Books have always been a valuable resource for learning from others’ experiences. Meanwhile, some fields need more study, one of which is business and startups. I think few people can benefit from studying as much as a startup founder. Here is the field that learning brings the most practical manifestations. Many books have been written, but some of them are more popular than others. In this article, we will introduce you to some of the best startup books.
Read more: Why are Books Better than the Internet? Introducing 9 Programming Books.
Division of startup books
General classification
Startups usually consist of three phases:
- Idea generation
- Product development
- Launch and project growth
We have also divided the startup books into the above three categories, and, of course, we have introduced the books of each category based on priority. So if you do not have enough time to study them all, you will learn the basic concepts of that phase by reading the first few books of each category.
Thematic category
The subject of each book is one of the following:
- Business, management and leadership (personal development is also part of this category)
- Product development
- Investment and financing
- Marketing and growth
- Recruitment
Scoring method
All the books introduced are worth reading, but time is also a significant challenge that most fundraisers face. That’s why we have rated the startup books based on their value so that you can read the most important titles in each category if you lack time. The prioritization is based on the practicality of the techniques and information expressed in the book.
Based on this, we have labelled each book as follow:
Essential to read: These books are necessary and vital so that every founder should read. They express concepts that directly affect your startup insights and thinking. Startup books labelled “essential” include content that can be easily implemented in your startup. You will definitely lose a lot by skipping these books.
Better to read: Books in this category contain concepts that indirectly help improve your business. For example, books written about personal development or books on time management and psychological topics. Reading these books will definitely bring many benefits to the fundraisers.
You can read: These books are helpful, but their information is not directly related to startups or is not as important as the other previous labels. In fact, we recommend reading these books only when you have the extra time.
Idea generation books
Subject area: executive capability, team building, product development
BOOK NO.1: The Lean Startup
Author: Eric Reese
Subject: Product development
Essential to read
Lean Startup is a precious book that is a must-read for any fundraiser. This book provides an approach to product development with minimized resource wastage.
The book introduces five important principles:
- Entrepreneurs are everywhere
- Entrepreneurship is management
- Validated learning
- Innovation accounting
- Build-Measure-Learn
Among them, “Validated learning” is the most prominent. Every company’s success depends on its learning efficiency and its ability to stabilize the business.
Lean Startup teaches you how to assess your idea needs with minimal resources.
This approach is applicable not only for product development but also for any aspect of a startup. Eric Reese recounts his youthful experiences in the book’s introduction. How he intended to implement lucrative ideas in information technology and what lessons he learned after the failure of the project. Eric Rees has studied a new method for analyzing startup businesses and has presented his results in this book.
The theories suggested apply from the first stage of idea development to product development and marketing. In other words, by reading Lean Startup, you will gain a deep insight into the Idea you have in mind.
BOOK NO.2: Sprint: how to solve big problems and test new ideas in just five days
Author: Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, Cutting Queens
Subject: Product development
Essential to read
Startups’ common mistakes include following the sixth sense, developing the product without building a prototype (MVP), or even not having long-term goals. Sprint book tries to minimize these problems with a practical approach. In addition, there is a minor division of Release in the Scrum Sprint methodology that takes between two and eight weeks. During this period, some features are implemented and offered to the end customer for testing. This book is a practical guide to performing sprints and provides valuable tips for making the most of this technique. This startup book is suitable for both large companies and small and startup companies.
BOOK NO.3:The art of happiness
Author: Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler
Topic: Business, Management and Leadership
Better to read
The life of the founders is a life of ups and downs. Self-control is not easy in sensitive situations. Throughout the book, the Dalai Lama tells stories that determine people who live happily are not necessarily wealthy. There is a famous saying that happiness is a state of our minds; As long as we tie it to external factors, we will not achieve it, and even if we do, it will not last. This book’s contents will help you control yourself at any stage of your life, focus on your work, and strengthen your listening skills.
Product development
Subject area: A minimum viable product (MVP), Marketing, Growth Planning
BOOK NO.1:Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth
Author: Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares
Subject: Marketing and growth
Essential to read
Traction is simply the book Lean Startup in Marketing and Growth. Before introducing 19 channels of traction increase (customer acquisition or consumer market development), the author first describes the unique method used to do so; That is the Bullseye framework. This method came from the heart of interviewing 40 big startups. Gabriel Weinberg is the founder of DuckDuckGo, a search engine with more than 25 billion searches and accounts for the bulk of Internet traffic.
In this method, different marketing channels are divided into three loops:
- The outer ring (what is possible);
- Middle circle (what is probable);
- Internal ring (what answers).
Startups must continuously connect customer acquisition channels to related loops and try to direct the flow of traction to the inner circle; Because it has more value and should be focused on. Every fundraiser looking to expand the market should have this startup book with them and choose the best way to attract customers by experimenting with the 19 methods outlined.
BOOK NO.2:Contagious
Author: Jonah Berger
Subject: Marketing and growth
Better to read
Word of mouth or viral marketing is one of the most effective marketing methods; But achieving this method is not an easy task for startups! Why does one piece of content go viral on social media but not many others? Why do some videos on YouTube reach millions of views overnight and spread like wildfire on the Internet and not more? Contagious Written by Jonah Berger – Business Professor and Viral Marketing Specialist – is a book that answers this question and outlines six important principles for achieving this type of marketing. These principles are vital to any startup business and include:
- Social credibility;
- Triggers;
- Emotions;
- Generality;
- Practical value;
- Storytelling.
Jonah, for example, points out that emotional factors such as excitement, anger, surprise, and admiration have a profound effect on the virality of the message. Still, emotions such as sadness and grief will have the opposite effect on the subject. There is a better way to convey the message and keep it in people’s minds. The storytelling is simpler, and the general public likes this way. Fundraisers working on marketing and growth issues can use the contents of this book for word-of-mouth marketing. The positive features of this book are its engaging storytelling and its numerous and clear examples.
Launch and project growth
Subject area: Product fit with market, Analytics (conversion funnel, two-part A / B testing), Investor Search, Recruitment
BOOK NO.1:Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist
Author: Brad Feld and Jason Mendelssohn
Subject: Investment and financing
Essential to read
Book Venture Deals offers tips and facts about venture capital that are essential for any inexperienced fundraiser. The two chapters in this book, Economics and Control, explain the most common factors for venture capital. In these two chapters, essential terms such as liquidity priority, commitment and guarantee, anti-dilution clause, safeguard rules and agreement terms are discussed in detail.
BOOK NO.2: High output management
Author: Andrew Grove
Topic: Business, Management and Leadership
ٍEssential to read
Switching Intel to a processor maker has not been easy, and it becomes even more interesting to read a book when we know that Andrew Grove himself has played a role in changing the organization. Bill Gates recommends reading this book to all executives. He consulted with former Intel CEO Andrew Grove when Bill Gates ran into management problems. He is one of the top business executives of the twentieth century, and even after his death, his management style is still the headline of big companies like Google and Amazon.
This book describes how to deal with issues in different situations. Andrew specializes in expressing the most complex management discussions in simple language.
BOOK NO.3: Mastering the VC game
Author: Jeffrey Bossing
Subject: Investment and financing
You can read
With the expansion of the number of startups, venture capital has also flourished. The present book aims to introduce you to both sides of the negotiating table, namely yourself as an investor and others. Important topics covered in this startup book are: How do investment companies manage their activities? As a startup, how do you negotiate to attract the best investor?
Please share your experiences with the best startup books, and if you have any other books in this field, please introduce them. Your feedback as a reader will be valuable to other visitors and us.
