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
Dream Team
How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever
Jack McCallum · 2012
4.2314,275 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and games
About the book
They were the Beatles of basketball, the Mercury Seven in sneakers. In Dream Team, acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum delivers the untold story of the greatest team ever assembled: the 1992 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team that captivated the…
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2
Masters of Doom
How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
David Kushner · 2003
4.3020,678 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany building
About the book
Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a…
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3
Inbound Marketing
Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs
Brian Halligan · 2009
3.873,974 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
Stop pushing your message out and start pulling your customers in Traditional "outbound" marketing methods like cold-calling, email blasts, advertising, and direct mail are increasingly less effective. People are getting better at blocking these…
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4
Spreadable Media
Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture
Henry Jenkins · 2012
3.72524 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany buildingMarketing and growth
About the book
Spreadable Media maps fundamental changes taking place in our contemporary media environment, a space where corporations no longer tightly control media distribution and many of us are directly involved in the circulation of content. It contrasts…
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5
The Infinite Game
Simon Sinek · 2017
4.1630,000 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany building
About the book
Do you know how to play the game you're in? In finite games, like football or chess, the players are known, the rules are fixed, and the endpoint is clear. The winners and losers are easily identified. In infinite games, like business or politics or life…
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6
An Empire of Their Own
How the Jews Invented Hollywood
Neal Gabler · 1988
4.02816 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany building
About the book
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award for history, this "wonderful history of the golden age of the movie moguls" (Chicago Tribune ) is a provocative, original, and richly entertaining group biography of the Jewish immigrants who were the moving forces…
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7
Sid Meier's Memoir!
A Life in Computer Games
Sid Meier · 2020
4.183,838 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and games
About the book
The life and career of the legendary developer celebrated as the “godfather of computer gaming,” and creator of Civilization. Over his four-decade career, Sid Meier has produced some of the world’s most popular video games, including Sid Meier’s…
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8
Play Nice
The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment
Jason Schreier · 2024
4.167,684 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany building
About the book
New York Times bestselling author and the gaming industry's preeminent investigative journalist Jason Schreier examines three decades of ups and downs at Blizzard Entertainment leading up to a hostile corporate takeover and a sexual misconduct scandal that…
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Books on media, entertainment and games.

1
Convergence Culture
Where Old and New Media Collide
Henry Jenkins · 2006
3.863,860 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and games
About the book
Convergence Culture maps a new territory: where old and new media intersect, where grassroots and corporate media collide, where the power of the media producer and the power of the consumer interact in unpredictable ways. Henry Jenkins, one of America's…
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2
Mood Machine
The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist
Liz Pelly · 2025
3.834,803 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany building
About the book
With unprecedented access and unsparing analysis, this is the definitive investigation into Spotify, weaving interviews with incisive cultural criticism, and illuminating how streaming has reshaped music for listeners and artists alike.Flush with testimony…
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3
The Chaos Machine
The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World
Max Fisher · 2022
4.269,592 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and games
About the book
From a New York Times investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist, “an essential book for our times” (Ezra Klein), tracking the high-stakes inside story of how Big Tech’s breakneck race to drive engagement, and profits, at all costs fractured the world…
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4
Antisocial Media
How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy
Siva Vaidhyanathan · 2018
3.86594 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany building
About the book
If you wanted to build a machine that would distribute propaganda to millions of people, distract them from important issues, energize hatred and bigotry, erode social trust, undermine respectable journalism, foster doubts about science, and engage in massive…
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5
The Book Of Satoshi
The Collected Writings of Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto
Phil Champagne · 2014
4.06725 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and games
About the book
Have you, like the rest of the world, speculated as to the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, anonymous creator of Bitcoin? The world's first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin went online in 2009 and has since revolutionized our concepts of currency and money. Not…
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6
Burn Book
A Tech Love Story
Kara Swisher · 2024
3.9416,244 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany building
About the book
From award-winning journalist Kara Swisher comes a witty, scathing, but fair accounting of the tech industry and its founders who wanted to change the world but broke it instead. Part memoir, part history, Burn Book is a necessary chronicle of tech’s most…
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7
Building a Company
Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empires
Bob Thomas · 1998
4.33236 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany building
About the book
Without Roy, the world might never have known Walt. As his younger brother Walt Disney dreamed, drew, and imagined, Roy O. Disney stayed in the shadows, forming an empire. A brilliant financier and businessman, Roy helped turn Walt Disney's dreams into…
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8
The Creator's Code The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs
Amy Wilkinson · 2014
3.76813 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany building
About the book
Each of us has the capacity to spot opportunities, invent products, and build businesses, even $100 million businesses. How do some people turn ideas into enterprises that endure? Why do some people succeed when so many others fail? The Creator’s Code unlocks…
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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 User Experience Team of One
A Research and Design Survival Guide
Leah Buley · 2013
4.191,657 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
UX Team of Oneb Theory and Practice for Designers Responsible for Holo UX b This book presents ways to achieve greater impact than standardized UX work results with less time and resources do. Whether youre looking to turn to the UX field, or an experienced…
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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
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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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
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…
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7
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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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
Start with Why
How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Simon Sinek · 2009
4.09281,577 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Why do you do what you do? Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to…
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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
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…
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4
Radical Candor
Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
Kim Malone Scott · 2017
4.0460,996 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Now a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller "I raced through Radical Candor --It’s thrilling to learn a framework that shows how to be both a better boss and a better colleague. Radical Candor is packed with illuminating truths, insightful…
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5
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…
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6
Built to Last
Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
Jim Collins · 1994
4.0687,169 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
"This is not a book about charismatic visionary leaders. It is not about visionary product concepts or visionary products or visionary market insights. Nor is it about just having a corporate vision. This is a book about something far more important,…
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7
Empowered
Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products
Marty Cagan · 2020
4.253,822 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
What is it about the top tech product companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Netflix and Tesla that enables their record of consistent innovation? Most people think it’s because these companies are somehow able to find and attract a level of talent that…
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8
EntreLeadership
20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches
Dave Ramsey · 2011
4.1914,050 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Total Money Makeover and radio and podcast host Dave Ramsey comes an informative guide based on how he grew a successful, multimillion dollar company from a card table in his living room. Your company is only…
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Published in the last three years, newest first, for what you told us.

1
Who Knew
Barry Diller · 2025
4.222,332 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany building
About the book
Barry Diller, one of America’s most successful businessmen, reveals himself here, his successes, failures, and struggles, with surprising candor and intimacy in a memoir rich in Hollywood lore and filled with business acumen. Writing in his singular voice,…
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2
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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3
Character Limit
How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter
Kate Conger · 2024
4.243,256 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany building
About the book
Rising star New York Times technology reporters Kate Conger and Ryan Mac tell for the first time the full and shocking inside story of Elon Musk’s unprecedented hostile takeover of Twitter and the forty-four-billion-dollar deal’s seismic political, social,…
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4
Collision of Power
Trump, Bezos, and THE WASHINGTON POST
Martin Baron · 2023
4.161,370 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany building
About the book
“A closely observed, gripping chronicle of politics and journalism during a decade of turmoil.”, The New York Times Book Review Politics. Money. Media. Tech. …It’s all here in Collision of Power. “ All the President's Men for a new generation.”, Town…
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5
Muskism
A Guide for the Perplexed
Quinn Slobodian · 2026
3.79855 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and games
About the book
Who on earth is Elon Musk and what is he doing? Is he a hero, a villain, or does he swing constantly between those two poles? According to the constant media gush driven by his every act and pronouncement, Musk is best understood in personal terms. This…
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6
The Algebra of Wealth
A Simple Formula for Financial Security
Scott Galloway · 2024
4.0610,176 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany building
About the book
AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA must-have guide to optimizing your life for wealth and success, from bestselling author, NYU professor, and co-host of the Pivot podcast Scott Galloway.Today's workers have more opportunities and mobility than any…
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7
Battle for the Bird
Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter's Soul
Kurt Wagner · 2024
4.08483 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesCompany building
About the book
An expertly reported investigation into Twitter’s messy corporate history, including Elon Musk’s takeover in 2022, its outsized cultural impact, and its significant role in shaping how the world gets its news. Bloomberg journalist Kurt Wagner takes you…
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8
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…
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How companies like yours were actually built, from the people who built them.

1
Q
The Autobiography of Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones · 2001
4.161,046 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesFounder stories
About the book
Musician, composer, producer, arranger, and pioneering entrepreneur Quincy Jones has lived large and worked for five decades alongside the superstars of music and entertainment -- including Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, Ray…
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2
The Jordan Rules
The Inside Story of One Turbulent Season with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls
Sam Smith · 1992
4.2519,445 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesFounder stories
About the book
Sam Smith’s seminal, New York Times bestselling “eye-opener” ( The San Diego Union-Tribune ) on Michael Jordan and the 1990-1991 Chicago Bulls team, perfect for fans of ESPN’s hit documentary series The Last Dance. This is the book that changed the way the…
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3
Walt Disney
The Triumph of the American Imagination
Neal Gabler · 2006
4.0711,791 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
From Neal Gabler, the definitive portrait of one of the most important figures in twentieth-century American entertainment and cultural history. Seven years in the making and meticulously researched - Gabler is the first writer to be given complete access to…
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4
DisneyWar
James B. Stewart · 2005
4.128,674 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
The dramatic inside story of the downfall of Michael Eisner, Disney Chairman and CEO, and the scandals that drove America’s best-known entertainment company to civil war. “When You Wish Upon a Star,” “Whistle While You Work,” “The Happiest Place on…
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5
Howling at the Moon
The Odyssey of a Monstrous Music Mogul in an Age of Excess
Walter Yetnikoff · 2004
3.84451 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesFounder stories
About the book
he music industry’s most outspoken, outrageous, and phenomenally successful executive delivers a rollicking memoir of pop music’s heyday.During the 1970s and '80s the music business was dominated by a few major labels and artists such as Michael Jackson,…
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6
The Loudest Voice in the Room
How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News-and Divided a Country
Gabriel Sherman · 2013
3.891,948 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
The astonishing inside story of Fox News, the most powerful media and political business in the world, from one of the hottest young investigative journalists today. The story of Fox News' ascent is an epic story of political power, business success,…
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7
Steve Jobs
Walter Isaacson · 2011
4.161,391,990 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesFounder 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…
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8
Prisoner's Dilemma
John von Neumann, Game Theory, and the Puzzle of the Bomb
William Poundstone · 1992
3.922,204 ratings · Goodreads
Media, entertainment and gamesFounder stories
About the book
A masterful work of science writing that’s "both a fascinating biography of von Neumann, the Hungarian exile whose mathematical theories were building blocks for the A-bomb and the digital computer, and a brilliant social history of game theory and its role…
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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
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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4
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
Violate Them at Your Own Risk
Al Ries · 1993
4.0522,738 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthCompany building
About the book
There are laws of nature, so why shouldn't there be laws of marketing? As Al Ries and Jack Trout, the world-renowned marketing consultants and bestselling authors of Positioning, note, you can build an impressive airplane, but it will never leave the ground if…
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5
Contagious
Why Things Catch On
Jonah Berger · 2013
3.9834,129 ratings · Goodreads
Company buildingMarketing and growth
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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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
Rich Dad Poor Dad
What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money, That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
Robert T. Kiyosaki · 1997
4.08761,349 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
Rich Dad Poor Dad is Robert's story of growing up with two dads, his real father and the father of his best friend, his "rich dad", and the ways in which both men shaped his thoughts about money and investing. The book explodes the myth that you need to…
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8
Outliers
The Story of Success
Malcolm Gladwell · 2008
4.19890,252 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
In this stunning book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers", the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? His answer is that…
On Amazon Audible

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Reading list: the books for what you are building

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Read what the people you are pitching read.