10 Books That Every Startup Enthusiast Must Read To Enrich Their Journey!

Daily lives of entrepreneurs are entangled with chaos and tight deadlines. Honing the skills, and learning the right tactics for making businesses better needs a dosage of thought-provoking books for self development and business best practices. Acquiring the ability to empathize with a variety of perspectives is invaluable when growing a business and being a business owner independent consultants, entrepreneurs should accustom with the growing needs and demands. 

With an active reading list in hand, you can deep dive into the books get anew perspective on all the elements and help in unlearning and relearning certain aspects. Based on my experience of dealing with Startups, here are some of the must-reads for that hone your professional life and nurture your entrepreneurial skills:

Here are Top-10 books that every startup entrepreneur must read:

Zero to One by Peter Thiel: Considered to be the ‘Bible for Startups’, it helps startups folks in understanding the vertical expansion and horizontal expansion, and also exhibits the enthusiasm about the businesses and also several lessons that are relevant to today’s businesses. The four principles that startups companies should follow for success, competing with identical product and also having a bold plan. 

Legendary Peter Thiel presents his viewpoint on the ever-debating point on computers    are a complement to the humans, not a substitute for them.

Measure What Matters by John Doerr: There is no substitute for improvement that has to be done.  Doerr, in this book, introduced concrete objectives and key results (OKRs) are highly effective for goal-setting and also encourage ongoing communication about setting a timeline for accomplishing them.

With compelling examples from Bono, Google and the Gates foundation on how they have immersed and are empowering to step far outside the box and innovate in potentially world-changing ways.

Frequently re-visiting the processes will measure progress, and transparency in goal-setting. And also, it enhances collaboration among your teammates and setting ambitious goals can yield dramatic and innovative results. 

Sales Mind by Helen Kensett: Selling is an art and no matter in whatever profession we are in, we sell ideas, and sell them in the way we think.

The internet is brimming with tactics that help you sell better and selling today has become more than anything else. With 48 different tools and techniques these books opens up new opportunities on how to train your brain and hone the art of closing a deal. From understanding the organisational goals to inter-linking it with individual goals, this illustrative book helps you understand the psychological factors and influencing elements in developing the right Sales attitude.

MasterCommunications@Work by Ally Yates: Today’s workplaces have become more than reaching organisational goals. It is more about collaborating with each other and working with ‘collective passion’ and influencing everyone by the way we think and support them in what they do.

In this book, Ally Yates tells the tales on how behavioural analysis helps in better collaboration and helps in influencing the people. From the hidden secrets of Behaviour Analysis that defines us at work to increase your effectiveness and achieve more positive outcomes. 

Crossing The Chasm: Marketing and selling disruptive products to mainstream consumers by Geoffrey Moore

A must-read for high-tech companies that wish to transition successfully from a small, technically minded customer base to a larger general market.

Products fail to spread from first adopters to early adopters when their technological innovations have no clear new benefit for new users. The chasm between early adopters and the early majority occurs because early adopters are willing to make changes to adapt to a new product, whereas the early majority wants increased productivity with as little change as possible. 

These strategies that help customers within a market adopt new products at different points during the chasm between early adopters and the early majority occurs are willing to make new products. 

The 80/20 Principle, The Secret of Achieving More with Less by Richard Koch: A wonderful self-help book that helps you achieve maximal results from minimal inputs. This is for every individual who is passionate about changing themselves, in terms of work, strategies and personal growth because by identifying the inputs that are more important in any venture, personal or professional, it becomes possible to reap big rewards from little effort. Richard brings in the concept of Pareto’s principle and with the right set of examples he explains how it impacts the other elements of life.

Also, he talks about striving for effectiveness over efficiency, a direct relationship between efforts and demand, and how it is someone enhancing one’s personal life.

Think and Grow Rich, by Napolean Hill: This book is a best guide on self-improvement and personal enrichment through positive thought. A desire and plan implanted in the subconscious mind has the power because the subconscious mind can send out or receive the thought from the energies that all human brains share and from the higher power that is the source of creative imagination. Best sought after book for overcoming obstacles to success and the reason people give up on their desires. 

Start with Why? How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action by Simon Sinek: 

One of the best self-help books for business leaders seeking ways of gaining authenticity through a focus on their purpose. Leadership that affirms a company’s “why” relies on trust and cultivation of a culture that ensures that the leader’s message is amplified. Whenever there is a change in the management there is a loss of focus that can occur at lower levels of the organisation as a company becomes large and successful. These lapses can be avoided with consistent metrics, an emphasis on company culture, and a succession plan that perpetuates the leader’s vision. Above all, finding and  maintaining a company’s purpose requires reflection and a struggle to find focus through trial and error.

Behind The Cloud: The untold story of how Salesforce.com went from Idea to billion-dollar company and revolutionised an Industry: Salesforce.com used Cloud based Computing to create new business standards in the early 2000s. When Salesforce.com launched in 1999, it piloted the SaaS strategy as an attractive, low-cost alternative to mainstream software distribution companies.

By creating innovative technology and committing to new strategies, salesforce.com found success in an economic climate that destroyed other internet-based companies. This book is a must-read for all technology enthusiasts.

Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares: This book rightly fits-in to Seth Godin’s testimonial of an insider-scoop into the latest, specific tactics from the red-hot centre of the Internet marketing universe. A must-read if you think your Marketing efforts are not channelised in the right direction, this wonderful piece by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares talks all the possible channels for lead generation as well as sums up some of the best practices, followed. 

Few more that can be added to the list are Linchpin, Made to Stick, The Communication Book by Mikael Krogerus & Roman Tschappeler. Like many Startup enthusiasts I always believe that books are our companions and are the sources that can help you in making thoughts better and brain sharper.