10 Books Every Startup Founder Should Read

Almost every billionaire that we come across speaks about the importance of learning. Entrepreneurs advocate the habit of reading to promote self-growth. And what could be better for a budding entrepreneur than learning from the stalwarts of his field? Therefore, here is a list of 10 books written by experienced founders, making them must-reads for startup founders.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Ben Horowitz 

A successful blogger, Ben Horowitz, speaks about his long career in Silicon Valley. The book discusses the topic of building your business through practical advice. He stresses that there are no handbooks for building a successful business. Identifying one’s strengths and weaknesses, the power of focus, and avoiding distractions are some of the key takeaways from this book. 

Creativity, Inc. – Ed Catmull  

The founder of Pixar and the vision behind the path-breaking animated movie – Toy Story, Catmull tells his story while giving practical advice to entrepreneurs, CEOs, and management teams. The book can serve as a guide on team building and company culture. According to him, building the right team could be the stepping stone to a successful business.

The Magic of Thinking Big – David J. Schwartz     

A classic business book helps the readers deal with impostor’s syndrome and work towards their work in an objective manner. One of the memorable messages given in this book is that one must always be fair in competition. Even if you lose, you’ll gain the respect of your opponents and spectators. Developing sportsmanship will win you allies, which would be important in the long run.   

Inspired – Marty Cagan  

This book, by product management expert, Marty Cagan, is all about building better products. It may not always be easy to have that insight that helps develop quality products and that is where this book comes in. According to Cagan, a product would succeed only if usable, feasible, and valuable. If you fall short in any of these departments, it’s no use building that product. Also, the importance of product testing is highlighted in this book.  

Zero to One – Peter Thiel  

What makes this book worth reading is that, unlike other business books that are preachy in tone, this one contains many stories related to life lessons. The reader gets to learn from Thiel’s own experiences and how he valued innovation and felt that the future belongs to those companies that will be able to solve people’s problems.  

The Lean Startup – Eric Ries  

The book espouses the ‘lean’ principle of understanding precisely what the customer needs and building on that while eliminating everything else which doesn’t contribute to that end. The book also talks about the need to test your product, adapting and optimizing it in order to stay ahead of the competition.  

Good to Great – Jim Collins   

In his book, one of the most evidence-based books and the result of five years of research, Jim Collins discusses what separates a good company from a great one. According to Collins, every great company has a ‘level five leader’ who is humble and modest. He also stresses that a lot of effort goes into making any company an overnight success.   

Essentialism – Greg McKeown 

The struggle to find focus in modern society is real and forms the key topic. The writer feels that instead of focusing on everything, we should focus on doing things that would make the most significant impact. His contributions and demand at tech giants like Google, Facebook and Google make his philosophy all the more credible. The book also discusses the quality of being selective and how it becomes crucial for entrepreneurs to say yes to the right projects and no to the wrong ones.   

Lost and Founder – Rand Fishkin 

The founder and the former CEO of Moz, Fiskin, tells the story of how his company went from a debt-ridden business to a 45-million-dollar company. Rather than a handbook, this one takes you through an inspirational journey. Driving home the quality of empathy, the writer feels that an entrepreneur should be more concerned about his employees and customers than his shareholders.  

Radical Candor – Kim Scott   

Throwing light on her working experience at Google and Apple, Kim Scott highlights the quality of communication. Essentially, a guidebook on how to establish and maintain relationships and businesses; it asks you to value your own words and mean what you say. The book also provides three guiding rules which form the basis for building positive relations with employees –  

1. Making it personal 
2. Getting the job done 
3. Understanding its urgency 

Whether seeking information or inspiration, developing the habit of reading can have vast implications for an individual. These impacts become all the more necessary for entrepreneurs who are constantly evolving and are always in the process of learning something new. Therefore, reading books like these becomes a crucial aspect of entrepreneurship.