A Must-read book collection for entrepreneurs to get them started

Having a vision is great but there is a big difference between having a great vision and shaping it into a successful & scalable business.

Are you someone who’s passionate about starting your own business & wants to put your amazing & unique ideas in front of the world but clueless about how to start with it? Or is your startup having trouble crossing the threshold of ‘product-market fit’? Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. In this article, we have curated a list of 10 books that will give you an insight into the stories and journeys of ‘been-there, done-that brand builders who have shared their important tips and trials.

Why one should read books

 Develop cognitive skills – Cognitive skills can be beneficial in multiple ways- improves your memory, develops literacy and verbal intelligence, and also increases your strategic decision making.

 No distraction – Books do not offer any distraction. Imagine yourself scrolling through all those YouTube videos and not being able to focus on one. You tend to go back to using your social media!

 Reduces stress – Books help you relax. It lets your brain move to new ideas and live in someone else’s shoes.

10 must-reads for entrepreneurs and startup founders

1. Before You Start-Up by Pankaj Goyal

This book gives you answers to your ‘whys’; deals with the process of forming and testing business ideas; how to create your founding team; how to discuss your plan with family and how to balance this new career and finances. It mentally prepares you to get started on your passion.

2. Business Stripped Bare:

Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur by Richard Branson is a highly inspiring entrepreneur who founded Virgin Airways, Virgin Records, and several other Virgin businesses all across the globe. In this book, he talks about his business life and how he decided upon the riskiest, brilliant and bold deals. With Branson’s invaluable advice and candid accounts of Virgin’s greatest achievements as well as a few of its downfalls, this is a dynamic and truly original read.

3. Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston

It is a collection of interviews with founders of top technological companies about how they started in their very early days. Founders like Steve Wozniak (Apple), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Max Levchin (PayPal), and Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail) share their interesting and often funny discoveries on their way to build a company. Things like- How did they get the ideas that made them rich? How did they gain investor confidence? Where they went wrong and how did they get up? and much more, are covered in this book.

4. Fast, Cheap and Viral by Aashish Chopra

It is an extensive account of creating content on a shoe-string budget. Aashish talks about the massive marketing opportunity right now. There are a lot of content creators these days who are producing a huge amount of content. But how would you stand out in the crowd? Grab a copy of this book to know more!

5. From Ideas to Iconic Brands by Guiles Lury

This interesting and informative book contains 101 stories about inventive firms like Apple, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Nike, Disney, Mercedes, Tupperware, and redBus. The road to successful innovation as well as the unpredictability of the market, are well captured in this book. Lury is the executive chairman of the marketing firm The Value Engineers.

6. How I Quit Google to Sell Samosas by Munaf Kapadia

This is the story of an adventurous entrepreneur who grew his weekend pop-up, ‘The Bohri Kitchen’ from his Cuffe Parade home into an F&B startup with an INR 40 million. Munaf engages readers with his proud moments- opening city-wide delivery kitchens, catering for a lot of Bollywood celebrities, and winning a reality show, and some of his misses. So don’t shy away from opening a chai stall, to go with the ‘samosas’! The book inspires you to keep moving, whether you succeed or fail.

7. How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins

In How the Mighty Fall, Collins gives out reasons for the failure of big companies and the precautions that can be taken to avoid such failures. He reveals the five step-wise phases of the decline of big companies. It lets the readers comprehend and analyze these phases and as a result, they will be able to reduce their chances of failure by a great deal.

8. Lost and Founder by Rand Fishkin

Rand Fishkin is the founder and former CEO of MOZ. He discloses his learnings, startup methodology, and the unpredictability of his life as a startup founder. There is mention of things like ‘strategically launching a Minimum Viable Product at the right time, layoffs, growth hacking, venture capital, and everything else that come with these. For anybody with a startup idea or in the early stages of this journey, this book is sure to solve many common problems.

9. Rework by Jason Fried and David Hansson

It is not a conventional business book that you come across, giving you the same old advice: have a plan, gauge the competition, win investor confidence and so and so. Read this to figure out why chalking out a business plan is actually harmful, why outside investors are not important and why an entrepreneur should ignore the competition. By the end of this book, you sure know how to get exposure without wasting money and time on senseless thoughts.

10. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

This is an account of Robert growing up with two dads- his real father and his best friend’s father, his ‘rich dad’. He writes about how both men have been instrumental in shaping his thoughts about money and investing. This book shatters the myth that you need to earn a high salary in order to be rich and beautifully brings out the difference between working for money and having your money work for you.

We hope that this list enriches you and wishing you all your future endeavors.