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
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…
- 4
Makers
The New Industrial Revolution
Chris Anderson · 2012
3.883,979 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techCompany building
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,…
- 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
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…
- 8
Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager
James Stanier · 2020
4.34612 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techCompany building
About the book
Software startups make global headlines every day. As technology companies succeed and grow, so do their engineering departments. In your career, you’ll may suddenly get the opportunity to lead teams: to become a manager. But this is often uncharted…
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
Made in the USA
The Rise and Retreat of American Manufacturing
Vaclav Smil · 2013
3.77518 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep tech
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
Behemoth
A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World
Joshua B. Freeman · 2018
3.83864 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep tech
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…
- 5
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…
- 6
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…
- 7
The Engineering Executive's Primer
Impactful Technical Leadership
Will Larson · 2024
4.26426 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep tech
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…
- 8
The Most Powerful Idea in the World
A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention
William Rosen · 2010
3.931,401 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep tech
About the book
If all measures of human advancement in the last hundred centuries were plotted on a graph, they would show an almost perfectly flat line, until the eighteenth century, when the Industrial Revolution would cause the line to shoot straight up, beginning an…
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
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…
- 4
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…
- 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
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.…
- 7
Venture Deals
Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist
Brad Feld · 2011
4.1117,486 ratings · Goodreads
Raising moneyCompany building
About the book
Praise for Venture Deals"My biggest nightmare is taking advantage of an entrepreneur without even realizing it. It happens because VCs are experts in financings and most entrepreneurs are not. Brad and Jason are out to fix that problem with Venture Deals.…
- 8
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…
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 Ride of a Lifetime
Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company
Robert Iger · 2019
4.4099,495 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
A grand vision defined: The CEO of The Walt Disney Company shares the ideas and values he has used to reinvent one of the most beloved companies in the world, and inspire the people who bring the magic to life. In 2005, Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt…
- 3
The 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…
- 4
Creativity, Inc.
Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
Ed Catmull · 2014
4.20105,625 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
“What does it mean to manage well?” From Ed Catmull, co-founder (with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) of Pixar Animation Studios, comes an incisive book about creativity in business, sure to appeal to readers of Daniel Pink, Tom Peters, and Chip and Dan Heath.…
- 5
The Phoenix Project
A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win
Gene Kim · 2013
4.2551,320 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Bill is an IT manager at Parts Unlimited. It's Tuesday morning and on his drive into the office, Bill gets a call from the CEO. The company's new IT initiative, code named Phoenix Project, is critical to the future of Parts Unlimited, but the project is…
- 6
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…
- 7
The Unwritten Laws of Business
W.J. King · 1944
3.995,130 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managingHardware and deep tech
About the book
The bestselling business classic that Raytheon CEO William Swanson made famous . Every once in awhile, there is a book with a message so timeless, so universal, that it transcends generations. The Unwritten Laws of Business is such a book. Originally…
- 8
Radical Candor
Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
Kim Malone Scott · 2017
4.0460,996 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Now a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller "I raced through Radical Candor --It’s thrilling to learn a framework that shows how to be both a better boss and a better colleague. Radical Candor is packed with illuminating truths, insightful…
Published in the last three years, newest first, for what you told us.
- 1
Maintenance of Everything
Part One
Stewart Brand · 2026
3.98644 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep tech
About the book
The first in-depth exploration of maintenance, and a powerful argument for its civilizational importance, from the author of How Buildings Learn and creator of the Whole Earth Catalog.Maintenance is what keeps everything going. It’s what keeps life going. Yet…
- 2
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…
- 3
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…
- 4
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…
- 5
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…
- 6
The Nvidia Way
Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant
Tae Kim · 2024
4.304,727 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techCompany building
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 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
Hey, Hun
Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing
Emily Lynn Paulson · 2023
3.5814,654 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthFirst salesCompany building
About the book
She signed up for the sisterhood, free cars, and the promise of a successful business of her own. Instead, she ended up with an addiction, broken friendships, and the rubble of a toppled pyramid . . . scheme. Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the…
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
The Jordan Rules
The Inside Story of One Turbulent Season with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls
Sam Smith · 1992
4.2519,445 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
About the book
Sam Smith’s seminal, New York Times bestselling “eye-opener” ( The San Diego Union-Tribune ) on Michael Jordan and the 1990-1991 Chicago Bulls team, perfect for fans of ESPN’s hit documentary series The Last Dance. This is the book that changed the way the…
- 4
Revolver
Sam Colt and the Six-Shooter That Changed America
Jim Rasenberger · 2020
4.00374 ratings · Goodreads
Hardware and deep techFounder storiesCompany building
About the book
A sweeping, definitive biography of Samuel Colt, the inventor of the legendary Colt revolver (a.k.a. six-shooter), which changed the US forever, triggering the industrial revolution and the settlement of the American West.Patented in 1836, the Colt pistol with…
- 5
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…
- 6
Last Train to Paradise
Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean
Les Standiford · 2002
4.094,954 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
About the book
Last Train to Paradise is acclaimed novelist Les Standiford’s fast-paced and gripping true account of the extraordinary construction and spectacular demise of the Key West Railroad, one of the greatest engineering feats ever undertaken, destroyed in one fell…
- 7
Disney High
The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel's Tween Empire
Ashley Spencer · 2024
3.949,197 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
The first unauthorized look at the inner workings―and ultimate breakdown―of the Disney Channel machine For many kids growing up in the 2000s, there was no cultural touchstone more powerful than Disney Channel, the most-watched cable channel in prime time…
- 8
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…
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
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…
- 4
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…
- 5
No Logo
Naomi Klein · 2000
3.9033,309 ratings · Goodreads
Company buildingMarketing and growth
About the book
With a new Afterword to the 2002 edition, No Logo employs journalistic savvy and personal testament to detail the insidious practices and far-reaching effects of corporate marketing, and the powerful potential of a growing activist sect that will surely alter…
- 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
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…
- 8
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…
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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.