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
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…
- 2
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…
- 3
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.…
- 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
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…
- 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
Thinking Small
The Long, Strange Trip of the Volkswagen Beetle
Andrea Hiott · 2012
4.20476 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
Sometimes achieving big things requires the ability to think small. This simple concept was the driving force that propelled the Volkswagen Beetle to become an avatar of American-style freedom, a household brand, and a global icon. The VW Bug inspired the ad…
- 8
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…
Books on mobility and logistics.
- 1
Clean Disruption of Energy and Transportation
How Silicon Valley Will Make Oil, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Coal, Electric Utilities and Conventional Cars Obsolete by 2030
Tony Seba · 2014
4.15368 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsMoats and competitionCompany building
About the book
The industrial age of energy and transportation will be over by 2030. Maybe before. Exponentially improving technologies such as solar, electric vehicles, and autonomous (self-driving) cars will disrupt and sweep away the energy and transportation industries…
- 2
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…
- 3
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,…
- 4
Where the Suckers Moon
The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign
Randall Rothenberg · 1995
3.97384 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
"For all the right reasons." "Cars that can." "What to Drive." "The perfect Car for an Imperfect World." Only one of these slogans would be chosen by Subaru of America to sell its cars in the recession year of 1991. As six advertising agencies scrambled for…
- 5
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…
- 6
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…
- 7
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…
- 8
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
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…
- 4
Simple Marketing For Smart People
The One Question You Need to Win Customers without Gimmicks, Hype, or Hard Selling
Billy Broas · 2024
4.35305 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthFirst salesCompany building
About the book
Why do so many smart people struggle with marketing? The answer is smart people love complexity, and complexity brews problems. Does your marketing feel like it has way too many moving parts? If so, Simple Marketing for Smart People is the solution you’ve…
- 5
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,…
- 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…
- 7
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…
- 8
Solving Product Design Exercises
Questions & Answers
Artiom Dashinsky · 2018
4.30675 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
Practice your product design and UX skills. Prepare for your next job interview. "Redesign the NYC metrocard system. Design a dashboard for a general practitioner. Redesign an ATM". Learn how to solve and present exercises like these, that top startups…
Leading and managing a team as the company grows.
- 1
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 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 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,…
- 4
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…
- 5
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…
- 6
The Wisdom of the Bullfrog
Leadership Made Simple
William H. McRaven · 2023
4.408,634 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Make Your Bed, a short, inspirational book of advice and leadership lessons that Admiral McRaven collected over his four decades as a Navy SEAL. The title “Bullfrog” is given to the Navy SEAL who has served the…
- 7
The Outsiders
Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
William N. Thorndike Jr. · 2012
4.2214,412 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
”It is impossible to produce superior performance unless you do something different.”, John TempletonWhat makes a successful CEO? Most people call to mind a familiar definition: a seasoned manager with deep industry expertise. Others might point to the…
- 8
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,…
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
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…
- 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
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…
- 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
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…
- 7
Cancel Me If You Can
Dave Portnoy · 2026
4.226,588 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
In his unfiltered style, Dave Portnoy details the journey of how he built his polarizing media empire, Barstool Sports, while refusing to bend the knee to those who tried to tear him down, staying true to himself and blocking out the haters. Dave Portnoy is a…
- 8
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
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…
- 3
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…
- 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
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…
- 6
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…
- 7
Numbers Don't Lie
71 Things You Need to Know About the World
Vaclav Smil · 2020
3.8210,834 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
Is flying dangerous? How much do the world's cows weigh? And what makes people happy? From earth's nations and inhabitants, through the fuels and foods that energize them, to the transportation and inventions of our modern world - and how all of this…
- 8
Fast N' Loud
Blood, Sweat and Beers
Richard Rawlings · 2015
4.06532 ratings · Goodreads
Mobility and logisticsCompany building
About the book
"We turn rust into gold. We make it fast and loud . . ." Richard Rawlings' road to the top has been full of dangerous twists and hilarious turns, with a few precipitous cliffs in between. From getting shot defending his beloved 1965 Mustang fastback from…
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
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…
- 5
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…
- 6
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…
- 7
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…
- 8
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…
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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.