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 · Travel and hospitality · Seed
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ShortlistThe best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
The best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
- 1
Marketing for hospitality and tourism
James C. Makens · 1995
4.01406 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitalityMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
Editorial Reviews Product Description This hospitality marketing book is comprehensive and innovative, managerial and practical, state-of-the-art and real-world. Easy-to-read and user-friendly, it provides examples and applications that illustrate the major…
- 2
Unreasonable Hospitality
The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect
Will Guidara · 2022
4.4045,643 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitalityCompany building
About the book
National Bestseller Essential lessons in hospitality for every business, from the former co-owner of legendary restaurant Eleven Madison Park. Will Guidara was twenty-six when he took the helm of Eleven Madison Park, a struggling two-star brasserie that…
- 3
Heads in Beds
A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality
Jacob Tomsky · 2012
3.5823,466 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitality
About the book
In the tradition of Kitchen Confidential and Waiter Rant, a rollicking, eye-opening, fantastically indiscreet memoir of a life spent (and misspent) in the hotel industry. Jacob Tomsky never intended to go into the hotel business. As a new college graduate,…
- 4
Appetite for America
How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West
Stephen Fried · 2010
4.221,216 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitalityCompany building
About the book
The legendary life and entrepreneurial vision of Fred Harvey helped shape American culture and history for three generations, from the 1880s all the way through World War II, and still influence our lives today in surprising and fascinating ways. Now…
- 5
The New Gold Standard
5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
Joseph A. Michelli · 2008
3.921,081 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitalityCompany building
About the book
Discover the secrets of world-class leadership! When it comes to refined service and exquisite hospitality, one name stands high above the rest: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. With ceaseless attention to every luxurious detail, the company has set the bar…
- 6
Overbooked
The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism
Elizabeth Becker · 2013
3.80870 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitalityCompany building
About the book
The largest global business in the world today is tourism. Employing one out of twelve people in the world and producing $6.5 trillion of the world’s economy, it is the main source of income for many countries. Elizabeth Becker describes the dimensions of…
- 7
Roadmap
The Get-It-Together Guide for Figuring Out What to Do with Your Life
Roadtrip Nation · 2015
4.04618 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitalityFinding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
The New York Times bestseller is back! The career workbook Roadmap is better than ever. Roadmap has been updated and expanded with tons of brand new content, including chapters on changing directions mid-career and not letting your past define your future.…
- 8
The Upstarts
How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World
Brad Stone · 2017
4.047,512 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitalityCompany building
About the book
Ten years ago, the idea of getting into a stranger’s car, or walking into a stranger’s home, would have seemed bizarre and dangerous, but today it’s as common as ordering a book online. Uber and Airbnb are household names: redefining neighbourhoods,…
Books on travel and hospitality.
- 1
The Geography of Genius
A Search for the World's Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley
Eric Weiner · 2016
3.804,389 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitalityInnovation
About the book
New York Times Bestseller Travel the world with Eric Weiner, the New York Times bestselling author of The Geography of Bliss, as he journeys from Athens to Silicon Valley, and throughout history, too, to show how creative genius flourishes in specific…
- 2
The Suitcase Entrepreneur
Natalie Sisson · 2013
3.87362 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitalityCompany building
About the book
Everybody has the right to build a business from anywhere and design a lifestyle they love. That’s what this book will teach you to do. If you’ve always thought that having the freedom to do what you want when you want was just a pipe dream, then think…
- 3
Extreme Teams
Why Pixar, Netflix, Airbnb, and Other Cutting-Edge Companies Succeed Where Most Fail
Robert Bruce Shaw · 2017
3.83343 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitalityCompany building
About the book
Managers want great teams, but most build them around decades-old ideas and practices made popular by companies that have lost their edge. Extreme Teams looks at the new generation of teams driving growth in today’s most innovative firms. They do this by…
- 4
High Growth Handbook
Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People
Elad Gil · 2018
4.082,833 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitalityCompany building
About the book
Well-known technology executive and angel investor Elad Gil has worked with high growth tech companies like Airbnb, Twitter, Google, Instacart, Coinbase, Stripe, and Square as they've grown from small companies into global brands. Across all of these…
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
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
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…
- 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
Lean UX
Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience
Jeff Gothelf · 2012
3.996,766 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
The Lean UX approach to interaction design is tailor-made for today’s web-driven reality. In this insightful book, leading advocate Jeff Gothelf teaches you valuable Lean UX principles, tactics, and techniques from the ground up, how to rapidly experiment with…
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
Business Model Generation
Alexander Osterwalder · 2010
4.2160,411 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Business Model Generation is a practical, inspiring handbook for anyone striving to improve a business model or craft a new one. 1) Change the way you think about business models Business Model Generation will teach you powerful and practical…
- 3
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…
- 4
The Infinite Game
Simon Sinek · 2017
4.1630,000 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
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…
- 5
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…
- 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
When Pride Still Mattered
A Life Of Vince Lombardi
David Maraniss · 1999
4.229,325 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
In this groundbreaking biography, David Maraniss captures all of football great Vince Lombardi: the myth, the man, his game, and his God. More than any other sports figure, Vince Lombardi transformed football into a metaphor of the American experience. The…
- 8
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…
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
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 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…
- 4
The Infinity Machine
Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence
Sebastian Mallaby · 2026
4.423,320 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
From one of our leading chroniclers of the intersection of innovation and capitalism, a landmark reckoning, based on unprecedented access, with one of the world’s most brilliant and driven tech visionaries and his game-changing company.Even by the standard…
- 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
- 7
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…
- 8
The Lost Empire of Emanuel Nobel
Romanovs, Revolutionaries, and the Forgotten Titan Who Fueled the World
Douglas Brunt · 2026
4.39615 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
The hidden history of Emanuel Nobel, one of the world’s most successful corporate titans, a rival to the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds, integral in the creation of the Nobel Prize, whose legacy was erased in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.…
How companies like yours were actually built, from the people who built them.
- 1
Four Seasons
The Story of a Business Philosophy
Isadore Sharp · 2009
4.151,185 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitalityFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
The founder of Four Seasons Hotels shares the philosophy and values that have made his legendary brand How did a child of immigrants, starting with no background in the hotel business, create the world's most admired and successful hotel chain? And how has…
- 2
The Happiness of Pursuit
Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life
Chris Guillebeau · 2014
3.707,536 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitalityCompany building
About the book
A remarkable book that will both guide and inspire, The Happiness of Pursuit reveals how anyone can bring meaning into their life by undertaking a quest. When he set out to visit all of the planet’s countries by age thirty-five, compulsive goal seeker Chris…
- 3
Looptail
How One Company Changed the World by Reinventing Business
Bruce Poon Tip · 2013
3.97782 ratings · Goodreads
Travel and hospitalityCompany building
About the book
Much in the same vein as Delivering Happiness, Looptail combines both Bruce Poon Tip's extraordinary first-person account of his entrepreneurial instincts to start and develop G Adventures, a highly-successful international travel adventure company, and along…
- 4
Never Die Easy
The Autobiography of Walter Payton
Walter Payton · 2000
4.231,581 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
About the book
"Never die easy. Why run out of bounds and die easy? Make that linebacker pay. It carries into all facets of your life. It's okay to lose, to die, but don't die without trying, without giving it your best." His legacy is towering. Walter Payton, the man they…
- 5
Sam Walton
Made in America
Sam Walton · 1992
4.1527,178 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
As Sam Walton himself said, this is "...a story about entrepreneurship, and risk, and hard work, and knowing where you want to go and being willing to do what it takes to get there. And it's a story about believing in your idea even when maybe some other…
- 6
Walt Disney Imagineering
A Behind the Dreams Look At Making the Magic Real
The Imagineers · 1996
4.121,961 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
Making dreams come true is what Disney does best -- and the Imagineers unite art and science to create a world in which reality surpasses imagination. The Imagineers are like Santa's elves: they are the nuts-and-bolts workers who allow Disney's magic to take…
- 7
Alex Ferguson
My Autobiography
Alex Ferguson · 2013
3.9418,818 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
About the book
The celebratory, revealing, inspiring, and entertaining autobiography of the greatest manager in the history of British soccer. Over the past four years, Alex Ferguson has been reflecting on and jotting down the highlights of his extraordinary career, and…
- 8
Shoe Dog
A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
Phil Knight · 2016
4.45389,310 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world’s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable…
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
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…
- 6
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…
- 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
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…
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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.