Scrolling through the collections of the best start-up books online, you’ll probably see the same titles repeated repeatedly in every list.
Let me guess the most frequently mentioned:
- Start With Why by Simon Sinek
- Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
- The Lean Start-up by Eric Ries
Indeed, it’s a trio of the most popular books on entrepreneurship and business growth.
This article is an exception, however. It contains seven less recognized but not less helpful books for business leaders who want to succeed in their start-ups.
These are the must-read start-up books by company owners and managers that can help you lead your teams to daily success and eliminate common mistakes when launching and running a business.
Mistake Is a Good Teacher for Start-up Founders; Book Is the Best One
Books can give you more than you can imagine.
For example, Elon Musk, co-founder of six start-ups, including Tesla and SpaceX, taught himself rocket science by reading books. He practically memorized them and could quote passages by heart.
J. D. Meier, Director of Innovation & Sustainability, Industry Solutions at Microsoft, shares 25 books that changed his life and taught him about management, high performance, risk-taking, etc.
Whether you’d like to read a book to sip inspiration for your start-up, develop your leadership skills, or create an actionable business strategy, you can do that right now.
7 Best Start-up Books for Every Entrepreneur and Business Founder
Propel your start-up to greater heights with any or all of the following reads.
One Hour Strategy by Mark North
Author: Mark North – Professor in the Business Department at Florida International University
Year: 2017
Short overview
Don’t have time for strategic business planning?
Strategy is made simple and quick in this book. Of course, it will take you a bit more than one hour, but it’s worth it. Mark North comprehensively explains a SWOT analysis and enumerates several practical action steps for your business plan.
One Hour Strategy is the second title in his four-book series Logical Business.
Leader’s commentary
The book is recommended by Gerald Lombardo, CEO of cauZmik :
“Reading One Hour Strategy is a must if you are eager to map out and visualize your business ideas to see them clearly.
One of the shortest books for start-up entrepreneurs, in just 110 pages, it helps to blaze a trail for your business in no time. There are also some bonus chapters that you may find useful too. They contain the steps of creating effective checklists, presenting your strategy to others, reviewing, and making adjustments to your strategic plan.”
Start-up Success by Gordon Daugherty
Author: Gordon Daugherty – computer scientist, investor, start-up advisor, and creator of Shockwave Innovations
Year: 2019
Short overview
It takes practically nothing to come up with a good start-up idea.
It takes a lot to find money to get started.
In Start-up Success, Gordon Daugherty teaches you the art of fundraising. He strategizes the fundraiser’s journey to the fullest. This start-up book is packed with valuable hacks for raising funds.
Leader’s commentary
The book is recommended by Zach Leonard, President of Gembah:
“This is a handbook for those start-up founders who choose to fundraise. It’s a personal choice, but sometimes it’s a must-do for start-ups to survive.
Gordon Daugherty provides an all-encompassing toolkit to raise funds for business. His insights on convertible securities and interaction with investors were particularly useful for me.”
The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia
Author: Sahil Lavinia – Founder of Gumroad
Year: 2021
Short overview
The book’s subtitle is self-explanatory: How Great Founders Do More with Less.
Here’s what minimalist entrepreneurs should do, according to Lavingia:
- Chase profitability, not unicorns
- Concentrate on authentic and long-term relationships with customers
- Build only the essentials and automate or outsource the rest
- Educate people while selling
- Open up about their failures and successes
- Practice mindful business growth
- Hire the like-minded people
Guiding you on each step, the author shows how to “build the house you want to live in.”
Leader’s commentary
The book is recommended by Mark Pierce, CEO of Cloud Peak Law Group
“The book’s ideas resonated with me greatly. Sahil Lavingia reminded me that any founder or C-suite leader is a creator in the first place.
Although The Minimalist Entrepreneur is a short read on start-up management, it has huge potential to motivate founders and direct them to self-sustainability. Specifically, it’s oriented on tech start-ups, but it can become a pocketbook for virtually any business creator.”
Start-up Money Made Easy by Maria Aspan
Author: Maria Aspan – an award-winning magazine writer and editor-at-large at Inc.
Year: 2019
Short overview
Can you manage your start-up money well?
Even if you have no doubts about it, you know that mistakes are inevitable. That’s why, when it comes to finances, you should be ready to avert the most dangerous situations and avoid pitfalls.
That’s what this guide is about. It will address all the financial concerns: from getting your business off the ground to offering attractive salaries and employee benefits.
Leader’s commentary
The book is recommended by Shawn Plummer, CEO of The Annuity Expert:
“The Inc.’s editorial team made the impossible in this book. It’s the best financial primer for start-ups.
Not without a good reason, Maria Aspan calls finance ‘the broccoli of running a business.’ At first glance, it nourishes businesses. At the same time, it often boils down to a floppy and pointless pile if addressed improperly. The author also reveals the #1 start-up destroyer – cash flow issues.”
Surviving a Start-up by Steven Hoffman
Author: Steven Hoffman – CEO of Founders Space, the leading start-up accelerator in the world
Year: 2021
Short overview
How should you navigate the start-up’s minefields?
The author demonstrates the practical strategies that work and tells you what you should do exactly to bootstrap a business, approach recruitment, and scale up.
You’ll come across some illustrative examples of such companies as:
- Zendesk
- Samsung
- Casper
- Oculus VR and others
Leader’s commentary
The book is recommended by Stephan Baldwin, Founder of Assisted Living:
“If you want to know how smart founders maximize success and minimize risks, this should be your go-to book.
It can help you to prepare for unpredictable obstacles and embrace the chaos of running a company. Aside from that, you should write your own rules because the existing ones can’t be universal for every entrepreneur. I entirely agree with the author on this matter and develop the Ancient Language Institute relying on our specific needs and unique approaches to teaching languages.”
Building Great Start-up Teams by Dean Hume
Author: Dean Hume – software developer and blogger
Year: 2016
Short overview
Did you know that with over 25,000 new tech jobs appearing every year in London, merely 2,400 students choose tech-specific courses?
Dean Hume explains what it means for tech start-ups and opens your eyes to the ever-changing landscape of recruitment, not only in the technology sector.
He leads you through the four stages of recruiting:
- Planning
- Attracting
- Selecting
- Retaining
If you want to hire a team smoothly in today’s digital era, grab this book.
Leader’s commentary
The book is recommended by Jesse Hanson, Content Manager at Online Solitaire & World of Card Games:
“Need a deep insider’s perspective on start-up team building? Dean Hume, a tech lead and game developer at Microsoft, gives you just that.
It’s also an insightful read on start-up culture as a concept and as a practical implementation in the company. It isn’t only about pizza Wednesdays or board game Fridays. It’s formed out of the collective attitudes and beliefs of your employees. Reading this book will help you to build the greatest company culture for your start-up.
Happy teams = better products.
This formula from the book is engraved in my mind now.”
Start-up: Thirty-Six Lessons from Company Founders and CEOs by Tim Jackson
Author: Tim Jackson – CEO Coach at Walking Ventures
Year: 2020
Short overview
How can you lower the cost of trial and error in business?
By reading these 36 how-tos and taking action.
Tim Jackson starts with the importance of co-founders and CEOs for a start-up and ends with time management hacks. In between, he instructs you on raising funds, hiring and firing at scale, creating your company’s mission statement, managing teams, negotiating salaries, etc.
Leader’s commentary
The book is recommended by Jason Alvarez-Cohen, CEO of Popl:
“It tops my list of books about start-ups. Why? Because it prepares a business owner or co-founder for literally anything: qualifying investors, closing the work-ethic gap, implementing OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), escaping the email jail, and many more!
It has become my tablebook for building an online business, recruiting highly-skilled professionals, and delivering the best e-learning content for our target audience.”
And Some More Start-ups Books
Love reading?
Here are some more start-up books for founders & entrepreneurs:
- Six books to inspire start-up leaders – shortlist for the Business Book Awards 2020
- Six inspirational business books – shortlist for the Business Book Awards 2021
- Five books that influenced the founder’s journey – selection by Tim Groot, CEO and Founder of Grip
Hopefully, these books will quench your hunger.
They will also assist you in kickstarting your business and driving it to success.
And since I started this article with reference to The Lean Start-up by Eric Ries, let me finish it with one of my favorite quotes from this book:
“Reading is good; action is better.”
