“Buying every book recommended by Venture Hacks.”
“The Venture Hacks bookstore lists a couple of really good business books for entrepreneurs.”
Our favorite books for entrepreneurs. In order of importance. We don’t recommend a book unless we refer to it regularly. $13,385.74 of books sold, as of November 23 2009.
Customers
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The Four Steps to the Epiphany Steven Gary Blank The closest thing to a manual for building a startup. Marc Andreessen calls it a “a roadmap for how to get to Product/Market Fit.” Our full post → |
Product
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Extreme Programming Explained Kent Beck Revelatory. Develop your product like this book tells you to, unless you know better (e.g. you have experience building operating systems, space shuttles, Googles.) Buy the first edition. Our full post → |
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Product Development Flow Don Reinertsen This is a very advanced book on the underlying theory of product development, agile, and lean. There is nothing else like it. You can skip it — or soldier on. The sections on non-linear product development and decentralized control are unforgettable. |
Management
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The Essential Drucker Peter Drucker The basic theory of management. Endless aphorisms… “An increasing number of people who are full-time employees have to be managed as if they were volunteers. They are paid, to be sure. But knowledge workers have mobility. They can leave. They own their ‘means of product,’ which is their knowledge.” Our full posts: 1 2 3 → |
Team
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The Human Equation Jeffrey Pfeffer Hidden Value Charles A. O’Reilly III and Jeffrey Pfeffer“Hiring the best” is not a useful strategy. Only one company in the world can have the best. So organizations must be designed to thrive with ordinary people. These two books also attack the pernicious assumption that compensation should be the foundation for management systems. And they lay out thoughtful, practical alternatives. Our full posts → |
Negotiation
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Bargaining for Advantage G. Richard Shell My favorite negotiation book period. It synthesizes the principled negotiation of Getting to Yes with the psychology of persuasion in Influence. I refer to it often. Among other things, it helps you answer questions like “Should I be the first to open? Should I open optimistically or reasonably? What sort of concession strategy works best?” Our full post → |
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Getting to Yes Roger Fisher, William Ury & Bruce Patton The fundamentals of principled negotiation. A good primer before you read Bargaining for Advantage. |
Sundry
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The Definitive Book of Body Language Barbara and Allan Pease Our bodies are having secret conversations with each other every day. Body language communicates what we’re really feeling, what we hesitate to put into words. When you speak body language, you can read people better. And positive body language leads to positive thoughts. |
Our books
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Pitching Hacks: How to pitch investors Nivi and Naval We’ve raised $100 million for startups like Epinions, invested another $20 million in companies like Twitter, and advised many others. Pitching Hacks shows you how to apply the simple lessons we’ve learned along the way. “Your first stop if raising money!” – Adam Smith, Founder of Xobni |
