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Favourite business books?

The more I read, the more I learn.
The more I learn, the more I realise I don't know.

Curious to see what everyone else's top reads are. For me at the moment, it's "The Hard Things About Hard Things", "Zero To One" and "The Lean Startup" (in no particular order).

Any other suggestions?


Edit: Thanks for the suggestions, I read most! I've summarised loads of the key ideas across the different books in my newsletter.

  1. 4

    You will like, "What You Do Is Who You Are." Finished that recently and now working on, "Competing Against Luck" and "Trillion Dollar Coach."

    1. 1

      Was this as good as his previous book?

      Competing against luck sounds excellent!

      1. 1

        Different, not better per se. Ben does a great job breaking down culture through storytelling and revealing the systems within organizations that "eat strategy for breakfast."

        1. 1

          Looking forward to it almost finished competing against luck, fantastic recommendation, thanks!

  2. 3

    All books by Basecamp are worth a read. You can find them here: https://basecamp.com/books

  3. 3

    I love Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson of Basecamp. It really puts you in the correct mindset necessary to create a great startup and do some great work in online communications and digital marketing. In many ways, it goes against most of the general, generic advice you see and hear other places. If you want to look at the startup and digital marketing world with fresh eyes, it's worth checking it out.

    1. 1

      Sounds great, will check it out thanks!

  4. 3

    I particularly like business books that tell a great story and give you valuable lessons within, some of my favorites:

    Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton

    You can learn a lot about early team dynamics and dealing with pivots

    Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle

    This gives a great insider view into the workings of the original Silicon Valley networks, but it's also structured to give you clear lessons on leadership.

    Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

    A thrilling tale about the one of the most amazing frauds in tech. Great to teach you about communication, identifying truth and lies and trust.

    1. 2

      Really great recs, still haven't read the first one. Have read the other 2 & really enjoyed them. For another Twitter related book I really enjoyed Things a Little Bird Told Me by Biz Store.

    2. 2

      Thanks for the summaries, they sound really good! Hatching Twitter sounds especially good!

  5. 2

    Competing against luck - It gives a framework for innovation, a must-read for every entrepreneur.

    1. 1

      Almost finished, I whole-heartedly agree!

  6. 1

    I have also realized the same when you read a book which took 30 years of experience to write you are gaining so much in a week. It took the reader 30 years but you are gaining it in a week. My best book this week. Trevor Noah- Born a Crime. Such an inspiration. Let's keep reading, learning, and re-learning

  7. 1

    zero to one, $100 Startup and Side Hustle

  8. 1

    Few that I've really enjoyed and go back to frequently:

    • Rework
    • E Myth
    • Built to Sell
    • Never split the difference
    • Hard things about hard things
    • The Everything Store (really interesting insights into Jeff Bezos)
    • Personal MBA
  9. 1

    I am reading This is Marketing by Seth Godin & I am thoroughly enjoying it. I highly recommend checking it out. Lots of actionable advice on how to think about branding & marketing.

    Just one of my highlights I liked near the beginning of the book: "Marketing is the act of making change happen. Making is insufficient. You haven’t made an impact until you’ve changed someone."

  10. 1

    My bestest:

    • Start with why - teaches you "business thinking"
    • The mom test - teaches you how to handle the market research and validate the product idea
  11. 1

    "Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur" - Author: Derek Sivers. I found this to be a good read and it just requires 1 to 2 hours time to complete this book.

  12. 1

    E-Myth by Michael G.
    Delivering Happiness by the Zappos dude guy I forget his name
    Built To Sell by John Warrillow
    Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

    Marketing:
    22 Immutable laws of marketing
    Positioning for your mind
    They ask you answer By Sheridan

    Are you into copywriting? It's a new thing that I'm getting into the more I realize how important communication is:

    The Boron Letters
    Ca$hvertising

    And my favourite psychology books:
    Influence by Cialdini - his other books in this series are great too
    Predictably Irrational

    And for inspiration on being adventurous and trying new things and being a founder that enjoys company and ranting to co-founders and other friends:

    Calvin and Hobbes

  13. 1

    I found "The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business" to be one of the best business books I've read so far.
    The goal of the book is to present a condensed version of business and marketing basics, which it does quite well. A big plus for me was that it doesn't go into too many too long anecdotal stories, which, for me personally, always seem like a big waste of time.

  14. 1

    One of my go-to books is The Underdog Advantage by Scott Miller. It teaches you how to have an insurgent mentality.

  15. 1

    My current booklist. I am taking reading more seriously this year. Not all are business but good reads none the less.

    https://www.notion.so/trulli/Book-tracker-dd46311d607c4327b9792cbfea9fc8e6

  16. 1

    I recently published my book Start With A Side-Project where I share my 3-month journey of building, marketing, and selling an online side-project :)

  17. 1

    One of my favorite "Launch" by Jeff Walker

  18. 1

    Zero to One by Peter Thiel - best so far for me

  19. 1

    not sure what your definition of a business book is, but I really liked Starting and Sustaining by Garrett Dimon, he gives an overview about all aspects of running a bootstrapped company, I'd recommend it if you are relatively new to indie hacking.

    The second book would be Mom Test because making sure your business is built on an idea that makes sense and has the change to succeed is the first step, even before writing any code.

  20. 1

    Shoe dog by Phil knight I enjoyed reading quite a lot. He takes you through his story on how he came up with a concept for Nike and how much effort it took from him and his business partners, a very inspiring read.

  21. 1

    One of my favorite is Ben Horowitz - The Hard Thing About Hard Things

  22. 1

    I really like Built to Sell. Even though the specific story is about selling an agency, I think it's still a great read for SaaS owners.

  23. 0

    In no particular order:

    • Positioning
    • From Impossible to Inevitable
    • Crossing the Chasm
    • Pre-suasion
    • The Lean Startup
    • Scientific Advertising
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