27 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

The best entrepreneurs I know are relentless readers. So instead of handing you my personal list, I asked a room full of successful founders one question: which book actually contributed to your results? These 27 are what came back - spanning mindset, sales, strategy, and leadership.

A reading list is not a plan, though. Before you skim it and bookmark twenty of them, here is how to actually get value out of a list like this.

• arrow_forwardOne at a time. Finish a book and apply it before you start the next. A shelf of half-read books teaches you nothing.
• arrow_forwardApply it. Pull one idea out of each book and put it to work in your business that week. Application is where the value lives.
• arrow_forwardTeach it. Explain what you learned to your team or your audience. You never understand an idea as well as when you have to teach it.

Mindset and Personal Growth

• arrow_forwardThink and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. The classic success philosophy, built to motivate action across every area of life.
• arrow_forwardThe Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel. Twenty-four lessons laying out a precise framework for achieving what you set out to.
• arrow_forwardHow to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams. A refreshingly honest take on turning failure into success.
• arrow_forwardThe Secret of the Seven Seeds by David Fischman. A novel about a stressed entrepreneur applying seven principles to regain balance and results.
• arrow_forwardThe 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins. A dead-simple rule for beating hesitation and getting yourself to act.
• arrow_forwardThe Success Principles by Jack Canfield. Principles and strategies for building confidence, happiness, and fulfillment.
• arrow_forwardMastery by Robert Greene. How to unlock the secrets of any field and outwork the competition into expertise.

Marketing, Sales, and Persuasion

• arrow_forwardNo B.S. Direct Marketing by Dan S. Kennedy. Hard-nosed strategies for increasing profit and productivity with proven marketing tactics.
• arrow_forward#AskGaryVee by Gary Vaynerchuk. Straight answers on social media, audience-building, and modern leadership.
• arrow_forwardHow to Master the Art of Selling by Tom Hopkins. Step-by-step sales techniques you can apply immediately.
• arrow_forwardThe Conversion Code by Chris Smith. A concrete plan for capturing leads and closing more sales in the modern world.
• arrow_forwardNever Split the Difference by Chris Voss. FBI negotiation tactics for high-stakes deals, and everyday ones.
• arrow_forwardPitch Anything by Oren Klaff. An unconventional method for presenting, persuading, and winning the deal.
• arrow_forwardThe Science of Selling by David Hoffeld. The brain science behind how people decide, and how to influence it ethically.

Strategy and Business Building

• arrow_forwardGood to Great by Jim Collins. Why some companies make the leap and most never do.
• arrow_forwardThe Lean Startup by Eric Ries. Continuous innovation and fast pivots without endless planning.
• arrow_forwardBlue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. How to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant.
• arrow_forwardDeep Dive by Rich Horwath. Three disciplines for becoming a genuinely strategic thinker.
• arrow_forwardLaunch Your Dream by Dale Partridge. A 30-day plan for turning a passion into a profession.
• arrow_forwardUnshakeable by Tony Robbins. A practical playbook for building real financial freedom.
• arrow_forwardThe City of Influence by Jared Stewart. A business parable on saving a struggling company through mentorship and networking.

Focus, Productivity, and Leadership

• arrow_forwardThe ONE Thing by Gary Keller. Find the single priority that makes everything else easier or unnecessary.
• arrow_forwardThe 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran. Get more done in twelve weeks than most do in twelve months.
• arrow_forwardThe 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. The book that reframed escaping the 9-to-5 and designing your life - very much a 90/10 cousin.
• arrow_forwardTools of Titans by Timothy Ferriss. The routines, tactics, and habits of 200-plus world-class performers in one notebook.
• arrow_forwardTribes by Seth Godin. How to build a movement and step into leadership of it.
• arrow_forwardThe Way of the SEAL by Mark Divine. Eight principles from elite training for leading and succeeding under pressure.

If You Only Read Three

Twenty-seven is a lot. If you are staring at the list paralyzed, start with these three. They cover the foundation: how you think, what you focus on, and how you sell.

• arrow_forwardThink and Grow Rich for the mindset everything else is built on.
• arrow_forwardThe ONE Thing for the focus that actually moves the needle.
• arrow_forwardNever Split the Difference for the negotiation and persuasion you use every single day.

Reading is the input. Leverage is the output. The fastest way I know to turn what you learn into a business that runs without you is the 90/10 Rule - find the 10% only you can do, and build the system to handle the rest.