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
Now readingAtomic HabitsJames Clear4.31★
Change your answersFounder · Mobility and logistics · Seed
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ShortlistThe best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
The best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
- 1
Ninety Percent of Everything
Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate
Rose George · 2013
3.794,545 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
Eye-opening and compelling, the overlooked world of freight shipping, revealed as the foundation of our civilization On ship-tracking websites, the waters are black with dots. Each dot is a ship; each ship is laden with boxes; each box is laden with goods.…
- 2
Crash Course
The American Automobile Industry's Road from Glory to Disaster
Paul Ingrassia · 2009
3.91693 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
This is the epic saga of the American automobile industry's rise and demise, a compelling story of hubris, denial, missed opportunities, and self-inflicted wounds that culminates with the president of the United States ushering two of Detroit's Big Three car…
- 3
The Yugo
The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History
Jason Vuic · 2010
3.76704 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
Six months after its American introduction in 1985, the Yugo was a punch line; within a year, it was a staple of late-night comedy. By 2000, NPR’s Car Talk declared it “the worst car of the millennium.” And for most Americans that’s where the story begins and…
- 4
Flying Blind
The 737 MAX Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing
Peter Robison · 2021
4.174,472 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
A fast-paced look at the corporate dysfunction--the ruthless cost-cutting, toxic workplaces, and cutthroat management--that contributed to one of the worst tragedies in modern aviation Boeing is a century-old titan of American industry. The largest…
- 5
From Worst to First
Behind the Scenes of Continental's Remarkable Comeback
Gordon Bethune · 1998
4.02345 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
The numerous anecdotes alone are worth the price of the book . . . most readers will find themselves asking why everyone doesn't run a business as preached by the chief executive of Continental Airlines.-The Washington Post Book World . . . in an age where…
- 6
Car Guys vs. Bean Counters
The Battle for the Soul of American Business
Bob Lutz · 2011
3.731,158 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
"It's time to stop the dominance of the number-crunchers, living in their perfect, predictable, financially-projected world (who fail, time and again), and give the reins to the 'product guys'...those with vision and passion for the customers and their…
- 7
The Box
How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger
Marc Levinson · 2006
3.867,187 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
In April 1956, a refitted oil tanker carried fifty-eight shipping containers from Newark to Houston. From that modest beginning, container shipping developed into a huge industry that made the boom in global trade possible. "The Box" tells the dramatic story…
- 8
Bikenomics
How Bicycling Can Save The Economy
Elly Blue · 2011
4.06618 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logistics
About the book
Making the case for adopting more sustainable modes of transportation, this engaging reference explores the economic benefits of bicycling. It starts with an analysis of the real costs incurred by individuals and families in existing transportation systems…
Books on mobility and logistics.
- 1
Tesla Motors
How Elon Musk and Company Made Electric Cars Cool, and Sparked the Next Tech Revolution
Charles Morris · 2014
4.28202 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
In twelve years of existence, Tesla Motors has achieved many amazing feats. The most trusted sources in the auto industry have called its Model S the most advanced, safest and best-performing car ever built - and it doesn’t use a drop of gasoline. Tesla has…
- 2
Empires of the Sky
Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World
Alexander Rose · 2020
4.34637 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logistics
About the book
At the dawn of the twentieth century, when human flight was still considered an impossibility, Germany's Count von Zeppelin vied with the Wright Brothers to build the world's first successful flying machine. As the Wrights labored to invent the airplane,…
- 3
Insane Mode
How Elon Musk's Tesla Sparked an Electric Revolution to End the Age of Oil
Hamish McKenzie · 2018
3.70784 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
"You'll tell me if it ever starts getting genuinely insane, right?" --Elon Musk, TED interview Hamish McKenzie tells how a Silicon Valley start-up's wild dream came true. Tesla is a car company that stood up against not only the might of the…
- 4
Wild Ride
Inside Uber's Quest for World Domination
Adam Lashinsky · 2017
3.67968 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany buildingMoats and competition
About the book
In your pocket is something amazing: a quick and easy way to summon a total stranger who will take you anywhere you'd like. In your hands is something equally amazing: the untold story of Uber's meteoric rise, and the massive ambitions of its larger-than-life…
- 5
Shift
Inside Nissan's Historic Revival
Carlos Ghosn · 2004
3.92390 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
In Shift, Carlos Ghosn, the brilliant, audacious, and widely admired CEO of Nissan, recounts how he took the reins of the nearly bankrupt Japanese automotive company and achieved one of the most remarkable turnarounds in automotive, and corporate, history.When…
- 6
Brand Sense
Build Powerful Brands through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound
Martin Lindstrom · 2005
3.87898 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
In perhaps the most creative and authoritative book on sensory branding ever written, international business legend Martin Lindstrom reveals what the world's most successful branding companies do differently, integrating touch, taste, smell, sight, and…
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
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,…
- 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
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.…
- 7
Venture Deals
Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist
Brad Feld · 2011
4.1117,486 ratings · Goodreads
Raising moneyCompany building
About the book
Praise for Venture Deals"My biggest nightmare is taking advantage of an entrepreneur without even realizing it. It happens because VCs are experts in financings and most entrepreneurs are not. Brad and Jason are out to fix that problem with Venture Deals.…
- 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…
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
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…
- 3
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…
- 4
American Icon
Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company
Bryce G. Hoffman · 2012
4.425,255 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
THE INSIDE STORY OF THE EPIC TURNAROUND OF FORD MOTOR COMPANY UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF CEO ALAN MULALLY. At the end of 2008, Ford Motor Company was just months away from running out of cash. With the auto industry careening toward ruin, Congress offered all…
- 5
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…
- 6
Leading with the Heart
Coach K's Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life
Mike Krzyzewski · 2000
4.204,239 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
In this informative and inspirational book, Coach K, Duke University's head basketball coach, tells readers how he coaxes peak performances from his team, relying on lessons he learned as a captain in the U.S. Army. Duke University's head basketball coach…
- 7
Build
An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
Tony Fadell · 2022
4.3110,090 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Written for anyone who wants to grow at work, from young grads navigating their first jobs to CEOs deciding whether to sell their company, Build is full of personal stories, practical advice and fascinating insights into some of the most impactful products and…
- 8
Creativity, Inc.
Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
Ed Catmull · 2014
4.20105,625 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
“What does it mean to manage well?” From Ed Catmull, co-founder (with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) of Pixar Animation Studios, comes an incisive book about creativity in business, sure to appeal to readers of Daniel Pink, Tom Peters, and Chip and Dan Heath.…
Published in the last three years, newest first, for what you told us.
- 1
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…
- 2
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…
- 3
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…
- 4
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…
- 5
Little Bosses Everywhere
How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America
Bridget Read · 2025
3.965,793 ratings · Goodreads
Company buildingMarketing and growth
About the book
A groundbreaking work of history and reportage that unveils the stranger-than-fiction world of multilevel marketing, from the shadowy cabals at the top to the strivers at the bottom, whose deferred dreams churn a massive money-making scam that has remade…
- 6
No More Tears
The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson
Gardiner Harris · 2025
4.1722,997 ratings · Goodreads
Company 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…
- 7
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…
- 8
The 5 Types of Wealth
A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life
Sahil Bloom · 2025
4.1312,431 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
A groundbreaking guide to rejecting the default path and designing your dream life, a life centered around The 5 Types of Wealth. Launch your journey to fulfillment with this transformative system from inspirational writer, speaker, and entrepreneur Sahil…
How companies like yours were actually built, from the people who built them.
- 1
Auto Biography
A Classic Car, an Outlaw Motorhead, and 57 Years of the American Dream
Earl Swift · 2014
4.06235 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
A brilliant blend of Shop Class as Soulcraft and The Orchid Thief, Earl Swift's wise, funny, and captivating Auto Biography follows an outlaw-genius auto mechanic as he painstakingly attempts to restores a classic 1957 Chevy to its former glory-all while the…
- 2
Door to Door
The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation
Edward Humes · 2016
3.77895 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Garbology explores the hidden and costly wonders of our buy-it-now, get-it-today world of transportation, revealing the surprising truths, mounting challenges, and logistical magic behind every trip we take…
- 3
Rickenbacker
An Autobiography
Eddie V. Rickenbacker · 1967
4.30264 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsFounder stories
About the book
Here is the long-awaited story of one of the most exciting American heroes of this century. It begins with Captain Rickenbacker's earliest memories as a boy in Columbus, Ohio, and proceeds through a fantastic series of incidents and adventures up to the…
- 4
A Ghost's Memoir
John McDonald · 2002
13 Open Library reading lists
Mobility and logisticsFounder stories
About the book
"Published in 1964, My Years with General Motors was an immediate best-seller and today is considered one of the few classic books on management. The book is the ghostwritten memoir of Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. (1875-1966), whose business and management strategies…
- 5
The Southwest Airlines Way
Jody Hoffer Gittell · 1899
3.76490 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
"If you look at Southwest Airlines, and I admire what they do, they've been the most successful airline in the industry." --Gerard Arpey, CEO, American Airlines "Through extensive research Jody Hoffer Gittell gets to the bottom of what has sustained…
- 6
Uncommon Carriers
John McPhee · 2006
3.972,455 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
What John McPhee's books all have in common is that they are about real people in real places. Here, at his adventurous best, he is out and about with people who work in freight transportation. Over the past eight years, John McPhee has spent…
- 7
China Airborne
James M. Fallows · 2012
3.86626 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
More than two-thirds of the new airports under construction today are being built in China. Chinese airlines expect to triple their fleet size over the next decade and will account for the fastest-growing market for Boeing and Airbus. But the Chinese are…
- 8
LeMay
The Life and Wars of General Curtis LeMay
Warren Kozak · 2009
4.23699 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsFounder stories
About the book
Kozak’s biography of U.S. Air Force General Curtis E. LeMay (1906–1990) won’t convert those utterly convinced that he was a bomb-happy maniac. The more open-minded, however, will find in it a broader perspective on this controversial officer than we have had…
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
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…
- 3
Inspired
How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
Marty Cagan · 2008
4.2226,350 ratings · Goodreads
Company buildingFinding product-market fit
About the book
Learn to design, build, and scale products consumers can't get enough of How do today's most successful tech companies–Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Tesla–design, develop, and deploy the products that have earned the love of literally billions of…
- 4
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…
- 5
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…
- 6
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…
- 7
- 8
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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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.