Must Read Startup Books for Entrepreneurs in 2020
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Books are distinct from visceral forms of entertainment for various reasons. They can be a game-changer, often for the greater good. Entrepreneurs must read books which are enriched with words of wisdom put forth by experienced entrepreneurs and market leaders who have years of experience good and bad in the industry.
We have compiled a list of 10 best books for entrepreneur, that you should read, no matter youâre an established entrepreneur or just starting out in that direction.
Best Books for Entrepreneurs (Must Read)
- Zero to One
- Think and Grow rich
- The Warren Buffett Way
- How We Make Stuff Now: Turn Ideas Into Products That Build Successful Businesses
- When to Jump: If the Job You Have Isnât the Life You Want
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
- Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do
- Start With Why
- Networking Like a Pro: Turning Contacts Into Connections
- Brave New Work: Are You Ready to Reinvent Your Organization?
- The 4-Hour Work Week
- The Founderâs Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup
- The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done
- Creativity, Inc.
- The Lean Startup
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things
- Hooked
- Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries
- The $100 StartUp
- The E-Myth Revisited
- Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader's Guide to the Real World
- The Four Steps to the Epiphany
- Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
- Rockonomics: A Backstage Tour of What the Music Industry Can Teach Us About Economics and Life
- Unlocking the Customer Value Chain: How Decoupling Drives Consumer Disruption
- The Vagabonds: The Story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison's Ten-Year Road Trip
- Everyday Chaos: Technology, Complexity, and How We're Thriving in a New World of Possibility
- What You Do Is Who You Are: How To Create Your Business Culture
- The Great Gatsby
- Winners Never Cheat Even in Difficult Times
- King Lear
- The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
- The Remains of the Day
Zero to one
Author : Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
Publication Year : 2014
One of thee best books on startups is penned by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters, a self-made billionaire, Zero to One gives an insight into his journey from co-founding PayPal to selling it to eBay for a cool $1.5 billion along with investing in Facebook. Peter highlights important lessons and valuable techniques that entrepreneurs can incorporate in their ventures.
Think and Grow Rich
Author : âNapoleon Hill
Publication Year : 1937
Arguably one of the most motivational pieces of writing that the world has come across, and therefore a must read for every entrepreneur. This self-help book published by Napoleon Hill in 1939 is the amalgamation of powerful thoughts that were the driving factor behind prominent personalities of the 18th and 19th century. Andrew Carnegie was the wealthy philanthropist whose proposal compelled Napoleon to bring this 250-page book to fruition. It took him nearly 20 years before the perfected version to come up with the perfected version of âThink and Grow Richâ.
The Warren Buffett Way
Author : Robert G. Hagstrom
Publication Year : 1994
Not a fairy-tale by any means, the book talks of Buffettâs initial years, such as his first stock and important lessons he learned from legends such as Philip Fresher. The core of the writing is his four principles of investment methodology- Business, management, finance, and markets; there are nine case studies elucidating how he used these tenets to invest in some of his holdings. It has been written by Robert G. Hagstrom.
How We Make Stuff Now: Turn Ideas Into Products That Build Successful Businesses
Author : Jules Pieri
Publication Year : 2019
This book is a must read book for entrepreneurs who are working on a physical product. There are 16 chapters like Design and Documentation, Prototyping, Funding, Manufacturing, Packaging, Direct to Consumer, Logistics, and Inventory Management for hardware and product business. These chapters are filled with case study examples from companies that have had products in The Grommet.
When to Jump: If the Job You Have Isnât the Life You Want
Author : Mike Lewis
Publication Year : 2018
Mike Lewis gives the much-needed guidance for those planning to step into the entrepreneurial waters. With a foreword from Sheryl Sandberg, the book is a collection of short stories by numerous successful founders describing their journey in the first place. A must read, especially for those who are hesitant to ditch their 9 to 5 job for entrepreneurship.
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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Author : Stephen Covey
Publication Year : 1989
âHabits make a manâ, and taking a cue from individuals known for being effective and efficient wonât do any harm. After all, almost everyone tries to emulate the most intelligent kid in the class. Summarizing the seven points into one-liners would do injustice the book, for the explanation behind each habit is worth reading!
Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do
Author : Jennifer Eberhardt
Publication Year : 2019
Jennifer Eberhardt writes about her decades of experience studying race and everyday interactions. She suggests that in order to overcome our own racial biases, we must acknowledge them. This book helps us to view how racial bias works in our own minds and throughout society. Her research shows critical information which can help leaders better understand how biases can impact our judgment and how we are perceived by the communities we are sworn to serve.
Start With Why
Author : Simon Sinek
Publication Year : 2009
Simon Sinekâs Ted talk is amazing and Iâd personally recommend you to watch it before reading âStart With Whyâ. In this book, Simon puts forward the idea that throughout history, renowned leaders have valued the why over how and what. His philosophy and real-life examples ought to inspire the reader to inspire those around him or her. Such is the ripple effect produced by this wonderful writing!
Networking Like a Pro: Turning Contacts Into Connections
Author : Ivan Misner, Brian Hilliard
Publication Year : 2009
The cumulative work of three writers-- Ivan R. Misner, David Alexander and Brian Hilliard, this guide teaches the art of networking and how businesses can leverage the power of connecting to turn successful. A useful technique known as âfour streams of networking riversâ, outlining how to have a well-developed referral network, is just one among the various reasons as to why every entrepreneur must read this masterpiece.
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Brave New Work: Are You Ready to Reinvent Your Organization?
Author : Aaron Dignan
Publication Year : 2019
Aaron Dignan helps teams around the world completely reinvent their operating systems which is fundamental principles and practices that shape their cultureâwith extraordinary success. He helps them see that organizations aren't machines to be predicted and controlled. Instead, Organization is a complex human system full of potential waiting to be released. In Brave New Work, you'll learn exactly how to reinvent the way you work, not through top-down mandates, but through a groundswell of autonomy, trust, and transparency.
The 4-Hour Work Week
Author : Tim Ferriss
Publication Year : 2007
Tim Ferris introduces the concept of the âNew Richâ, one that encourages the lifestyle of doing, having and being whatever the person wants. The technique known as DEAL: Definition, Elimination, Automation and finally Liberation, is what the author feels every man should follow in order to gain financial freedom and thus live life better.
The Founderâs Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup
Author : Noam T. Wasserman
Publication Year : 2012
Noam Wassermanâs efforts bring to notice a topic that is often downplayed in the process of launching a startup: Difficulties and adversities. Through research, Wasserman talks of the most common pitfalls that founders have to endure. To better prepare such future leaders, this book serves as an essential toolbox; this gem of a book transcends a self-improvement guide!
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The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done
Author : Peter Drucker
Publication Year : 1966
Peter F. Ducker is considered to be the most influential management thinker ever. In this book, Ducker highlights the constraints that executives and those in similar positions are subjected to. He then provides excellent suggestions for maintaining the business effectiveness that is imperative for being productive. A classic must read for entrepreneurs that was first published in 1966!
Creativity, Inc.
Author : Edwin Catmull, Amy Wallace
Publication Year : 2014
In Creativity, Inc., Ed Catmull, President of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation, shares what happens behind-the-scenes in these two great companies. Creativity, Inc. is a book for managers who want to lead their employees to new heights. You can enter into the nerve center of Pixar Animationâinto the meetings, postmortems, and âBraintrustâ sessions where some of the most successful films in history are made. It is, at heart, a book about how to build a creative culture.
The Lean Startup
Author : Eric Ries
Publication Year : 2011
The book is centered around the concepts of validated learning and build-measure-learn feedback loop which means build a product, measure your customersâ reactions, and learn if your idea has been validated or if you need to adapt. Repeat this cycle until your customers send you a clear signal that your product fits a market need. It tries to bring in a systematic approach to measuring the progress at a startup. According to the author of book, one must begin with the customers in the form of interviews and research discovery. Ries also recommends using a process called the Five Whys which is a technique designed to reach the core of an issue.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Author : Ben Horowitz
Publication Year : 2014
The Hard Thing About Hard Things is written by Ben Horowitz who is a cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and he is one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs. He writes his own story of founding, running, selling, buying, managing, and investing in technology companies to offer essential advice and practical wisdom for navigating the toughest problems business schools don't cover.
Hooked
Author : Nir Eyal, Ryan Hoover
Publication Year : 2014
Why do we use certain products regularly though many such products are available in the market? - like Google- What makes us habituated with certain products? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?
Hooked is based on Eyalâs years of research, consulting, and practical experience. Hooked is written for product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone who seeks to understand how products influence our behavior.
Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries
Author : Safi Bahcall
Publication Year : 2019
Safi Bahcall is a cofounder of the biotech company Synta Pharmaceuticals. This book explains about lessons learned in wartime as well as from Polaroid and space exploration, among other periods and events. Using examples that range from the spread of fires in forests to the hunt for terrorists online, and stories of thieves and geniuses and kings, Bahcall shows how this new kind of science helps us understand the behavior of companies and the fate of empires.
The $100 StartUp
Author : Chris Guillebeau
Publication Year : 2012
The $100 StartUp put out the possibility of starting and running a successful business with a ridiculously small team (1 to 5 members) with many real-life case studies. Chris Guillebeau writes a step-by-step framework you can use to find where your passion meets your skills and turn those into an income from your couch, based on his own case studies. Using nothing but a laptop and some wifi in most cases, you can build a thriving software, freelance or education business and scale it as far as you want.
Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader's Guide to the Real World
Author : Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall
Publication Year : 2019
The new book 'Nine Lies About Work' explains the inherent flaws of traditional attempts to define effective leadership. Authors Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall explains the disconnect between the ways you know you work best and the ways you are told to work. They examine the practices that organisations do to exert control and impose uniformity: practices that have become common wisdom but that have failed to result in improved productivity and employee motivation.
The E-Myth Revisited
Author : Michael E. Gerber
Publication Year : 1995
Michael E. Gerber originally published as âThe E Mythâ in 1986. Michael Gerber revised and updated the book in 1995. Michael E. Gerber explains how you can set up a company that depends much more on systems, than on people, and anyone can look after it with set of right instructions. He explains running a business and getting technical work done are two different things and shows you how you can set up a system dependent company rather than people dependent.
The Four Steps to the Epiphany
Author : Steve Blank
Publication Year : 2005
Steve Blank explains hands-on instructions on how to handle customers, sales, marketing and building your company at different stages of your business. He explains how Customer Development Model is more useful than Product Development Model for new startups. There are four steps to the Customer Development Model: Customer Discovery, Customer Validation, Customer Creation and Company Building.
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
Author : David Epstein
Publication Year : 2019
The book, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World explains diverse experiences are helpful in business, science, music, parenting and even sports. This book says that you can be more successful in life if you learn different things and don't try to be an expert. The book also says generalization is the key to parenting, especially when it comes to guiding your children towards areas where they can excel: "The best thing [parents] can do is to expose [children] to a lot of things, help them to reflect on those things, that's called self-regulatory learning."
Rockonomics: A Backstage Tour of What the Music Industry Can Teach Us About Economics and Life
Author : Alan B. Krueger
Publication Year : 2019
Alan B. Krueger uses the music industry, from superstar artists to music executives, from managers to promoters, as a way in to explain key principles of economics, and the forces shaping our economic lives. Mr. Krueger surveys studies on the healing qualities of music â both its ability to âstir memories and emotions in people afflicted by neurological disorders,â and to make us happier.
Unlocking the Customer Value Chain: How Decoupling Drives Consumer Disruption
Author : Thales S. Teixeira
Publication Year : 2019
The book, "Unlocking the Customer Value Chain: How Decoupling Drives Consumer Disruption" says how and why consumer industries are disrupted, and what established companies can do about itâwhile highlighting the specific strategies potential startups use to gain a competitive edge. Thales Teixeira is a Harvard Business School professor. Thales Teixeira explains the nature of competition has fundamentally changed. Using innovative new business models, startups are stealing customers by breaking the links in how consumers discover, buy and use products and services.
The Vagabonds: The Story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison's Ten-Year Road Trip
Author : Jeff Guinn
Publication Year : 2019
The Vagabonds is the fascinating story of two American giants, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. They were accompanied by Harvey Firestone, and naturalist John Burroughs too. The Vagabonds is an evenhanded look at four men who helped define their time. Author Jeff Guinn wrote the exciting parts of the vagabondsâ road trips and the impact they had on the populace without shying away from the profound character flaws of Ford and Edison. While not a detailed biography of these men, you get a good sense of who they were and what motivated them.
Everyday Chaos: Technology, Complexity, and How We're Thriving in a New World of Possibility
Author : David Weinberger
Publication Year : 2019
Everyday Chaos says how we've been busily, silently overturning our most basic ideas about change. That affects how we plan, measure success, make predictions, model and explain our world, and design strategies â and ultimately how we think the future emerges from the present. Through stories from history, business, and technology, philosopher and technologist David Weinberger finds the unifying truths lying below the surface of the tools we take for granted--and a future in which our best strategy often requires holding back from anticipating and instead creating as many possibilities as we can. The bookâs imperative for business and beyond is simple: Make. More. Future.
What You Do Is Who You Are: How To Create Your Business Culture
Author : Ben Horowitz
Publication Year : 2019
"What You Do Is Who You Are: How To Create Your Business Culture" takes readers through the process of designing a company culture and imbuing it with the values one wants to espouse as well as the level of performance one expects. The author combines lessons both from history and modern organisational practice with practical and often surprising advice to help us build cultures that can weather both good and bad times. This book is a journey through cultures ancient to modern, spotlighting models of leadership and culture-building from the samurai to prison gangs.
The Great Gatsby
Author : F. Scott Fitzgerald
Publication Year : 1925
An American business magnate, co-founder of Microsoft Corporation. He is a great lover of books. He has always books on the roll to read. One of his all-time recommended books is 'The Great Gatsbyâ written by F.Scott Fitzgerald, which is a tragic love story, a mystery, and a social commentary on American life.
This is the story of Jay Gatsby's who has a desperate quest to win back his first love. It also shows the importance of honesty, the temptations of wealth, and the struggle to escape the past.
Winners Never Cheat Even in Difficult Times
Author : Jon Huntsman Sr.
Publication Year : 2005
An Indian IT industrialist and the co-founder of Infosys is a good reader and writer. One of his recommended books is âWinners Never cheat even in Difficult Timesâ by Jon M Huntsman.
This book shows how the author himself built a $12 billion company from scratch, Huntsman tells how he struggled to get to the highest level and how you can too. This book is about remembering why you work and why you were chosen to lead. It's about finding the courage to act on what you know is right. It's all about winning in the right way.
King Lear
Author : William Shakespeare
Publication Year : 1606
An American inventor, designer, entrepreneur, who was the co-founder, chief executive, and chairman of Apple Computer. He has a different collection of books. One of his recommended books is âKing Learâ by William Shakespeare.
This story portrays how misguided judgments can lead to tragedies. King Lear is fooled by his two hypocritical daughters and makes a mistake by giving them his property. Fogged by illusion, he even missed to see the true love his third daughter had for him, the book gives a vivid depiction of what can go wrong if you lose your grip on your empire.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Author : Thomas S.Kuhn
Publication Year : 1962
This book presents a revolutionary approach to how science functions and progresses. Against the normal perception of science as a linear accumulation of knowledge. Kuhn attempts to view science as progressing in leaps from one âparadigm" to the next.
The Remains of the Day
Author : Kazuo Ishiguro
Publication Year : 1989
An American Internet and aerospace entrepreneur founder, chief executive officer of Amazon. He is very passionate about books and reading. One of his recommended books is âThe Remains of the Dayâ by Kazuo Ishiguro.
It tells of a manâs journey into the past during a motoring trip through the English countryside, Told. From a first-person perspective, the story is narrated in the form of a diary by an English butler named Stevens. It begins in July 1956 at Darlington Hall, where Stevens has worked for 34 years.
Entrepreneurs have to get along with creativity and management side by side, books are often a golden treasure to them.
Reading is one smart way of helping them to think in various ways to achieve success. Learning is a never-ending process, successful people learn something new every single day through their habit of reading.
Some more books Entrepreneurs will Love to Read
Business Adventures
Author: John Brooks
Publication Year: 1969
The book includes stories about Wall Street with drama and adventure.
Conscious Capitalism
Author: John Mackey and Raj Sisodia
Publication Year: 2013
The book illustrates how business and capitalism can work most powerfully to create value for all stakeholders.
As a Man Thinketh
Author: James Allen
Publishing Year: 1903
As a Man Thinketh explores the central idea of self-empowerment writing.
Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World
Author: Rene Girard
Publishing Year: 1987
The book is an analysis of three core mechanisms that leads the widespread social interactions.
Do let us know if you have read any other book which should have been in the list. We would love to read it and feature it in this list of the books for entrepreneurs.
Also read: Best movies for Entrepreneurs
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