Aside from the experience gained by actually starting a few companies or having 2-3 seasoned mentors, there is no more direct way of learning about entrepreneurship than by reading about it from the masters.
Simply put, these are the best books for entrepreneurs to read. I know because I’ve read them all multiple times and they’ve helped me navigate (or simply identify and avoid) many tricky situations. Before I started my first few companies, while I was still studying entrepreneurship at Stanford, I read many of these books and they ultimately represented a huge part of my formal education on start-ups (and in many cases, life). These are the books that have withstood the test of time, they’re the ones that I buy for my friends & fellow founders, they’re the ones that I constantly reference, the ones that you need to read.
The following list is great.. but you have to sort of take my word for it. If you want a larger, more up to date list with a little more justification check out this list of the best strategy books.
My top books for Entrepreneurs:
- Getting to Yes (Fisher, Ury, & Patton)
- The 4-Hour Workweek (Tim Ferriss)
- On Writing Well (William Zinsser)
- Power (Jeff Pfeffer)
- Built to Last (Collins & Porras)
- What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 (Tina Seelig)
- Influence (Bob Cialdini)
- The No Asshole Rule (Bob Sutton)
- The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Business Law (Bagley & Dauchy)