Book Recommendations
Expand your entrepreneurial toolbox with these great book recommendations, continually updated and curated by feedback from our alumni entrepreneurs and team.
Top 5 Essentials
- Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
by Peter Thiel with Blake Masters - How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life
by Scott Adams - The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture
by Scott Belsky - The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
by Eric Reis - The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
by Ben Horowitz
Instructional
- Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup
by Bill Aulet - Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers
by Alexander Osterwalder
Marketing
- To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others
by Daniel H. Pink - Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
by Chip Heath and Dan Heath - Talking to Humans: Success starts with understanding your customers
by Giff Constable with Frank Rimalovski and Tom Fishburne - The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand
by Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey
Operations
- The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
by Eliyahu M. Goldratt - Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business
by Gino Wickman - The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company
by Jack Stack with Bo Burlingham
Finance & Administrative
Management
- How to Win Friends & Influence People
by Dale Carnegie - Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box
by The Arbinger Institute - The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup
by Noam Wasserman - The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership
by James C. Hunter
Personal Development & Mindset
- 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works
by Dan Harris - Mind Hacking: How to Change Your Mind for Good in 21 Days
by Sir John Hargrave - The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
by Timothy Ferriss - Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not
by Robert T. Kiyosaki - Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras - Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
by Sheryl Sandberg
Case Stories
- Like a Virgin: Secrets They Won’t Teach You at Business School
by Richard Branson - Fortune Zoom: Surprising Ways to Supercharge Your Career
by Daniel Roberts - The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
by Brad Stone - Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
by Phil Knight - Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco
by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar