This list is our selection of the top 22 must-read books for entrepreneurs who want to stack the deck in their favor.
Reading voraciously is probably the single biggest advantage that any founder can give themselves. This isn't just true for entrepreneurs—the most influential people throughout history generally share one thing in common: they read constantly. This is still true today, whether it's Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, or Elon Musk. There is such a strong correlation between reading and success because people who read are constantly learning.
At StacDek, our mission is to help entrepreneurs succeed. We have created our toolkit from years of research, hands-on experience, and hundreds of the best books on launching and growing a business. We know how hard it is to launch a new business and simultaneously take the time to read all the books that could help you and your new venture. That's why our goal has been to simplify the learning process for new entrepreneurs. Here we've provided 20 of our top books for entrepreneurs, broken up by category. Our startup program covers the core principles in these books and hundreds more.
Starting a new business
The Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki
The Lean Startup - Eric Ries
BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship) - Jim Collins & Bill Lazier
Zero to One - Peter Thiel & Blake Masters
Mindset
Atomic Habits - James Clear
The Upside of Stress - Kelly McGonigal
Antifragile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Principles - Ray Dalio
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey
Originals - Adam Grant
Customer Discovery
The Startup Owner's Manual - Steve Blank and Bob Dorf
The Mom Test - Rob Fitzpatrick
VC and fundraising
The Founder's Dilemmas - Noam Wasserman
The Secrets of Sand Hill Road - Scott Kupor & Eric Ries
Get Backed - Evan Baer & Evan Loomis
Marketing
The One Page Marketing Plan - Allan Dib
Growth Hacker Marketing - Ryan Holiday
Hacking Growth - Sean Ellis & Morgan Brown
Strategy
Better, Simpler Strategy - Felix Oberholzer-Gee
The E Myth Revisited - Michael E. Gerber
Negotiation & persuasion
Start With No - Jim Camp
Influence - Robert B. Caldini
Many excellent books are not on this list, but we can confidently say that every one of these books deserves to be here. As you go through our startup toolkit, we will share lots of new books and our favorite concepts from them. If you find this list interesting and want to learn more about StacDek, then become a Member today and begin checking out all our resources.
