Top 10 Best Startup Books [Updated 2025]
Every successful business was once a startup. Young entrepreneurs work hard to build a name for themselves in the financial and business worlds. Each day has its challenges, and they come across a new challenge at every turn. But all of this never diminishes their passion and joy of overcoming fears, consequences, problems, and achieving their goals and freedom. There have been many examples of such personalities, and there will always be someone new after them. The best way to learn is to read some of the best books on startups.
Here are some best startup books for beginners to do great endeavors:
- The Startup Owner’s Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide For Building A Great Company ( Get this book )
- Who: The A Method For Hiring ( Get this book )
- You Are A Badass At Making Money: Master The Mindset Of Wealth ( Get this book )
- Zero To One: Notes On Startups, Or How To Build The Future ( Get this book )
- Leading At The Speed Of Growth: Journey from Entrepreneur to CEO ( Get this book )
- Radical Candor: Be A Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity ( Get this book )
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building A Business When There Are No Easy Answers ( Get this book )
- Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days ( Get this book )
- The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses ( Get this book )
- Never Too Late to Startup: How Mid-Life Entrepreneurs Create Wealth, Freedom & Purpose ( Get this book )
Let us take a closer look at each book and see what we can learn from it –
#1 - The Startup Owner’s Manual
The Step-By-Step Guide For Building A Great Company
By Steve Blank and Bob Dorf
The book includes diagrams, graphs, and representations of many business models and influences that everyone should be familiar with.
Book Review
The book talks about how a company can develop a customer base and identify its target audience. The authors come with their experiences and have written this book to help young entrepreneurs understand what they need to do. The book is a 608-page blueprint and guidance to all those who have an idea and look forward to doing business someday.
Key Takeaways
- The author points out nine things that destroy a startup and calls them nine deadly sins.
- The book states that a startup must have a “get, keep, and grow” attitude towards customers and business.
- People must do time to time calculations to understand the expenses and profits.
#2 - Who- The A Method For Hiring
By Geoff Smart and Randy Street
The book was released in 2008 and marked out the crucial hiring practices, job profiles, and conditioning.
Book Review
The authors discuss the ideal hiring problems and ways to overcome them in this book. They believe that young startups think of every other aspect but do not stress much on the one factor that is hiring the right people. The book sheds light on how to hire the best and most qualified individual for the job, and in the end, the strategy, planning, and execution will come into place. It gives readers an idea about the optimal method of hiring.
Key Takeaways
- The book deals with the subject of hiring failures.
- It provides the hiring process in the scorecard, source, sale, and select format.
- The authors gave four key mistakes that companies make while hiring.
- They say that the most important decision while hiring is not “what” but “who.”
#3 - You Are A Badass At Making Money
Master The Mindset Of Wealth
By Jen Sincero
The book originally came out in 2017. Jen is a public speaker, life coach, and a successful writer. Here, she talks about how people have created a bad space with their own money and excuses it.
Book Review
Jen Sincero wants people to contemplate the power of positive thinking and energy while working in every aspect of life. She says that wealth does not come to people who desire it but to those who work for it. The book contains many financial tips and tricks for people to apply in their life and start visualizing their financial goals.
Key Takeaways
- The author says that one can have excuses or have success but cannot have both.
- The book debunks the common misconception that people think of money as greedy and evil, but it is not like that.
- It establishes that people have to become very specific about their goals and want their money.
#4 - Zero To One
Notes On Startups
By Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
The authors published this book in the year 2014. They share their insights into how people can make their business a success.
Book Review
The book discusses that for any business to prosper, the founder has to be a bit weird and passionate about it. Most companies do not go from zero to one because the founders make many mistakes and do not share a vision for their entrepreneurial venture. This book can answer some crucial questions for young people interested in starting something of their own.
Key Takeaways
- The authors suggest that people need to have the courage to face the challenges of running a startup.
- First of all, the biggest requirement is that founders of any business must have a vision for their company.
- The book is undoubtedly one of the most inspiring startup books.
#5 - Leading At The Speed of Growth
Journey From Entrepreneur To CEO
By Katherine Catlin and Jana B. Matthews
The book came in 2001. Contrary to popular belief that it will not help in today’s startup culture, it does, and the authors have supported this theory with many examples and proven approaches.
Book Review
If any new founder is looking for knowledge, this is one of the best startup books to read. The authors have a picture of growth explaining different stages and how the business demands a slightly different approach in each phase. In addition, the book has a compilation of personal stories told by successful entrepreneurs. This 164-pages book is a guide to creating a successful business.
Key Takeaways
- The book gave three stages of business growth – initial, rapid and continuous.
- It throws light on identifying red flags talks about vital signs.
- The authors conceptualize the hows and whys of evolving as a business leader.
- They wrote this book to ensure that anyone who reads it becomes a dynamic leader.
#6 - Radical Candor
Be A Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
By Kim Scott
The book was initially published in the year 2017. It shares a good perspective of today’s business world and how a new company or entrepreneur grows in the environment.
Book Review
The book draws a quadrant where the author explains each quadrant related to different aspects of business and challenges that one may encounter while building a business. The Radical Candor philosophy uses unique tools and techniques to become a dynamic boss. Reading this book, one can get better results guidance and make their goals achievable.
Key Takeaways
- The book discusses all of the world’s business leaders.
- It depicts how a boss achieves a goal and discusses leadership, teamwork, and outcomes.
- The author offers a deeper growth management concept and how people can use it.
- He also explains a new management theory.
#7 - The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Building A Business When There Are No Easy Answers
By Ben Horowitz
This book came in 2014 and comprised some of the most valuable lessons for people starting new businesses.
Book Review
Ben Horowitz is one of Silicon Valley’s most respected and experienced entrepreneurs. He shares his own story of the founding, running, and managing technology companies to offer essential advice and practical wisdom that schools and post-graduate degrees do not cover. The best thing is the author’s brutally honest behavior and answers. The author also has a personal blog for people who want to get insights into his knowledge from time to time.
Key Takeaways
- The book talks about handling titles and dealing with hiring and firing people.
- The author shares his own experiences of running a business in the book.
- He answers the query of what to do when smart people are bad employees and how to sell one’s company.
#8 - Founders at Work
Stories of Startups’ Early Days
By Jessica Livingston
The book came in 2001 and talked about the early days of any business ever started. In addition, It contains many tips and techniques a reader can always keep in mind while doing business.
Book Review
The book is one of the best startup books for beginners. It offers insights and advice from many businesspeople, such as Steve Wozniak of Apple, Max Levchin of PayPal, Caterina Fake of Flickr, Mitch Kapor of Lotus, and Sabeer Bhatia of Hotmail. In this book, they tell readers about the idea behind starting their businesses and their success stories.
Key Takeaways
- The book is a compilation of interviews of many entrepreneurs.
- It contains tips and tricks as to how to create a successful startup.
- The book takes readers inside the greatest minds of the business.
- It is arguably one of the best startup books.
#9 - The Lean Startup
How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
By Eric Ries
The book came out in 2011 and is a must-read for budding entrepreneurs. The author has written it from the perspective of a new entrepreneur. Therefore, it helps to comprehend the idea of entrepreneurship more easily.
Book Review
Eric Ries states that a startup should always create something new with little to no resources and under extreme uncertainty. He talks about a scientific approach to managing startups and innovating side by side. The books deal with the tools that enable a company to shift directions, alter plans, and come out of the surviving period.
Key Takeaways
- The book sheds light on validated learning about running a business.
- It suggests ideas on how a startup should be sustained.
- The author discusses the value of time and how to become adaptive.
- He has a way of telling the most honest confessions in a startup culture.
#10 - Never Too Late to Startup
How Mid-Life Entrepreneurs Create Wealth, Freedom & Purpose
By Rob Kornblum
The book essentially speaks to the mid-life entrepreneurs and thus leaves a heavy influence on them.
Book Review
The book answers some crucial questions like – how to discover great ideas for your new business, how to market the product, why it is the best time for a startup etc. The author says that people who already have years of experience can use it to their advantage and believe there is no age requirement for freedom. Instead, he suggests people take control and assert their mastery and purposes.
Key Takeaways
- The book encourages people to enter into business and does not think about their age.
- The author motivates people to think beyond problems and run a startup.
- This book is one of the best startup books to read.
