Ten Books You Need To Read Right Now
1. Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin 2011.
"There are no longer any great jobs where someone else tells you precisely what to do." If that statement scares you- read this. If that statement excites you, then you have already decided to “pick yourself”, and you’re going to be even more inspired by this book. Read Godin’s blog every day.
2. Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist by Brad Feld & Jason Mendelson, 2012.
This is a must read book for anyone who is serious about their startup and wants to raise VC or proper money. It’s a very startup friendly book, and the authors speak from deep experience.
3. Do More Faster by Brad Feld & David Cohen, 2010.
A great introductory book that is easy to read for anyone who is just getting into startups. It also gives some insight into what it’s like to be an accelerator, even though the landscape for accelerators and incubators has changed quite a bit since this was published.
4. The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company by Steve Blank & Bob Dorf, 2012.
We all know there is no actual manual for creating a startup company or being an entrepreneur - but this book is one of the most widely read out there. Steve created the Customer Development methodology that spawned the Lean Startup movement.
5. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, 2011.
I know a few people that won’t even take a meeting with someone with a new idea they want to “startup” unless he or she has read this book. This book is that good. If you ever wanted to start a business or have a customer- there is no excuse to have not read this.
6. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel Blake Masters, 2014.
This book is all about what’s next. It will inspire you to build and make you think deeply about your intentions for doing so. If you want to be a part of the current conversation, you should take the time to read this book.
7. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz, 2014.
Since you’ve already read Lean Startup, you know that the reason to build a startup is to one day have a really big company. Read this book and understand that running a big venture backed growth stage company is not for the weary. Some people are turned off by somewhat racy epithets, but he has such a great voice and you need to understand what drives him and his investments.
8. How To Start A Startup by Paul Graham, 2005.
http://paulgraham.com/start.html
It’s not a book, it’s not a blog, it’s a manifesto and worth reading. If you don’t know who Paul Graham is or Y-Combinator, this is a good place to start. Then you can read everything else he’s written.
9. Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days by Jessica Livingston, 2007.
It’s very important to understand what made the first wave of web startups tick and their trials and tribulations. Jessica put some of the best of them in this book and in their own words. You’ll recognize many of the names in the Table of Contents associated with the original act that made them famous.
10. The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth by Eric M. Jackson 2012.
This was written by the person who was heading marketing at PayPal. The “PayPal Mafia” has a far reach, and its founders are some of the biggest leaders in the tech world to this day. We’re only in the early stages of how we will pay for things online and how we pay each other- read this book and understand the beginning of the revolution.
Special thanks to Jesse Podell, COO of TechDay