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 · Retail and fashion · Seed
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ShortlistThe best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
The best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
- 1
Logo Design Love
A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities
David Airey · 2009
4.204,263 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
There are a lot of books out there that show collections of logos. But David Airey’s “Logo Design Love” is something different: it’s a guide for designers (and clients) who want to understand what this mysterious business is all about. Written in…
- 2
The Brand Gap
Marty Neumeier · 2003
3.985,757 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
THE BRAND GAP is the first book to present a unified theory of brand-building. Whereas most books on branding are weighted toward either a strategic or creative approach, this book shows how both ways of thinking can unite to produce a “charismatic brand”―a…
- 3
This Is Not a T-Shirt
A Brand, a Culture, a Community--a Life in Streetwear
Bobby Hundreds · 2019
4.211,335 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
The story of The Hundreds and the precepts that made it an iconic streetwear brand by Bobby Hundreds himself Streetwear occupies that rarefied space where genuine "cool" coexists with big business; where a star designer might work concurrently with Nike, a…
- 4
How Brands Grow
Part 2
Jenni Romaniuk · 2016
4.16580 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
Following the success of international bestseller How Brands What Marketer's Don't Know comes a new book that takes readers further on a journey to smarter, evidence-based marketing. How Brands Grow Part 2 , by Jenni Romaniuk and Byron Sharp, is about…
- 5
Deluxe
How Luxury Lost Its Luster
Dana Thomas · 2007
3.894,186 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionCompany building
About the book
Documents how luxury goods have been transformed by a shift from exclusive distribution practices by quality-minded family businesses to mass production by profit-minded big corporations, revealing the secrets of top designers while examining the ways in…
- 6
How Big Brands Grow What Marketers Dont Know
Byron Sharp · 2010
40 Open Library reading lists
Retail and fashionMarketing and growth
About the book
"This book provides evidence-based answers to the key questions asked by marketers every day. Tackling issues such as how brands grow, how advertising really works, what price promotions really do and how loyalty programs really affect loyalty, How Brands…
- 7
Creating a Brand Identity
A Guide for Designers:
Catharine Slade-Brooking · 2016
3.99312 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
Creating a Brand Identity goes behind the scenes to explore the creative processes involved in designing a successful brand identity, one of the most fascinating and complex challenges in graphic design. This bestselling book is ideal for students,…
- 8
Dapper Dan
Made in Harlem
Daniel R. Day · 2019
4.392,058 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashion
About the book
The story of a legendary designer who pioneered high-end streetwear, from a storefront in Harlem to the red carpet in Hollywood, dressing everyone from Salt-N-Pepa and Eric B. & Rakim to Beyoncé and Jay-Z along the way. With his now-legendary store on…
Books on retail and fashion.
- 1
Fashion entrepreneurship
Michele Granger, Tina Sterling · 2002
15 Open Library reading lists
Retail and fashionCompany building
- 2
The Everything Store
Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
Brad Stone · 2013
4.1378,706 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionCompany building
About the book
The definitive story of Amazon.com, one of the most successful companies in the world, and of its driven, brilliant founder, Jeff Bezos. Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with…
- 3
Retail Gangster
The Insane, Real-Life Story of Crazy Eddie
Gary Weiss · 2022
3.901,120 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionCompany building
About the book
A biography of the spectacular rise and fall of Eddie Antar, better known as "Crazy Eddie," whose home electronics empire changed the world even as it turned out to be one of the biggest business scams of all timeBack in the fall of 2016 we heard the news…
- 4
Lovemarks The Future Beyond Brands
Kevin Roberts · 2004
3.861,497 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionCompany building
About the book
"Ideas move mountains, especially in turbulent times. Lovemarks is the product of the fertile-iconoclast mind of Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi. Roberts argues vociferously, and with a ton of data to support him, that traditional branding…
- 5
The Glitter Plan
How We Started Juicy Couture for $200 and Turned It into a Global Brand
Pamela Skaist-Levy · 2014
3.69685 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionCompany building
About the book
Part memoir, part business manual, and 100% juicy, the inside story of Juicy Couture, one of the most iconic brands of our times While working together at a Los Angeles boutique, Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor became fast and furious friends over…
- 6
#Girlboss
Sophia Amoruso · 2014
3.6476,746 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionCompany building
About the book
‘In the New York Times bestseller that the Washington Post called "Lean In for misfits," Sophia Amoruso shares how she went from dumpster diving to founding one of the fastest-growing retailers in the world. Sophia Amoruso spent her teens hitchhiking,…
- 7
Cultural Strategy
Using Innovative Ideologies to Build Breakthough Brands
Douglas Holt · 2010
4.09305 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionCompany buildingInnovation
About the book
How do we explain the breakthrough market success of businesses like Nike, Starbucks, Ben & Jerry's, and Jack Daniel's? Conventional models of strategy and innovation simply don't work. The most influential ideas on innovation are shaped by the worldview of…
- 8
The End of Fashion
How Marketing Changed the Clothing Business Forever – A WSJ Reporter's Exposé on How Elite Designers Lost to Mainstream Consumers
Teri Agins · 1999
3.861,102 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionCompany building
About the book
A solid, hard-hitting, and uncompromising journalistic look at the fashion industry. The time when "fashion" was defined by French designers whose clothes could be afforded only by elite has ended. Now designers take their cues from mainstream consumers 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
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.…
- 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…
- 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
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,…
- 7
Solving Product Design Exercises
Questions & Answers
Artiom Dashinsky · 2018
4.30675 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
Practice your product design and UX skills. Prepare for your next job interview. "Redesign the NYC metrocard system. Design a dashboard for a general practitioner. Redesign an ATM". Learn how to solve and present exercises like these, that top startups…
- 8
Observing the User Experience
A Practitioner's Guide to User Research
Mike Kuniavsky · 2003
3.99695 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fit
About the book
The gap between who designers and developers imagine their users are, and who those users really are can be the biggest problem with product development. Observing the User Experience will help you bridge that gap to understand what your users want and need…
Leading and managing a team as the company grows.
- 1
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
Follow Them and People Will Follow You
John C. Maxwell · 1998
4.1658,060 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
You'll learn the key principles of successful leadership such as vision, influence, responsibility and commitment. It highlights ways to set goals for yourself and your team while maintaining emotional balance during difficult times. Each law is backed up by…
- 2
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…
- 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
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,…
- 5
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…
- 6
Team of Teams
New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World
Stanley McChrystal · 2015
4.1314,158 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
The retired four-star general and and bestselling author of My Share of the Task shares a powerful new leadership model As commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), General Stanley McChrystal played a crucial role in the War on Terror. But when he…
- 7
The Leader in You
How to Win Friends, Influence People and Succeed in a Changing World
Dale Carnegie · 1993
4.096,485 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
For nearly a century, the words and works of Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc., have translated into proven success, a claim verified by millions of satisfied graduates; a perpetual 3,000-plus enrollment roster per week; and book sales, including the…
- 8
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…
Published in the last three years, newest first, for what you told us.
- 1
Make It Ours
Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh
Robin Givhan · 2025
4.04306 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashion
About the book
A groundbreaking chronicle of the legacy of Virgil Abloh, whose iconic rise to the top of the fashion industry embodied the cultural sea change transforming our ideas about the relationship between who we are and what we wear, from Pulitzer Prize-winning…
- 2
Strip Tees
A Memoir of Millennial Los Angeles
Kate Flannery · 2023
3.666,423 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashion
About the book
Strip Tees is a fever dream of a memoir, Hunter S. Thompson meets Gloria Steinem, about a recent college graduate and what happens when her feminist ideals meet the real world. At the turn of the new millennium, LA is the place to be. “Hipster” is a new…
- 3
American Flannel
How a Band of Entrepreneurs Are Bringing the Art and Business of Making Clothes Back Home
Steven Kurutz · 2024
4.22502 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionCompany building
About the book
“I can confidently say this will be one of my favorite books of 2024.”, Stephen King, bestselling author (and onetime millworker)“American Flannel is a wonderful book--surprising, entertaining, vivid and personal, but also enlightening on the largest…
- 4
The Bookshop
A History of the American Bookstore
Evan Friss · 2024
3.9012,644 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionCompany building
About the book
An affectionate and engaging history of the American bookstore and its central place in American cultural life, from department stores to indies, from highbrow dealers trading in first editions to sidewalk vendors, and from chains to special-interest…
- 5
Personal Branding for Introverts
Goldie Chan · 2025
4.41211 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionMarketing 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…
- 6
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…
- 7
The Whole Story
Adventures in Love, Life, and Capitalism
John Mackey · 2024
4.19652 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionCompany building
About the book
Whole Foods Market’s Cofounder and CEO for 44 years, John Mackey offers an intimate and provocative account of the rise of this iconic company and the personal and spiritual journey that inspired its remarkable impact. The growth of Whole Foods isn’t just…
- 8
Glossy
Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss's Glossier
Marisa Meltzer · 2023
3.2912,235 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionCompany buildingMarketing and growth
About the book
The bombshell exposé that reveals, for the first time, exactly what happened at Glossier, one of America’s hottest and most consequential startups, and dives deep into the enigmatic, visionary woman responsible for it all. Called “one of the most disruptive…
How companies like yours were actually built, from the people who built them.
- 1
Anna
The Biography
Amy Odell · 2022
3.777,288 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionFounder stories
About the book
This definitive biography of Anna Wintour follows the steep climb of an ambitious young woman who would, with singular and legendary focus, become one of the most powerful people in media.As a child, Anna Wintour was a tomboy with no apparent interest in…
- 2
In My Shoes
A Memoir
Tamara Mellon · 2012
3.601,211 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
When Tamara Mellon’s father lent her the seed money to start a high-end shoe company, he cautioned her: “Don’t let the accountants run your business.” Little did he know. Over the next fifteen years, the struggle between “financial” and “creative” would…
- 3
Shopping, Seduction & Mr. Selfridge
Lindy Woodhead · 2007
3.721,934 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
If you lived at Downton Abbey, you shopped at Selfridge’s. Harry Gordon Selfridge was a charismatic American who, in twenty-five years working at Marshall Field’s in Chicago, rose from lowly stockboy to a partner in the business which his visionary skills…
- 4
If You Have to Cry, Go Outside
And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You
Kelly Cutrone · 2009
3.766,205 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionCompany building
About the book
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {"Table Normal"; ""; 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; "Calibri","sans-serif"; "Times New Roman"; "Times New Roman"; } Kelly Cutrone has long been mentoring women…
- 5
The First American
The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
H.W. Brands · 2000
4.1123,067 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionFounder stories
About the book
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • Benjamin Franklin, perhaps the pivotal figure in colonial and revolutionary America, comes vividly to life in this “thorough biography of ... America’s first Renaissance man” ( The Washington Post ) by the two-time Pulitzer Prize…
- 6
Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A
How Faith, Cows, and Chicken Built an Iconic Brand
Steve Robinson · 2019
4.04996 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
The longtime chief marketing officer for Chick-fil-A tells the inside story of how the company turned prevailing theories of fast-food marketing upside down and built one of the most successful and beloved brands in America. During his thirty-four-year…
- 7
The People’s Republic of Walmart
How the World’s Biggest Corporations are Laying the Foundation for Socialism
Leigh Phillips · 2019
3.872,238 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionCompany building
About the book
Since the demise of the USSR, the mantle of the largest planned economies in the world has been taken up by the likes of Walmart, Amazon and other multinational corporations For the left and the right, major multinational companies are held up as the…
- 8
The Nordstrom Way
The Inside Story of America's #1 Customer Service Company
Robert Spector · 1995
3.90798 ratings · Goodreads
Retail and fashionFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
"The Nordstroms 'wrote the book' on customer service. Now we have a chance to read, chapter by chapter, how through four generations this family has established one of the finest retail institutions in the world."-Peter Strom, Former Vice Chairman Polo/Ralph…
What founders at seed keep coming back to, if you have not read them yet.
- 1
Crossing the Chasm
Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers
Geoffrey A. Moore · 2002
4.0332,109 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthCompany buildingFirst sales
About the book
Here is the bestselling guide that created a new game plan for marketing in high-tech industries. Crossing the Chasm has become the bible for bringing cutting-edge products to progressively larger markets. This edition provides new insights into the realities…
- 2
Inspired
How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
Marty Cagan · 2008
4.2226,350 ratings · Goodreads
Company buildingFinding product-market fit
About the book
Learn to design, build, and scale products consumers can't get enough of How do today's most successful tech companies–Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Tesla–design, develop, and deploy the products that have earned the love of literally billions of…
- 3
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
Violate Them at Your Own Risk
Al Ries · 1993
4.0522,738 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthCompany building
About the book
There are laws of nature, so why shouldn't there be laws of marketing? As Al Ries and Jack Trout, the world-renowned marketing consultants and bestselling authors of Positioning, note, you can build an impressive airplane, but it will never leave the ground if…
- 4
The Long Tail
Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More
Chris Anderson · 2006
3.8330,263 ratings · Goodreads
Company buildingFirst sales
About the book
The New York Times bestseller that introduced the business world to a future that s already here -- now in paperback with a new chapter about Long Tail Marketing and a new epilogue. Winner of the Gerald Loeb Award for Best Business Book of the Year. In…
- 5
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Dale Carnegie · 1936
4.211,172,289 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
"How to Win Friends and Influence People' is one of the first best-selling self-help books ever published. Just after publishing, it quickly exploded into an overnight success, eventually selling more than 15 million copies worldwide, and pioneering an entire…
- 6
Empire of Pain
The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
Patrick Radden Keefe · 2021
4.53151,147 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
The highly anticipated portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, by the prize-winning, bestselling author of Say Nothing .The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford, the Louvre. They are one of…
- 7
- 8
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Stephen R. Covey · 1989
4.16843,480 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step…
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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.