Best books for founders and investors

Your reading list

ShortlistThe best matches for everything you told us, ranked.

The best matches for everything you told us, ranked.

1
Amazon Selling Blueprint - How to Find and Launch Your First Private-Label Product on Amazon in 90 Days or Less
Scott Voelker · 2015
4.22354 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsFirst salesCompany building
About the book
Have you heard stories about people striking it rich by selling their own private-label products on Amazon? Wish you could have financial freedom and more time with your family just like those other folks? While it does require work on your part, it's easier…
On Amazon Audible
2
Zag
The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands
Marty Neumeier · 2006
3.994,025 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
"When everybody zigs, zag," says Marty Neumeier in this fresh view of brand strategy. ZAG follows the ultra-clear "whiteboard overview" style of the author’s first book, THE BRAND GAP, but drills deeper into the question of how brands can harness the power of…
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3
Ecommerce Evolved
The Essential Playbook To Build, Grow & Scale A Successful Ecommerce Business
Tanner Larsson · 2016
4.43405 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsCompany buildingMarketing and growth
About the book
As whole, the ecommerce industry is ANTIQUATED. It’s out of date! and is way way way behind in terms of what’s actually working in the world of online business.Most ecommerce business owners are still doing things in the same way they were done back in the…
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4
Building Strong Brands
David A. Aaker · 1995
3.99661 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
In this compelling work, Aaker uses real brand-building cases from Saturn, General Electric, Kodak, Healthy Choice, McDonald's, and others to demonstrate how strong brands have been created and managed. As industries turn increasingly hostile, it is clear…
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5
Reengineering Retail
The Future of Selling in a Post-Digital World
Doug Stephens · 2017
4.13445 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsFirst salesCompany building
About the book
Since the release of Doug Stephens’ first book, The Retail Revival , change in the global retail sector has accelerated beyond even the boldest forecasts. As predicted, online giants like Amazon and Alibaba.com are growing at a dizzying pace. Hundreds of…
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6
Working Backwards
Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon
Colin Bryar · 2021
4.197,844 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsCompany building
About the book
Working Backwards is an insider's breakdown of Amazon's approach to culture, leadership, and best practices from two long-time, top-level Amazon executives.Colin started at Amazon in 1998; Bill joined in 1999. In Working Backwards, these two long-serving…
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7
Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A
How Faith, Cows, and Chicken Built an Iconic Brand
Steve Robinson · 2019
4.04996 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsMarketing and growthCompany 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…
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8
The Brand You 50 (Reinventing Work)
Fifty Ways to Transform Yourself from an "Employee" into a Brand That Shouts Distinction, Commitment, and Passion!
Tom Peters · 1999
3.74710 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
Michael Goldhaber, writing in Wired, said, "If there is nothing very special about your work, no matter how hard you apply yourself you won't get noticed and that increasingly means you won't get paid much either. In times past you could be obscure yet secure…
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Books on e-commerce and consumer brands.

1
You Must Write a Book
Boost Your Brand, Get More Business, and Become the Go-To Expert
Honoree Corder · 2016
4.21280 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brands
About the book
Honorée Corder is the author of dozens of books, she does all sorts of other magical things, and her badassery is legendary. She is Hal Elrod's business partner and co-creator of The Miracle Morning book series, and she coaches high profile professionals,…
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2
Product Research 101
Find Winning Products to Sell on Amazon and Beyond
Renae Clark · 2015
4.20304 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brands
About the book
Just getting started with product research and sourcing? Stuck trying to find ideas or find that “perfect” winning product? Want to find good selling products that others are ignoring? Interested in wholesale or private label products? If you answered yes,…
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3
The Hero and the Outlaw
Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes
Margaret Mark · 2001
4.13970 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brands
About the book
A brand’s meaning―how it resonates in the public heart and mind―is a company’s most valuable competitive advantage. Yet, few companies really know how brand meaning works, how to manage it, and how to use brand meaning strategically. Written by best-selling…
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4
Logo Design Love
A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities
David Airey · 2009
4.204,263 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brands
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…
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5
The Everything Store
Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
Brad Stone · 2013
4.1378,706 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brands
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…
On Amazon Audible
6
This Is Not a T-Shirt
A Brand, a Culture, a Community--a Life in Streetwear
Bobby Hundreds · 2019
4.211,335 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brands
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…
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7
The Amazon Way
Amazon's Leadership Principles
John Rossman · 2014
3.942,271 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brands
About the book
In just twenty years, Amazon.com has gone from a start-up internet bookseller to a global company revolutionizing and disrupting multiple industries, including retail, publishing, logistics, devices, apparel, and cloud computing. But what is at the heart…
On Amazon Audible
8
Move Fast and Break Things
How Facebook, Google, and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy
Jonathan Taplin · 2017
3.591,538 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brands
About the book
A stinging polemic that traces the destructive monopolization of the Internet by Google, Facebook and Amazon, and that proposes a new future for musicians, journalists, authors and filmmakers in the digital age. Move Fast and Break Things tells the story…
On Amazon Audible

What founders at seed need most: company building, finding product-market fit, raising money, first sales, marketing and growth.

1
Get Backed
Craft Your Story, Build the Perfect Pitch Deck, and Launch the Venture of Your Dreams
Evan Baehr · 2015
4.36356 ratings · Goodreads
Raising moneyCompany building
About the book
HOW DO YOU LAUNCH THE VENTURE OF YOUR DREAMS? Get Backed isn’t just about startup fundraising. It’s a handbook for anyone who has an idea and needs to build relationships to get it off the ground. Over the last 3 years, entrepreneurs Evan Loomis and…
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2
The User Experience Team of One
A Research and Design Survival Guide
Leah Buley · 2013
4.191,657 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
UX Team of Oneb Theory and Practice for Designers Responsible for Holo UX b This book presents ways to achieve greater impact than standardized UX work results with less time and resources do. Whether youre looking to turn to the UX field, or an experienced…
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3
80/20 Sales and Marketing
The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More
Perry Marshall · 2013
4.191,904 ratings · Goodreads
First salesMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
Stop "Just Getting By" ... Master The 80/20 Principle And Make More Money Without More Work. When you know how to walk into any situation and see the 80/20's, you can solve almost ANY marketing problem. 80/20 can demolish any sales and advertising problem.…
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4
Selling the Invisible
A Field Guide to Modern Marketing
Harry Beckwith · 1997
3.9410,059 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthFirst salesCompany building
About the book
You can't touch, hear, or see your company's most important products... So how do you sell, develop, make them grow? That's the problem with services. This "phenomenal" book, as one reviewer called it, answers that question with insights on how markets work…
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5
UX for Beginners
A Crash Course in 100 Short Lessons
Joel Marsh · 2016
4.04527 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
Apps! Websites! Rubber Ducks! Naked Ninjas! This book has everything. If you want to get started in user experience design (UX), you've come to the right 100 self-contained lessons that cover the whole spectrum of fundamentals. Forget dry, technical…
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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,…
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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…
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8
LinkedIn Riches
How To Use LinkedIn For Business, Sales and Marketing! Updated and Revised
John Nemo · 2014
4.07319 ratings · Goodreads
First salesMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
SPECIAL Includes Free Access to 25+ LinkedIn Training Videos!Discover How To Use LinkedIn For Sales, Business and Marketing, including how Find New Sales Leads and Prospective Clients on LinkedIn FAST- Turn Your Existing LinkedIn Connections into Paying…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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4
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…
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5
The Manager's Path
A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change
Camille Fournier · 2017
4.2510,686 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Managing people is difficult wherever you work, but the tech industry as a whole is pretty bad at it. Tech companies in general lack the experience, tools, texts, and frameworks to do it well. And the handful of books that share tips and tricks of engineering…
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6
To Rescue the American Spirit
Teddy Roosevelt and the Birth of a Superpower
Bret Baier · 2025
4.542,106 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
From #1 New York Times bestselling author and Fox News Channel’s Chief Political Anchor, a captivating biography of Theodore Roosevelt, the stalwart naturalist, writer, ranchman, soldier, president, and avatar of our modern era. There has never been a…
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7
The Ride of a Lifetime
Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company
Robert Iger · 2019
4.4099,495 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
A grand vision defined: The CEO of The Walt Disney Company shares the ideas and values he has used to reinvent one of the most beloved companies in the world, and inspire the people who bring the magic to life. In 2005, Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt…
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8
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…
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Published in the last three years, newest first, for what you told us.

1
Personal Branding for Introverts
Goldie Chan · 2025
4.41211 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsMarketing 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…
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2
Exit Interview
The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career
Kristi Coulter · 2023
4.117,737 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsCompany building
About the book
A candid, intensely funny memoir of ambition, gender, and a grueling decade inside Amazon, from the author of Nothing Good Can Come from This. What would you sacrifice for your career? All your free time? Your sense of self-worth? Your sanity? In 2006,…
On Amazon Audible
3
Simple Marketing For Smart People
The One Question You Need to Win Customers without Gimmicks, Hype, or Hard Selling
Billy Broas · 2024
4.35305 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthFirst salesCompany building
About the book
Why do so many smart people struggle with marketing? The answer is smart people love complexity, and complexity brews problems. Does your marketing feel like it has way too many moving parts? If so, Simple Marketing for Smart People is the solution you’ve…
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4
The Whole Story
Adventures in Love, Life, and Capitalism
John Mackey · 2024
4.19652 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsCompany 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…
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5
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…
On Amazon Audible
6
The First-Time Manager
Sales
Mike Weinberg · 2023
4.43282 ratings · Goodreads
First salesCompany building
About the book
The First Time Manager Series has sold over 500,000 copies and is a go-to guide for new and aspiring sales managers on what to expect and how to succeed. The jump from sales superstar to sales manager has made or broken many a sales career. As a…
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7
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…
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8
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…
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How companies like yours were actually built, from the people who built them.

1
The First American
The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
H.W. Brands · 2000
4.1123,067 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsFounder 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…
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2
Fordlandia
The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City
Greg Grandin · 2009
3.664,273 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
The stunning, never before told story of the quixotic attempt to recreate small-town America in the heart of the Amazon. In 1927, Henry Ford, the richest man in the world, bought a tract of land twice the size of the U.S. state of Delaware in the Brazilian…
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3
Retail Gangster
The Insane, Real-Life Story of Crazy Eddie
Gary Weiss · 2022
3.901,120 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsFounder storiesCompany 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…
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4
Secret Formula
The Inside Story of How Coca-Cola Became the Best-Known Brand in the World
Frederick Allen · 1994
3.96484 ratings · Goodreads
E-commerce and consumer brandsFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
A "highly entertaining history [of] global hustling, cola wars and the marketing savvy that carved a niche for Coke in the American social psyche” (Publishers Weekly).Secret Formula follows the colorful characters who turned a relic from the patent medicine…
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5
Veeck As In Wreck
The Autobiography of Bill Veeck
Bill Veeck · 1962
4.132,173 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
About the book
Bill Veeck was an inspired team builder, a consummate showman, and one of the greatest baseball men ever involved in the game. His classic autobiography, written with the talented sportswriter Ed Linn, is an uproarious book packed with information about the…
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6
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…
On Amazon Audible
7
Elon Musk
Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
Ashlee Vance · 2015
4.12456,221 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
Elon Musk, the entrepreneur and innovator behind SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, sold one of his internet companies, PayPal, for $1.5 billion. Ashlee Vance captures the full spectacle and arc of the genius's life and work, from his tumultuous upbringing in…
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8
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
E-commerce and consumer brandsFounder storiesCompany 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…
On Amazon Audible

What founders at seed keep coming back to, if you have not read them yet.

1
Crossing the Chasm
Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers
Geoffrey A. Moore · 2002
4.0332,109 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthCompany buildingFirst sales
About the book
Here is the bestselling guide that created a new game plan for marketing in high-tech industries. Crossing the Chasm has become the bible for bringing cutting-edge products to progressively larger markets. This edition provides new insights into the realities…
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2
Building A Story Brand
Donald Miller · 2017
4.2726,500 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthCompany building
About the book
New York Times bestselling author Donald Miller uses the seven universal elements of powerful stories to teach readers how to dramatically improve how they connect with customers and grow their businesses. Donald Miller’s StoryBrand process is a proven…
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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…
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4
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
Violate Them at Your Own Risk
Al Ries · 1993
4.0522,738 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthCompany building
About the book
There are laws of nature, so why shouldn't there be laws of marketing? As Al Ries and Jack Trout, the world-renowned marketing consultants and bestselling authors of Positioning, note, you can build an impressive airplane, but it will never leave the ground if…
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5
The Psychology of Money
Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness
Morgan Housel · 2020
4.27363,975 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780857197689. Doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know. It’s about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people. Money―investing, personal finance, and business…
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6
Zero to One
Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
Peter Thiel · 2014
4.14419,155 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
If you want to build a better future, you must believe in secrets. The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how…
On Amazon Audible
7
The Tipping Point
How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Malcolm Gladwell · 2000
4.01867,722 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780316346627. From the bestselling author of The Bomber Mafia: discover Malcolm Gladwell's breakthrough debut and explore the science behind viral trends in business, marketing, and human behavior. The tipping point is…
On Amazon Audible
8
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…
On Amazon Audible

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Reading list: the books for what you are building

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Written by the people who write the cheques

Read what the people you are pitching read.