books for founders and investors

Your reading list

ShortlistThe best matches for everything you told us, ranked.

The best matches for everything you told us, ranked.

1
No More Tears
The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson
Gardiner Harris · 2025
4.1722,997 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany building
About the book
An incendiary, deeply reported exposé of Johnson & Johnson, one of America’s oldest and most trusted pharmaceutical companies, from award-winning investigative journalist Gardiner Harris One day in 2004, Gardiner Harris, early for a flight, sat down at an…
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2
The Advantage
Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business
Patrick Lencioni · 2012
4.1316,684 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany building
About the book
There is a competitive advantage out there, arguably more powerful than any other. Is it superior strategy? Faster innovation? Smarter employees? No, New York Times best-selling author, Patrick Lencioni, argues that the seminal difference between successful…
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3
Sedated
How Modern Capitalism Created our Mental Health Crisis
James Davies · 2021
4.212,515 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotech
About the book
In Britain alone, more than 20% of the adult population take a psychiatric drug in any one year. This is an increase of over 500% since 1980 and the numbers continue to grow. Yet, despite this prescription epidemic, levels of mental illness of all types have…
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4
Successful Women Think Differently
9 Habits to Make You Happier, Healthier, and More Resilient
Valorie Burton · 2012
4.201,226 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany building
About the book
Popular author and professional certified coach Valorie Burton knows that successful women think differently. They make decisions differently. They set goals differently and bounce back from failure differently. Valorie is dedicated to help women create new…
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5
Replenish
Leading from a Healthy Soul
Lance Witt · 2015
4.29765 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotech
About the book
Every leader functions on two stages--the front stage or public world, and the back stage or private world. One cannot lead successfully front stage when one is completely depleted back stage. In a time when pastors are leaving the ministry in record numbers…
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6
Never Pay the First Bill
And Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win
Marshall Allen · 2021
4.26601 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany building
About the book
From award-winning ProPublica reporter Marshall Allen, a primer for anyone who wants to fight the predatory health care system--and win.Every year, millions of Americans are overcharged and underserved while the health care industry makes record profits. We…
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7
Her-2
The Making of Herceptin, a Revolutionary Treatment for Breast Cancer
Robert Bazell · 1998
4.07313 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotech
About the book
Two years after she underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy, Barbara Bradfield's aggressive breast cancer had recurred and spread to her lungs. The outlook was grim. Then she took part in Genentech's clinical trials for a new drug. Five years later she…
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8
Balance
How to Invest and Spend for Happiness, Health, and Wealth
Andrew Hallam · 2022
4.10942 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotech
About the book
Stop chasing money and start redefining success.Sure, money is important. And yes, it can make you happy, but only up to a point. The truth is, science has shown that we each have a set point that links our earnings with happiness; go beyond that point, and…
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Books on health and biotech.

1
The Innovator's Prescription
A Disruptive Solution for Health Care
Clayton M. Christensen · 2008
4.211,158 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechInnovationMoats and competition
About the book
A groundbreaking prescription for health care reform--from a legendary leader in innovation . . . Our health care system is in critical condition. Each year, fewer Americans can afford it, fewer businesses can provide it, and fewer government programs can…
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2
Silk Road
Eileen Ormsby · 2014
3.99548 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany building
About the book
It was the 'eBay of drugs', a billion dollar empire. Behind it was the FBI's Most Wanted Man, a mysterious crime czar dubbed 'Dread Pirate Roberts'. SILK ROAD lay at the heart of the 'Dark Web' - a parallel internet of porn, guns, assassins and drugs. Lots of…
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3
Where Does It Hurt?
An Entrepreneur's Guide to Fixing Health Care
Jonathan Bush · 2014
3.78598 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany buildingInnovation
About the book
A bold new remedy for the sprawling and wasteful health care industry Where else but the doctor’s office do you have to fill out a form on a clipboard? Have you noticed that hospital bills are almost unintelligible, except for the absurdly high dollar amount?…
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4
The Kelloggs
The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek
Howard Markel · 2017
3.87969 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany building
About the book
"What's more American than Corn Flakes?" --Bing Crosby From the much admired medical historian ("Markel shows just how compelling the medical history can be"--Andrea Barrett) and author of An Anatomy of Addiction ("Absorbing, vivid"--Sherwin Nuland, The…
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5
The Cigarette Century
The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America
Allan M. Brandt · 2007
4.10509 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany building
About the book
The invention of mass marketing led to cigarettes being emblazoned in advertising and film, deeply tied to modern notions of glamour and sex appeal. It is hard to find a photo of Humphrey Bogart or Lauren Bacall without a cigarette. No product has been so…
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6
Contagious
Why Things Catch On
Jonah Berger · 2013
3.9834,129 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany building
About the book
New York Times bestseller and named Best Marketing Book of 2014 by the American Marketing AssociationWhat makes things popular? Why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what…
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7
Inventology
How We Dream Up Things That Change the World
Pagan Kennedy · 2015
3.85413 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany buildingInnovation
About the book
Find out where great ideas come from. A father cleans up after his toddler and imagines a cup that won't spill. An engineer watches people using walkie-talkies and has an idea. A doctor figures out how to deliver patients to the operating room before they…
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8
Life at the Speed of Light
From the Double Helix to the Dawn of Digital Life
J. Craig Venter · 2013
3.83875 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotech
About the book
The renowned scientist and author of A Life Decoded examines the creation of life in the field of synthetic genomics.
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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4
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…
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5
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,…
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6
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…
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7
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…
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8
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…
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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…
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2
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…
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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…
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4
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…
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5
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…
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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…
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7
Leadership
Six Studies in World Strategy
Henry Kissinger · 2022
4.242,848 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Henry Kissinger, consummate diplomat and statesman, examines the strategies of six great twentieth-century figures and brings to life a unifying theory of leadership and diplomacy"An extraordinary book, one that braids together two through lines in the long…
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8
Give and Take
A Revolutionary Approach to Success
Adam M. Grant · 2013
4.0641,070 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Give and Take highlights what effective networking, collaboration, influence, negotiation, and leadership skills have in common. For generations, we have focused on the individual drivers of success: passion, hard work, talent, and luck. But today, success…
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Published in the last three years, newest first, for what you told us.

1
Defy
The Power of No in a World That Demands Yes
Sunita Sah · 2025
4.041,013 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotech
About the book
Why is it so hard to stand up to authority even when we know something’s wrong? Many of us comply much more than we realize. How many times have you wanted to object, disagree, or opt out of something but ended up swallowing your words, shaking your head,…
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2
Fiat Food
Why Inflation Destroyed Our Health and How Bitcoin Fixes It
Matthew Lysiak · 2023
4.32275 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotech
About the book
THE REAL COST OF INFLATION ON A COUNTRY can be best seen not through government-sanctioned data points circulated throughout the corporate sponsored media, but in the financial, physical, and mental health of its citizenry. Officials point to the increase of…
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3
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…
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4
The Origins of Efficiency
Brian Potter · 2025
4.12401 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany building
About the book
A step-by-step examination of how production processes, from penicillin and automobiles to steel and semiconductors, get more efficient over time, and why it matters for unlocking a new era of abundance.Efficiency is the engine that powers human civilization.…
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5
Bad Company
Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream
Megan Greenwell · 2025
4.025,595 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany building
About the book
A damning indictment of the private equity industry told through the stories of four American workers whose lives and communities were upended by the ruinous effects of private equity takeovers. Private equity runs our country, yet few Americans have any…
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6
The Big Fail
What the Pandemic Revealed About Who America Protects and Who It Leaves Behind
Joe Nocera · 2023
3.90339 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany building
About the book
From the collaborators behind the modern business classic All the Devils are Here comes a damning indictment of American capitalism, and the leaders that left us brutally unprepared for a global pandemicIn 2020, the novel coronavirus pandemic made it painfully…
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7
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…
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8
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…
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How companies like yours were actually built, from the people who built them.

1
Quit Like a Woman
The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol
Holly Whitaker · 2019
3.9832,059 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechFounder stories
About the book
The founder of a female-focused recovery program offers a radical new path to sobriety. “You don’t know how much you need this book, or maybe you do. Either way, it will save your life.”, Melissa Hartwig Urban, Whole30 co-founder and CEO We live in a…
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2
Population Control
How Corporate Owners Are Killing Us
Jim Marrs · 2015
3.96350 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany building
About the book
Jim Marrs explores how the G.O.D. syndicate a global monopoly of guns, oil, and drugs is consciously destroying American values and offers prescriptive solutions to fix our nation. According to the Declaration of Independence, all men are endowed by their…
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3
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
The First Forty Years, 1899-1939 v. 1
Iain H. Murray · 1982
4.58445 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechFounder stories
About the book
When Martyn Lloyd-Jones, physician, preacher and Christian Leader, died in 1981, after more then 40 years in London, few knew the remarkable story of his formative earlier years which, in the authorised biography, is now told for the first time. From his…
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4
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,…
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5
American Kingpin
Catching the Billion-Dollar Baron of the Dark Web
Nick Bilton · 2017
4.4155,362 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
About the book
From New York Times-bestselling author Nick Bilton comes a true-life thriller about the rise and fall of Ross Ulbricht, aka the Dread Pirate Roberts, the founder of the online black market Silk Road. In 2011, Ulbricht, a 26-year-old libertarian idealist…
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6
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…
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7
The Situation Room
The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis
George Stephanopoulos · 2024
4.3211,278 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
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…
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8
The Hypomanic Edge
The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (A Lot of) Success in America
John D. Gartner · 2005
4.02580 ratings · Goodreads
Health and biotechCompany building
About the book
A clinical psychologist explores the American pervasiveness of hypomania, a genetically based, mild form of mania that endows certain people with high energy, creativity, and a propensity for risk-taking, in a study that identifies historical figures whose…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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4
Nunca te pares
Phil Knight · 2016
4.46361,920 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
On Amazon Audible
5
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…
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6
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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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…
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8
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…
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