12 books on startups and entrepreneurs that i must read in 2015

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Malavika Velayanikal ( https://www.techinasia.com/author/malavika-velayanikal/)10:11 am on Jan 19, 2015

12 great books on startups and entrepreneurs that Imust read in 2015

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One of my resolutions for the year was that I would spend less time on socialmedia and more time reading books. The best part of this resolution is that Ican have fun listing out the books I intend to read. We all love to-do lists,dont we? And book lists are the best of those.



But seriously, I want to wrap myself around the great books in the list belowfor a better handle on this slippery, churning, protean world of startups andVCs that has got us hooked. They range from old favorites all the way to booksthat will only be published this year.

So here goes my startup book reading list (and if you dont see a book that Imust absolutely read, please be kind enough to post it in the commentssection below the article).

Marissa Mayer and the fight to save Yahoo! by NicholasCarlson

This ones definitely a must read as soon as it comes out in February. MarissaMayer, who moved from Google to try and turn around Yahoo!, got a lot ofattention, including mine. But, as an adaptation from journalist NicholasCarlsons book in The New York Times(http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/magazine/what-happened-when-marissa-mayer-tried-to-be-steve-jobs.html) points out, not everyone can beSteve Jobs, who turned Apple around.



Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the quest for a fantastic future,by Ashlee Vance

This is another book Im waiting for eagerly this year. Its Elon Musk, and notMarissa Mayer, who has a better claim to the mantle of Steve Jobs. I like toread biographies by journalists, and Ashlee Vance is an experienced tech writerfor Bloomberg Businessweek so I look forward to a lot of detailed reportingon the making of a visionary.



The Innovators: How a group of hackers, geniuses, and geekscreated the digital revolution, by Walter Isaacson

His biography of Steve Jobs was a great read, because it described an era andnot just a person. This new book promises to do the same, except that thistime it deals with multiple personalities. Im just waiting for a cheaper Kindleversion to come out after all, its only appropriate to read about the digitalrevolution in ebook format, right?



Scaling up excellence: Getting to more without settling for less,by Robert I Sutton and Huggy (Hayagreeva) Rao

These two professors teach from their own book in a class for entrepreneurs atStanford University. Since scaling is the word that comes up most often inmy interactions with VCs, I downloaded this friendly academic book publishedlast year. A glance through it convinces me that I must read it in order to holdmy own in my conversations with VCs and entrepreneurs.



The hard thing about hard things: Building a business whenthere are no easy answers, by Ben Horowitz

And this one is straight from the VCs mouth. Ben Horowitz is of course thesecond half of legendary Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. From allaccounts, he has given a personal, insiders account of the startup world.Those among you who spend time like me trying to fathom an entrepreneursmind may find clues in this book.

Zero to one: Notes on startups, or how to build the future, byPeter Thiel

Heres another book by a top VC that came out late last year. The mostimportant skill to master, according to Peter Thiel, is learning to think foryourself. Entrepreneurs constantly face choices between doing something



better, or doing something new. This co-founder of PayPal, who is now aninvestor, argues that it is better to go from zero to one, which means building astartup in an entirely new space.

Hooked: How to build habit-forming products, by Nir Eyal



This entrepreneur-turned-educator tries to find patterns in the mostsuccessful tech products, from the iPhone to Pinterest. What do they have incommon, and how were they built to hook us? The books been recommendedby everyone, from the Economist to Goodreads. So Im hooked, and manystartup founders will be too if theyre putting out tech products.

The lean startup: How todays entrepreneurs use continuousinnovation to create radically successful businesses, by EricRies

This modern classic is on the bookshelf of every VC I know, and its high timeit found a place on mine. Eric Ries pioneered the lean startup movement toimprove efficiency, minimise cash burn, and reduce the chances of failure.This is especially important to keep in mind for those coming out of largecorporations to start up. Budgets are different on this side.

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Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the unseen forces that stand inthe way of true inspiration, by Ed Catmull

The man who co-founded Pixar with Steve Jobs shares his experience ofbuilding a creative culture. Heres one nugget: Give a good idea to a mediocreteam, and they will screw it up; but give a mediocre idea to a great team, andthey will either fix it or come up with something better. The book promises tojog your mind, and the author does have the credentials for it.



Antifragile: Things that gain from disorder, by Nassim NicholasTaleb

This is the latest book by the author of Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness,who is Wall Streets principal dissident, in the words of Malcolm Gladwell.The thesis here is not new that we can thrive in chaos. In India, the concepthas become known as jugaad. But Talebs contrarian intellect keeps this onmy reading list for a rainy day when I need inspiration.



Innovation and entrepreneurship, by Peter F. Drucker

The guru of all management gurus wrote a book about entrepreneurship wayback in the eighties when I was born. I wonder how many of his ideas are stillrelevant in the digital age. Now that Im exploring the new world of startups, itmight pay to look back at some sage old ideas, and apply them to the currentcontext of the internet and digital life.



Driven to distraction at work: How to focus and be moreproductive, by Edward M Hallowell

And finally, a book made to order for me. You know how it is: the more you do,the longer your to-do list grows; and the more you juggle, the more likely youare to drop a ball! Now Edward Hallowell, an expert on ADD (attention deficitdisorder), shows us a better way. The docs book, published just this month, isa must read for me, and probably many an entrepreneur too.



So those are the 12 books on startups and entrepreneurs that I intend to finishreading this year thats one book a month. Doable, right? And who knows, ifHallowell manages to teach me a trick or two, I might get more books undermy belt. And put out more book lists in the bargain. Dont forget to make yoursuggestions below on great books that entrepreneurs must read.

See: 7 must-read books for game developers(https://www.techinasia.com/7-must-read-books-for-game-developers/)

Editing by J.T.Quigley, image by Porsche Brosseau(http://www.flickr.com/photos/porsche-linn/5830869499/in/photolist-7sWGRK-ahkHU8-7WfdUs-7xMoXo-6swnY-py6bQk-9TfJmK-ahngu8-7YDJem-4F7gTX-ktKTcy-7FuTj4-877YiR-i6jPQw-87baCW-7FuTmD-8B7WPf-87baA7-8CBVH2-81Rc1J-ktJe8D-b6M2bT-ktHDrT-ktJcUM-ktKRDJ-7FgQxP-7YDGKh-8CBVKH-ohY5mh-7JywR2-7YAvRM-7FyN6J-7GybTY-ktL2nG-ktL3nN-8CBVLk-ktHMMk-ktKQBJ-ktHPhp-ktHNqp-7GLruj-8QY9Tg-7YAvMv-ktHGTn-7GGvEg-87bat9-7YAvPa-5y8th-3sS5c-ktHAs6)(And yes, we're serious about ethics and transparency. More information here



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13 COMMENTS

Merrill Chapman (https://www.techinasia.com/author/merrill-chapman/)Aug 9, 2015 07:11 AM

You might want to read Selling Steve Jobs Liver: A Story of Startups, Innovation, andConnectivity in the Clouds. It thinks different about startups and entrepreneurs. Moreinfo at:

http://www.sellingstev... (http://www.sellingstevejobsliver.com)

Abdullah AnsariJul 27, 2015 06:47 PM

Are you seriously comapring marissa mayer with elon musk?!! Also how does she come tobe near steve jobs?

Rohit MenonJun 19, 2015 12:53 AM

Thanks for sharing your list! Im gonna get going

sc3wJun 15, 2015 05:30 AM

There is a great collection of startup related books too: http://startupbooks.top(http://startupbooks.top)

Phani

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Feb 26, 2015 05:38 PM

A link to the ebook for each would have been really appreciable and a much more userfriendly for us!

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12 books on startups and entrepreneurs that i must read in 2015

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