Startup Books you should read in 2020

By Przemek Chojecki…

Reading books is one of the activities often quoted among those which characterizes successful CEOs. Our economy became a place where innovations are happening at small to medium-sized companies, run by a group of enthusiasts and experts. If you’re one of them or if you want to become one of them, reading is the best way to to prepare for the adventure, that is building your own company.

The best startup books to read in 2020

Here is a list of the best 8 startup books to read in 2020:

Zero to One is an absolute classic by a billionaire co-founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel. This concise book explore what it means to make a difference and how to build a company with a potential to become a unicorn.

The Lean Startup introduced a lean methodology into a business world and shows how to use it in order to build a great company from scratch. The lean methodology gained thousands of followers after this publication. Another classic on our list.

The 10% Entrepreneur: Live Your Startup Dream Without Quitting Your Day Job is a different look at entrepreneurship and a much needed one. The author presents arguments and use cases for building a business outside your full-time job, without quitting it (at least in the beginning). This complements well the lean approach to start-up building.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers is written by a legendary founder of Andreessen Horowitz, one of the best Silicon Valley venture capital firms. The author goes through difficult situations that one have to deal with in growing businesses and illustrates them with great examples from his own life.

Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs is a book by a billionaire venture capitalist and entrepreneur, who popularized the methodology of Objective Key-Results. It is a fantastic mix of theory with very practical use cases from the world’s greatest companies.

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Rework is a book about doing things differently and making it work, by questioning the status quo. The authors have build a successful start-up by working with a remote team, rebuilding everything from scratch several times and going against popular beliefs.

Principles: Life and Work by a billionaire hedge fund manager shows how a great company culture allows you to achieve spectacular results. The author underlines often that he wouldn’t be successful without building a proper culture first.

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action is a great coaching book about what it takes to become a leader. It analyses ‘charisma’ and other entrepreneurial attributes and illustrates them with great life examples.

These books are a great way to start your entrepreneurial journey. Each of them shows a different angle, hence they are complementary most of the time.

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