Essential Books for Founders
A curated reading list for every stage of your startup journey. Learn from those who've built successful companies before you.
Getting Started
The Lean Startup
The book that revolutionized how startups are built. Eric Ries introduces the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop and teaches you to validate ideas through rapid experimentation rather than lengthy business plans.
Key Takeaways:
- Minimum Viable Product (MVP) development
- Validated learning through experiments
- Pivot or persevere decision-making
Best for: First-time founders, product managers
Buy on AmazonZero to One
PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel's contrarian philosophy on innovation. Instead of copying what works (1 to n), create something entirely new (0 to 1). Build monopolies, not competitive businesses.
Key Takeaways:
- Contrarian thinking and secret insights
- Why competition is for losers
- Building defensible monopolies
Best for: Ambitious founders, tech entrepreneurs
Buy on AmazonThe Hard Thing About Hard Things
Ben Horowitz's brutally honest account of building, running, selling, and investing in companies. The struggles that books don't usually cover: firing executives, managing your psychology, and surviving near-death experiences.
Key Takeaways:
- Making decisions with incomplete information
- Managing through crisis and uncertainty
- Building company culture under pressure
Best for: CEOs, startup leaders facing tough decisions
Buy on AmazonThe Mom Test
A short, practical guide on customer interviews that actually work. Learn how to ask questions that even your mom can't lie to you about. Stop collecting compliments and start gathering truth.
Key Takeaways:
- Rules for asking good questions
- Avoiding compliment-seeking behavior
- Finding truth in customer conversations
Best for: Anyone doing customer discovery
Buy on AmazonGrowth & Strategy
Crossing the Chasm
The classic marketing bible for tech products. Moore explains the gap between early adopters and mainstream customers, and provides strategies to successfully cross that chasm and achieve market dominance.
Key Takeaways:
- Understanding the technology adoption lifecycle
- Targeting the right beachhead market
- Building the whole product solution
Best for: B2B SaaS founders, product marketers
Buy on AmazonTraction
DuckDuckGo founder's framework for customer acquisition. Explores 19 traction channels and the Bullseye Framework to systematically find the one channel that will move the needle for your startup.
Key Takeaways:
- The 19 traction channels explained
- Bullseye Framework for testing channels
- Real examples from successful startups
Best for: Growth-stage founders, marketers
Buy on AmazonBlitzscaling
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman's playbook for rapidly scaling companies. Learn how to prioritize speed over efficiency to achieve massive scale, with lessons from Airbnb, Google, and Facebook.
Key Takeaways:
- When and how to prioritize growth over efficiency
- The five stages of blitzscaling
- Management techniques for hypergrowth
Best for: VC-backed founders aiming for massive scale
Buy on AmazonHooked
The psychology behind habit-forming products. Eyal reveals the Hook Model—a four-step process that companies like Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest use to subtly encourage customer behavior and create user habits.
Key Takeaways:
- The Hook Model: Trigger, Action, Reward, Investment
- Building products people use habitually
- Ethical considerations of persuasive design
Best for: Product designers, consumer app founders
Buy on AmazonLeadership & Management
High Output Management
Intel's legendary CEO Andy Grove's timeless management principles. Learn how to maximize productivity, run effective meetings, make decisions, and build high-performing teams. A must-read recommended by top tech leaders.
Key Takeaways:
- Output-oriented management approach
- One-on-ones and performance reviews done right
- Task-relevant maturity model
Best for: First-time managers, engineering leaders
Buy on AmazonMeasure What Matters
Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) have driven phenomenal growth at Google, Intel, and beyond. The goal-setting framework used by the world's most successful companies.
Key Takeaways:
- How to implement OKRs effectively
- Setting ambitious yet achievable goals
- Real case studies from Google, Gates Foundation, Bono
Best for: Team leaders, executives planning strategy
Buy on AmazonRadical Candor
Former Google and Apple executive Kim Scott's framework for giving feedback that actually helps people grow. Learn to care personally while challenging directly—the key to being a great boss without being a jerk.
Key Takeaways:
- The Radical Candor framework (4 quadrants)
- How to give and receive feedback effectively
- Building trust and strong team relationships
Best for: Managers, anyone leading a team
Buy on AmazonThe Founder's Dilemmas
Harvard Business School professor's research-backed analysis of the tough choices founders face. From equity splits to hiring friends and family, learn how to navigate the decisions that make or break startups.
Key Takeaways:
- Rich vs. King: What do you optimize for?
- Co-founder equity splits and vesting
- When to bring in professional management
Best for: Co-founders, early-stage entrepreneurs
Buy on Amazon