BY DIVAKAR KUMAR PANDAY.
Guidance and inspiration are two constants in a successful entrepreneur’s life. And while mentors and peers in the ecosystem can provide both in abundance, there is nothing like finding wisdom between the pages of a well-written book. When the going gets tough and ideas run dry, read the stories of other founders who have been there and done that, waged all the wars you are faced with at the moment, and have found success. Ben Horowitz’s The Hard Thing About Hard Things, and Peter Thiel’s Zero to One may be crowd favourites, but let us tell you about 10 other books that you, as an entrepreneur, can seek guidance from.
1. The Startup Playbook: Secrets of the Fastest-Growing Startups from Their Founding Entrepreneurs by David Kidder
Within this around-300 pages of text, you will find author David Kidder’s interviews with hundreds of founders about their path to success and how they managed to build their multimillion (or billion) dollar enterprises. Giving the reader insider access, David details the hard-hitting experiences of some of the world’s most influential entrepreneurs and CEOs, revealing their most closely held advice. 2. The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss Considered a must-read for those who want to take the entrepreneurial plunge, the book talks about how you can automate and create an income-generator so that you focus on your passion. Author Timothy Ferris believes that entrepreneurship is a great way to get back control of your life and also enjoy life without working 40 hours in a week. This book helps you effectively shun the typical 9-5 job and look at exciting avenues that allows you to live and work from virtually anywhere. 3. Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Sounds too good to be true? Well, founders should read it to know why plans are actually harmful, why one doesn’t need outside investors, and why you’re better off ignoring the competition.
2. The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
Considered a must-read for those who want to take the entrepreneurial plunge, the book talks about how you can automate and create an income-generator so that you focus on your passion. Author Timothy Ferris believes that entrepreneurship is a great way to get back control of your life and also enjoy life without working 40 hours in a week. This book helps you effectively shun the typical 9-5 job and look at exciting avenues that allows you to live and work from virtually anywhere.
3. Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Sounds too good to be true? Well, founders should read it to know why plans are actually harmful, why one doesn’t need outside investors, and why you’re better off ignoring the competition.
4. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
This book by Eric Ries addresses a key statistic in the innovation ecosystem: most startups fail. But the author proposes an antidote of sorts to this truth, stating that many of those failures are preventable. Eric draws from disciplines such as lean manufacturing in the automotive sector to come up with his ‘Lean Startup’ approach to devise new metrics and success criteria for startups. Less is more, and that cannot be emphasised more for entrepreneurship.
5. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't by
Jim Collins Jim Collins in his celebrated 2001 book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't identified seven characteristics of companies that went from “good” to “great”. The first and most telling characteristic relates to people and what the author refers to as the ‘Level 5 Leadership’, which is all about quiet, confident humility and being driven to do what is best for the company as opposed to being lauded and heralded as the “greatest” or “ iconic” – or some other similar – leader. Read this book to transition from the common good to the rare great.
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