What books would you recommend to budding entrepreners?

This is partially derived from an interview I did recently:

• Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston. I cannot say enough good things about this book. It is a fantastic ‘view from the shoulder of’ the life and times of extremely famous and successful entrepreneurs. Get in the mind of successful founders through this amazing compilation of interviews Jessica performed. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. Seriously, go get this on Amazon.

• Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki. A very inspirational book from a pretty prolific member of the startup community about the basics and framework of starting companies. Really great book, a must-read for all entrepreneurs.

• Paul Graham’s essays, available at http://paulgraham.com – some of the best writing about entrepreneurship and lessons learned about entrepreneurship. If you don’t already know who Paul Graham is, wtf? —He’s an extremely prominent startup figure associated with seed funding firm Y Combinator along with Jessica Livingston.

• Success Built to Last: Creating a Life that Matters by Jerry Porras et al. Quality book about creating lasting meaning from your own success.

• What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20: A Crash Course on Making Your Place in the World by Tina Seelig, who is the director of entrepreneurship at the Stanford School of Engineering. Great book about, well, what the title says.

• The Google Story by David A. Vise: a history of Google’s comings and beings. The story behind Google is astounding.

• The Monk and the Riddle by Randy Komisar takes you inside the life of a bit of a renegade angel investor and teaches you a lot about entrepreneurship. It was recommended to me by my co-founder at Ramamia, Jason L. Baptiste.

• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Good book about success and the strange things it may stem from.

• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber. A no-BS book about, well, what the title says.

• Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat by Michael Masterson. An interesting book studying startups and finding out how to spend your time smarter than harder.

• Blueprint to a Billion: 7 Essentials to Achieve Exponential Growth by David G. Thomson. The results of years' of work studying the patterns of billion-dollar businesses. One of them is: get a co-founder!

My must reads are:

The Goal by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt

This is not your typical business book with MBA-style case studies. Don’t let your eyes glaze over when I tell you that it’s an explanation of the Theory of Constraints model for systems management (which was, incidentally, developed by the author). The Goal is written as a novel about Alex Rogo who runs a metal working factory with many of the typical problems you might see in any business. The main plot is about the insights Alex has when pondering these problems, how he overcomes them and how he gets the business running smoothly again. In typical novel fashion, there are sub-plots dealing with Alex’s personal life. This book is an easy, enjoyable read and would fit easily into a leisurely weekend reading schedule.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t by Jim Collins

Good to Great may be the most thoroughly researched book I have ever seen. It is the result of years of research on over 1,400 companies by Jim Collins and a team of 21 others. They looked for companies that made significant and consistent improvement over a long period of time. After finding 11 companies that met all of their criteria, they compiled extensive research and interviewed numerous people within the companies.

Collins and team found several core concepts that were consistently evident across all of these eleven companies. He boils down these ideas into easy to understand language with many real-life examples and gives them memorable names such as: “Hedgehog Concept” and “The Flywheel”. (There are also lots of great resources on Jim Collins’ website.)

Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs by Craig Stull, Phil Myers, and David M. Scott

Tuned in explores why some products (such as the Apple iPod) become great successes while other similar products fall flat. The book takes you through a six-step process to help tune your company in to the market, establish the trust and loyalty of your customers and build products that resonate with them. It is based on the Pragmatic Marketing framework. This book is also a quick read with lots of real-life examples. Be sure to check out the resources on the Pragmatic Marketing website as well.

Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs by Craig Stull, Phil Myers, and David M. Scott

Tuned in explores why some products (such as the Apple iPod) become great successes while other similar products fall flat. The book takes you through a six-step process to help tune your company in to the market, establish the trust and loyalty of your customers and build products that resonate with them. It is based on the Pragmatic Marketing framework. This book is also a quick read with lots of real-life examples. Be sure to check out the resources on the Pragmatic Marketing website as well.

Joydeep, There was a pointer to a summarized list of books by one the users David http://www.squeezedbooks.com/book/recent][1].

Once you read the summary, you will at least know which one to borrow from the library or buy. For example: I haven't read the Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell yet and my friend entrepreneurs recommended that and David has put on a decent summary on his site.

anup

Another interesting book that many of the entrepreneurs would be able to relate to is : Founders at work by Jessica Livingston. A good read.

The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber

I read this book over 10 years ago. It was a regular source of encouragement as I was starting up my software business.

I would recommend reading:

1. The Republic of Tea - Mel & Patricia Ziegler: Great book that documents the journey of a first time entrepreneur and the phases that he goes through before actually launching his business.

2. Purple Cow - Seth Godin: If you are going to be starting a business then you have to be thinking about making a remarkable product from the very beginning. This book should help put some perspective on that.

3. Reality Check - Guy Kawasaki: Has lots of great pointers and tips for individuals who are just starting out.

"Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs" by Karen Berman & Joe Knight. Even if you'll have somebody else doing your accounting, you'll still need know what those numbers mean and how to do some financial analysis. This is the best book I've read that talks about these issues with respect to the entrepreneur.

The Monk That Sold His Ferarri by Robin Sharma. Great book for entrepreneurs...really puts things into perspective and helps to create a mindset that can lead to a more balanced lifestyle.

Great question! And I'm updating my Amazon wish list with some of the other recommendations here. I'd also suggest Brand Hijack and Personality Not Included for Marketing perspective.

I'm going to throw in a recommendation for Crush It. If you haven't seen a keynote by Gary Vaynerchuk yet, I highly recommend that you go check one out! The guy has passion like no one else that I've seen. His basic message is this:

"Care and you win. Spend time creating content, and putting yourself out there (social media). Eventually you can get paid to do what you love."

I love his approach to business, and how he really does care. Go grab the book, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

-JP

The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris

If you're trying to build a life-style business (and not in the start-up market to 'cash out') then I love some of the philosophy in this book.

Getting to Plan B, by John Mullins and Randy Komisar.