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 · Hardware and deep tech · Seed
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ShortlistThe best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
The best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
- 1
The Chip
How Two Americans Invented the Microchip and Launched a Revolution
T.R. Reid · 1984
4.27940 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techCompany building
About the book
Barely fifty years ago a computer was a gargantuan, vastly expensive thing that only a handful of scientists had ever seen. The world’s brightest engineers were stymied in their quest to make these machines small and affordable until the solution finally came…
- 2
Product Design and Development
Karl T. Ulrich · 1994
4.01486 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techFinding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
Treating such contemporary design and development issues as identifying customer needs, design for manufacturing, prototyping, and industrial design, Product Design and Development by Ulrich and Eppinger presents in a clear and detailed way a set of product…
- 3
Made in the USA
The Rise and Retreat of American Manufacturing
Vaclav Smil · 2013
3.77518 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techCompany building
About the book
In Made in the USA , Vaclav Smil powerfully rebuts the notion that manufacturing is a relic of predigital history and that the loss of American manufacturing is a desirable evolutionary step toward a pure service economy. Smil argues that no advanced economy…
- 4
Chip War
The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology
Chris Miller · 2022
4.3846,826 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techCompany building
About the book
An epic account of the decades-long battle to control what has emerged as the world's most critical resource, microchip technology, with the United States and China increasingly in conflict. You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oil, the…
- 5
The Choice Factory
25 behavioural biases that influence what we buy
Richard Shotton · 2018
4.081,663 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techCompany buildingMarketing and growth
About the book
Before you can influence decisions, you need to understand what drives them. In The Choice Factory, Richard Shotton sets out to help you learn. By observing a typical day of decision-making, from trivial food choices to significant work-place moves, he…
- 6
Marketing places
Philip Kotler, Donald Haider · 1993
40 Open Library reading lists
Hardware and deep techMarketing and growth
About the book
"Today's headlines report cities going bankrupt, states running large deficits, and nations stuck in high debt and stagnation. Philip Kotler, Donald Haider, and Irving Rein argue that thousands of "places"--Cities, states, and nations - are in crisis, and can…
- 7
Behemoth
A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World
Joshua B. Freeman · 2018
3.83864 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techCompany building
About the book
"Freeman’s rich and ambitious Behemoth depicts a world in retreat that still looms large in the national imagination.…More than an economic history, or a chronicle of architectural feats and labor movements." ―Jennifer Szalai, New York Times In an accessible…
- 8
An Elegant Puzzle
Systems of Engineering Management
Will Larson · 2019
4.074,027 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techCompany building
About the book
There’s a saying that people don’t leave companies, they leave managers. Management is a key part of any organization, yet the discipline is often self-taught and unstructured. Getting to the good solutions for complex management challenges can make the…
Books on hardware and deep tech.
- 1
The One Device
The Secret History of the iPhone
Brian Merchant · 2017
3.891,949 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep tech
About the book
We know the iPhone as the device that transformed our world, changing everything from how we talk to each other and do business, to how we exercise, travel, shop, and watch TV. But packed within its slim profile is the fascinating, untold story of scientific,…
- 2
The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective
Robert C. Allen · 2009
3.99277 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep tech
About the book
Why did the industrial revolution take place in eighteenth-century Britain and not elsewhere in Europe or Asia? In this convincing new account Robert Allen argues that the British industrial revolution was a successful response to the global economy of the…
- 3
Makers
The New Industrial Revolution
Chris Anderson · 2012
3.883,979 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep tech
About the book
3D Robotics co-founder and bestselling author Chris Anderson takes you to the front lines of a new industrial revolution as today’s entrepreneurs, using open source design and 3-D printing, bring manufacturing to the desktop. In an age of custom-fabricated,…
- 4
PRODUCT DESIGN+DEVELOPMENT >IN
Karl T. Ulrich · 1994
4.00482 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep tech
About the book
This book presents a set of product development techniques aimed at bringing together the marketing, design, and manufacturing functions of the enterprise. It treats issues such as identifying customer needs, design for manufacturing, prototyping, and…
- 5
The CEO Factory
Management Lessons from Hindustan Unilever
Sudhir Sitapati · 2019
4.341,774 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep tech
About the book
For six decades Hindustan Unilever has remained among India’s top five most valuable companies. No other Corporation in the world has done so well for so long. Its brands sit in most Indian homes (nine out of ten Indians use an HUL product every month), its…
- 6
Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals
Rob Thompson · 2007
4.51200 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep tech
About the book
An encyclopaedic guide to production techniques and materials for product and industrial designers, engineers, and architects. Today's product designers are presented with a myriad of choices when creating their work and preparing it for manufacture. They…
- 7
The Toyota Way
14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer
Jeffrey K. Liker · 2003
4.0811,763 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep tech
About the book
"This book will give you an understanding of what has made Toyota successful and some practical ideas that you can use to develop your own approach to business."--Gary Convis, Managing Office of Toyota Fewer man-hours. Less inventory. The highest quality…
- 8
The Industrial Vagina
The Political Economy of the Global Sex Trade
Sheila Jeffreys · 2000
3.96284 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep tech
About the book
The industrialization of prostitution and the sex trade has created a multibillion-dollar global market, involving millions of women, that makes a substantial contribution to national and global economies. The Industrial Vagina examines how prostitution and…
What founders at seed need most: company building, finding product-market fit, raising money, first sales, marketing and growth.
- 1
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…
- 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
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
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.…
- 6
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…
- 7
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…
- 8
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,…
Leading and managing a team as the company grows.
- 1
Good to Great
Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
Jim Collins · 2001
4.12312,279 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
The Challenge: Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning. But what about the…
- 2
The Staff Engineer's Path
A Guide for Individual Contributors Navigating Growth and Change
Tanya Reilly · 2022
4.372,308 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingHardware and deep tech
About the book
For years, companies have rewarded their most effective engineers with management positions. But treating management as the default path for an engineer with leadership ability doesn't serve the industry well--or the engineer. The staff engineer's path allows…
- 3
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…
- 4
The Manager's Path
A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change
Camille Fournier · 2017
4.2510,686 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingHardware and deep tech
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…
- 5
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…
- 6
The Nvidia Way
Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant
Tae Kim · 2024
4.304,727 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingHardware and deep tech
About the book
"The definitive look at the most remarkable business story of this era.", Morgan Housel, New York Times best-selling author of The Psychology of Money and Same As Ever"The Nvidia Way is a riveting history of Nvidia’s unexpected ascent to the top of the tech…
- 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
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…
Published in the last three years, newest first, for what you told us.
- 1
The Engineering Executive's Primer
Impactful Technical Leadership
Will Larson · 2024
4.26426 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techCompany building
About the book
As an engineering manager, you almost always have someone in your company to turn to for a peer on another team, your manager, or even the head of engineering. But who do you turn to if you're the head of engineering? Engineering executives have a…
- 2
Apple in China
The Capture of the World's Greatest Company
Patrick McGee · 2025
4.4810,559 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techCompany building
About the book
For readers of Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs and Chris Miller’s Chip War, a riveting look at how Apple helped build China’s dominance in electronics assembly and manufacturing only to find itself trapped in a relationship with an authoritarian state making…
- 3
Breakneck
China's Quest to Engineer the Future
Dan Wang · 2025
4.0812,193 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techCompany building
About the book
As the defining conflict of the twenty-first century approaches, Breakneck offers a riveting, firsthand investigation of China’s seismic progress, and what it means for America. Technology analyst Dan Wang, “an indispensable voice on China” (Evan Osnos) for…
- 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
How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi
Collected Quirks of Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math from Nerd Nite
Chris Balakrishnan · 2024
3.61766 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep tech
About the book
The co-founders of the global science organization Nerd Nite bring readers a collection of wacky, yet fascinating STEM topics. For twenty years Nerd Nite has delivered to live audiences around the world the most interesting, fun, and informative…
- 6
Breaking the Mould
Reimagining India's Economic Future
Raghuram G. Rajan · 2023
4.04561 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techCompany building
About the book
Where is India going today? Is it surging forward, having just overtaken the United Kingdom to become the fifth-largest economy in the world? Or is it flailing, unable to provide jobs for the millions joining the labour force? What should India do to secure a…
- 7
The Software Engineer's Guidebook
Navigating senior, tech lead, and staff engineer positions at tech companies and startups
Gergely Orosz · 2023
4.08882 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techCompany building
About the book
In my first few years as a developer I assumed that hard work was all I needed. Then I was passed over for a promotion and my manager couldn’t give me feedback on what areas to improve, so I could get to the senior engineer level. I was frustrated, even…
- 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…
How companies like yours were actually built, from the people who built them.
- 1
Liftoff
Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX
Eric Berger · 2021
4.466,930 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
"This is as important a book on space as has ever been written and it's a riveting page-turner, too.", Homer Hickam, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Rocket Boys The dramatic inside story of the historic flights that launched SpaceX, and Elon…
- 2
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…
- 3
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…
- 4
Jim Henson
The Biography
Brian Jay Jones · 2013
4.0415,877 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
About the book
For the first time ever-a comprehensive biography of one of the twentieth-century's most innovative creative artists: the incomparable, irreplaceable Jim Henson. He was a gentle dreamer whose genial bearded visage was recognized around the world, but most…
- 5
Steve Jobs
Walter Isaacson · 2011
4.161,391,990 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
Walter Isaacson's worldwide bestselling biography of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. Based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs conducted over two years--as well as interviews with more than 100 family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and…
- 6
The Kelloggs
The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek
Howard Markel · 2017
3.87969 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
"What's more American than Corn Flakes?" --Bing Crosby From the much admired medical historian ("Markel shows just how compelling the medical history can be"--Andrea Barrett) and author of An Anatomy of Addiction ("Absorbing, vivid"--Sherwin Nuland, The…
- 7
The Network
The Battle for the Airwaves and the Birth of the Communications Age
Scott Woolley · 2015
4.13618 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
The astonishing story of America’s airwaves, the two friends, one a media mogul, the other a famous inventor, who made them available to us, and the government which figured out how to put a price on air This is the origin story of the airwaves, the…
- 8
Lucky Me
A Memoir of Changing the Odds
Rich Paul · 2023
4.062,158 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A memoir of will, success, and the luck we make, from the founder and CEO of Klutch Sports Group and one of the most influential figures in the multibillion-dollar sports industry “One of the greatest stories of growing up in…
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
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…
- 5
Building A Story Brand
Donald Miller · 2017
4.2726,500 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthCompany building
About the book
New York Times bestselling author Donald Miller uses the seven universal elements of powerful stories to teach readers how to dramatically improve how they connect with customers and grow their businesses. Donald Miller’s StoryBrand process is a proven…
- 6
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
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…
- 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…
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Which books we recommend never depends on it: they are chosen from their ratings and what they are about.
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.