Startup books about technology and hi-tech are all the rage now, as everyone and their grandma has a new business idea involving an app or startup idea, and even a startup t-shirt. Which can’t be done without a startup loan.
For those who dream of becoming their own boss, or launching their own Uber, the startup world is awfully intriguing. And of course there are a ton of startup books out there, which is why Startups #nofilter has compiled a list of the best startup books for tech entrepreneurs in 2024 and beyond:
Best Business Startup Books of 2024 for Tech Entrepreneurs & Small Business Owners:
1) The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous
Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
Although many startups fail, Ries opines in his work that the chances of success increase drastically when tech entrepreneurs stay to sticking to a plan of planning every second. A firm and elaborate plan only leads to a bad ending. Today, companies need to innovate the most than ever before.
A flexible program that adapts and adjusts before it is too late to the vision that continuously improvises is the key to rising. Ries argues that some tips to success include creativity that cuts short the cycle of product development, dynamic scientific experimentation, constant supervision of the consumers’ wants, and measurement of actual progress.
2) Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel
In this bestseller, Peter argues that the creative invention whose scope lies outside the box makes success stories. He explains that limiting oneself to a certain field and doing the repetitive work will not serve as the key to success. One can kiss the skies only when he tries a new approach that has not been touched yet. Since it is a new initiative, it automatically eliminates competition.
Success in any field is possible, unlike the growing notion that success in the area of technology is on the rise. It only takes innovation to jump from zero to one
3) The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau
Chris is of the view that continuous studies or a degree from a well-recognized institution are not what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. Passion counts the most. All it takes is a product or service that feeds on your skill, people willing to pay for it, and a method to get the payment.
In coming up with the book, Chris studied 1500 individuals who built businesses making $50,000 or more from a small investment of about $100 or even less. He shortlisted 50 interesting cases and pointed at their expertise that they monetized as the real reason for their success.
4) Fundraising Field Guide: A Startup Founder’s Handbook for Venture Capital by Carlos Espinal
It is easy for your venture to suffocate if the right funds are not made in time. But the dynamics of attracting funds is just as difficult as getting those. As a young bird recently hatched from its egg, you are unaware of the ways of negotiating the capital you need and settling for terms.
This startup book focuses on this daunting task where the author guides you through this entire process of fundraising. It teaches about interacting with investors, shareholders, and lawyers and aims to pass down the right information and basics of the deal to you.
5) The Start-Up J Curve: The Six Steps to Entrepreneurial Success by Howard Love
Love presents a roadmap showing the predictable patterns that all new startups face and outlines steps to increase the odds of success. By marking the challenges that would come, the book prepares you for them and prescribes ways to avoid pitfalls for a smooth transition up the curve of success.
Love mentions methods to mold your original idea into a successful product, focuses on significant things that need attention to save time and money, and gives ways to handle personal challenges during the nerve-wracking process of setting up a business, the bumpy road to success and then maintaining the top position.
6) The Startup Playbook: Secrets of the Fastest-Growing Startups from Their Founding Entrepreneurs by David Kidder and Reid Hoffman
Learning comes best when tips and tricks of the trade originate from the people who have been in the same boat but are now sailing in the successful ships. This startup strategy book does just that. It interviews and brings together the experiences of influential CEOs.
NY Times bestselling author and CEO, David Kidder shares some of the closely guarded secrets of success, pieces of advice and bitter experiences of prominent CEOs such as founders of PayPal, LinkedIn, TED, and 40 more prominent names. Individual sections also offer tips to select and pursue the right idea and overcome undeniable hurdles.
7) Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal and Ryan Hoover
Based on years of research, consulting and practical experience, Eyal’s book offers an explanation of how products become a consumer’s habit, which leads to success. He explores products that consumers get hooked on in a four-step process he terms the hook cycle. This sequence tells which products are embedded in a consumer’s need psyche and how to create user habits that stick.
By continuous employment of the hook cycle, products can achieve their goal of becoming a need of the market without even the use of advertising. Eyal backs his arguments by giving fascinating examples such as of iPhone, Twitter and others.
8) Start Your Own Business, Sixth Edition: The Only Startup Book You’ll Ever Need by Entrepreneur Media
This is one of the best small business books out there, and has become popular a startup book for entrepreneurs in 2017 because it is a product of 33 plus years of small business expertise of the staff at Entrepreneur Media, which has surged in popularity in recent years. Start Your Own Business, Sixth Edition is the crux of experiences of business pros, practicing business owners and successful entrepreneurs. It is a take on taking the initiative and a guide to the beginning three years of your venture.
The revised edition includes amended chapters on selecting a business, adding partners, gathering funds, latest helpful technology, and managing the structure and employees. The book also guides in using digital and social media tools to your benefit, relevant tax requirements, and employee policies.
9) Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares
Weinberg and Mares come up with an argument about getting the right consumer base for your startup to succeed. Lots of startups shrivel up and tech entrepreneurs give up because they cannot reach their product market adequately. The consistency with which you acquire new customers is what they label as traction.
Traction is a book perfect for tech entrepreneurs because it gives 19 channels of making a strong consumer base. The authors also offer a three-step framework called Bullseye that allows you to figure which channels will suit your business venture the best. This startup book supports its argument by including interviews from 40 successful founders such as Jimmy Wales, Paul English and more.
10) The Startup Owner’s Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf
Including over 100 charts, graphs and diagrams; this book is an essential read that gives step by step instructions on creating successful initiatives. Taught at Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and many more leading universities this manual teaches you to keep at bay the nine deadly mistakes that can destroy your enterprise before it even begins, to incorporate the Business Model Canvas as a rule for startup and compute how to push your effort to profits.
The book also explains about tapping into customer development to give life to ideas, identifying your customers and seeing how to keep them along with making more.
11) The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business by Josh Kaufman
Kaufman believes getting a degree from a business school is not what makes successful entrepreneurs; they make themselves by gathering all the knowledge. To save your bucks, Kaufman started PersonalMBA.com, a blog with business tricks that stand the test of time and umpteen readers.
Now, Kaufman has written a very helpful small business MBA book that is a comprehensive volume containing essentials of entrepreneurship, marketing, productivity, sales, system designs, and much more. It is a distillation of real-world challenges. The book gives a saturated yield on methods to increase revenue, explains the uncertain pricing principle, forms of value and the iron law of the market.
12) Hot Seat: The Startup CEO Guidebook by Dan Shapiro
Author and four-time founder Shapiro gives a complete tour from a to z, beginning to ending of business and the possible reasons why startups crash. Hot Seat explores the CEO experience in five phases.
These stages include founding, funding, leadership, management, and endgame. Founding explains coming up with strong ideas. Funding deals with the ways to venture capital. Leadership formulates a strategy to pursue and a culture to cultivate in which your team buds and grows. Management elaborates on managing the board and playing the CEO card. Endgame clarifies how to close up with grace and minimum litigation.
13) The Hands-On Start up Black Book: A how-to on formulating an A team, pitching to investors, funding sources, joining a network and scaling up by Harvey Walsh
The tech entrepreneur startup book offers practical tips on setting up and moving on along with explaining why majority initiatives fail in their young two years. By pointing at their mistakes, the book guides you to make a U-turn then and there. The Hands-On Start up Black Book pinpoints the need for a good mentor to supervise the progress of your venture and how to identify a reliable and trustworthy mentor.
It also unfolds an immediate action plan to be implemented for less than 30 days for quick recovery when the venture takes a dive down and 24 steps to get your business up and running.
14) The Best Damn Startup Guide: An Actionable Guide to Launch Your Business Without all the Crap by Shane Kindt
There is a sea of information, some of which is useless and unnecessary and some is repetitive. In the end, all becomes jumbled up. But The Best Damn Startup Guide sorts out all problems in today’s online businesses. The startup guide provides a solid basis for launching your idea, developing it, spreading it, running it, and managing it. The book has downloadable supplements too.
The reason why this is one of the best startup books is because it also teaches market research and explains how to develop your online site. Each copy also gives you access to complete master-level video courses that assist you in creating, setting up and managing your membership site.
15) Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant and Sheryl Sandberg
In his previous work, Give and Take, Adam Grant won millions of hearts as an inspiring thought leader. In this book, Grant explains the perspective of being original. He explains how to develop and support novel ideas that go against the tide. The author draws on surprising and previously unheard stories from the various fields such as business, politics, sports, and entertainment.
Originals explains the role parents and teachers play in firing originality among kids, how leaders encourage dissent, how to manage fear and doubt in voicing and protecting your fresh ideas and much more.
16) The Startup Checklist: 25 Steps to a Scalable, High-Growth Business by David S. Rose and Bill Gross
While most books emphasize on strategy, this book concentrates on measures to give you a strong push in the very beginning. A lot of time and money go into the legal issues and other startup problems.
The Startup Checklist is a guide to steer clear of the messy tides for a clean and efficient take-off. The book not only directly mentions the experts, rather it guides which experts you need. David advises on strengthening the foundations of your venture by highlighting the legal issues, management troubles, details of startup execution, and other missteps that could weaken the base.
Written as quick tips, it is easy to read; this book targets the young lot of founders pursuing the entrepreneurial affairs. Barbara pens all the unspoken and unwritten entrepreneurial lessons and pieces of advice, mistakes to keep away from, and informs about the mindset that collectively all pros have.
Based on the author’s personal experiences and interviews from over 70 young founders, the book also highlights helpful online resources. The book is not limited to young founders of a certain field but is for all walks of business life such as energy, fashion, retail to name a few.
18) The Storyteller’s Start-Up Book: Finding, Learning, Performing and Using Folktales by Margaret Read MacDonald
Successful entrepreneurial stories often come our way and inspire us to launch our own initiative and become a success story one day. MacDonald tells about the basic startup knowledge on finding stories, critically analyzing them, starting a story back, connecting with other like people and finally creating a storytelling event.
The book covers all the practical aspects of startups from selection to performance. The author also works as a confidence building aid and her book contains all that one could ever ask for. MacDonald also reveals 12 multicultural tales in her book that would inspire the readers.
19) Start Your Own Business, 2nd Edition: The Only Start-Up Book You’ll Ever Need by Rieva Lesonsky
Reiva Lesonsky with the staff at Entrepreneur Magazine came up with this startup book. The book sips heavily from the experiences of the business pros and the booming entrepreneurs. It is loaded with lots of business resources and entrepreneurial experiences of all sorts of business people.
Start Your Own Business, 2nd Edition focuses on all the problems you may come across when you take the initiative, from shaping the idea to selecting a name for it, from hunting down funds to attracting employees, finding a location, getting loans and all the other nitty-gritty details. Also, it gives tips on learning from failure.
20) The Ultimate Start-Up Guide: Marketing Lessons, War Stories, and Hard-Won Advice from Leading Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors by Tom Hogan and Carol Broadbent
This book is indeed the ultimate startup strategy guide, as it offers an insider’s look into the world of startups. Most initiatives die remarkably young, before even making it to the public eye.
This Ultimate Start-up guide prevents all beginners from an early collapse. The book gives practical insights, advice, lessons and a lot more. Secure funding; finding reliable investors, building and strengthening your team along with ways to launch safely in the world of entrepreneurs can all be found in this guide. It is also intercut with how new ventures are evaluated and weighed by investors. Also, it offers stories and red flags from top entrepreneurs to back its formulas.
21) Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle by Dan Senor and Saul Singer
Start-up nation is an incredibly intriguing book as it reveals how Israel has prospered even with its disproportionate size and geographic location. It teaches individuals unique practices on region building, as well as industry building.
The book also tackles about the country’s principles which stimulate their individual behavior in the military, agriculture, and scientific and technological advancements. Furthermore, it talks about Israel’s unique addition to our global culture. It is admirable how the authors focused mainly on Israel’s important contribution to society and how they interpreted the conflicts that Israel faces. This is certainly a must read as it is unlike any other book that is centered on Israel and its battles.
22) Securing Venture Financing: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Startup Strategy by Opubo G Benebo
When you plan on launching a startup venture, a huge capital investment is needed for funding and you can only get it through stocks in capital markets. However, getting your startup venture into the capital markets will need proper planning.
This book has the key that will unlock your brilliant startup strategy for your funding needs. It provides a well-structured path to securing your startup finances in an ultimately difficult market. It suggests the educational process that draws out the course of planning for optimal rounds of expenses. This book also tackles the essentials for any financing requirement that is demanded by the capital markets.
23) Rich20Something: Ditch Your Average Job, Start an Epic Business, and Score the Life You Want by Daniel DiPiazza
24) The Fire Starter Sessions: A Soulful + Practical Guide to Creating Success on Your Own Terms By Danielle LaPorte
25) How to Build a Billion Dollar App Paperback by George Berkowski
26) Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World Hardcover by Tim Ferriss
27) All in: 101 Real Life Business Lessons for Emerging Entrepreneurs by Bill Green
BONUS Round! 20 More of the Best Books for Tech Entrepreneurs
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- Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh (2018) Blitzscaling is a guidebook for founders aiming to grow their startups into world-changing companies. Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, and Chris Yeh explain how to manage and navigate the challenges of rapidly scaling a company. They provide insights into how successful companies such as Airbnb, Amazon, and others have used Blitzscaling to achieve massive growth.
- Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World by Rand Fishkin (2018) Rand Fishkin, the founder of Moz, provides an honest and transparent look into the life of a startup entrepreneur. This book helps entrepreneurs to avoid common pitfalls and learn from his own experiences and mistakes. It’s a must-read for anyone seeking genuine insights into startup culture.
- Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (2018) Although not a guide, this investigative piece by John Carreyrou exposes the dark side of Silicon Valley through the story of the biotech firm Theranos. It offers an important lesson to entrepreneurs on the consequences of over-promising and under-delivering and the importance of integrity and transparency.
- The Lean Product Playbook: How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products and Rapid Customer Feedback by Dan Olsen (2017) Dan Olsen’s book is a practical guide to applying Lean Startup principles. It helps entrepreneurs learn how to identify target customers, build minimum viable products (MVPs), and gather feedback to improve their product-market fit. This book is particularly beneficial for tech entrepreneurs developing new products.
- The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture by Scott Belsky (2018) Scott Belsky, founder of Behance, offers deep insights into the turbulent journey of building a startup. He emphasizes the importance of perseverance and smart decision-making during the tough middle phase of a venture, which is often overlooked.
- Subscribed: Why the Subscription Model Will Be Your Company’s Future by Tien Tzuo and Gabe Weisert (2018) This book explores the growing trend of subscription-based business models. The authors explain how and why to transition into a subscription model, with real-life examples and insights into building lasting customer relationships. A must-read for entrepreneurs looking to adopt this business model.
- AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Kai-Fu Lee (2018) Kai-Fu Lee discusses the rise of artificial intelligence and its economic implications. It’s especially recommended for tech entrepreneurs who want to understand the global landscape of AI and how it impacts startups and businesses.
- That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea by Marc Randolph (2019) In this book, Marc Randolph, Netflix’s co-founder, shares the inside story of how the company evolved from a small startup to a global giant. It is an inspiring read for entrepreneurs to learn about persistence, innovation, and overcoming obstacles.
- Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries by Safi Bahcall (2019) Safi Bahcall presents a riveting analysis of how innovation emerges from within organizations. He describes how aligning the structure and culture can lead to groundbreaking ideas and innovations. This book is invaluable for entrepreneurs looking to foster creativity and innovation in their startups.
- The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time by Jim McKelvey (2020) Co-founder of Square, Jim McKelvey, takes readers through the intriguing journey of his startup and how it overcame the challenge from Amazon. The book introduces the concept of the Innovation Stack and emphasizes how combining multiple innovations can give startups a competitive edge.
- No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram by Sarah Frier (2020) Sarah Frier provides an in-depth account of Instagram’s journey from a small startup to a social media behemoth. Entrepreneurs can gain insights into the decision-making, pivots, and scaling strategies that contributed to Instagram’s success.
- Uncharted: How to Navigate the Future by Margaret Heffernan (2020) Margaret Heffernan’s “Uncharted” is a thought-provoking book that challenges entrepreneurs to embrace uncertainty and unpredictability. Through real-life examples and practical insights, she encourages readers to develop adaptive strategies and foster resilience in their ventures.
- Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire by Rebecca Henderson (2020) This book by Harvard professor Rebecca Henderson challenges the traditional notions of capitalism and presents a case for a more inclusive, sustainable model. It is essential reading for entrepreneurs who want to build businesses that are not only profitable but also have a positive impact on society.
- Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity by Scott Galloway (2020) Scott Galloway analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses and society. He explores how entrepreneurs and businesses can adapt and thrive in a post-pandemic world. The book is especially relevant for entrepreneurs looking to understand the changing business landscape and emerging opportunities.
- The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects by Andrew Chen (2021) Andrew Chen, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, addresses the challenge of starting a business with network effects. Through numerous case studies and data-driven insights, he provides strategies for entrepreneurs to build and scale products that rely on network effects for growth.
- The Ministry of Common Sense: How to Eliminate Bureaucratic Red Tape, Bad Excuses, and Corporate BS by Martin Lindstrom (2021) Martin Lindstrom’s “The Ministry of Common Sense” is among the best books for tech entrepreneurs who seek to create a work environment free from unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles. The book provides insightful methods to streamline processes and foster a culture of efficiency and common sense, which is crucial for fast-growing tech startups.
- The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics by Tim Harford (2021) Tim Harford’s book is one of the best books for tech entrepreneurs looking to understand and utilize data in their decision-making process. The Data Detective provides entrepreneurs with practical advice on how to interpret data, avoid biases, and make better-informed decisions that are essential for the success of tech businesses.
- Future-Proofed: The New Leadership PLAYBOOK in the New Normal by Minter Dial (2021) This book by Minter Dial is a comprehensive guide for leaders in the ever-evolving business landscape. It covers topics such as empathy, adaptability, and embracing technology. Dial provides strategies for entrepreneurs to lead effectively and ensure their business is resilient and prepared for the future. It’s one of the best books for tech entrepreneurs who wish to build sustainable businesses.
- Be Where Your Feet Are: Seven Principles to Keep You Present, Grounded, and Thriving by Scott O’Neil (2021) Scott O’Neil’s book emphasizes the importance of mindfulness and staying grounded for leaders. By being present and mindful, tech entrepreneurs can make better decisions, foster positive relationships, and maintain a healthy balance between their professional and personal lives.
- Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein (2021) Authored by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and his colleagues, “Noise” delves into the various biases and inconsistencies in human decision-making. For tech entrepreneurs, understanding and mitigating such flaws is key to making effective business decisions. This book offers valuable insights into recognizing and reducing noise in judgment, which is instrumental in leading a successful tech startup.
Why Should Startup Founders Read Startup Books?
- Learn from others’ experiences – Books written by experienced entrepreneurs provide valuable insights and lessons learned from building their own startups. As a founder, you can learn from their mistakes and successes.
- Gain knowledge on key startup topics – Books often provide in-depth knowledge on important startup topics like developing products, marketing, funding, building teams, etc. Reading about these topics can help fill critical knowledge gaps.
- Get inspired and motivated – Startup books can inspire you with stories of entrepreneurs who overcame major obstacles and built successful companies. This can provide motivation during tough times.
- Learn startup best practices – Books allow you to learn processes, frameworks, and best practices for starting and growing a company. This type of information helps you structure your startup properly.
- Broaden your perspective – Books expose you to many different perspectives on startup strategies, insights, approaches, etc. This helps broaden your thinking and avoid common pitfalls.
- Gain confidence and reduce uncertainty – Reading books written by others who have gone through the startup journey can make the process less daunting and give you more confidence.
The key is to select books that are relevant to your specific situation and needs as a founder. While no book can fully prepare you to start a company, the right books can provide invaluable guidance and wisdom.
Here are some statistics related to startup and tech books:
- The most popular startup book genre purchased is business books at 22%, followed by biographies at 15% (Forbes).
- 63% of startup founders say reading about other founders’ experiences is very important when starting a company (Foundr Magazine).
- The average tech founder reads about 5 books per year specifically related to their startup or industry (TechRepublic survey).
- The most popular tech book genres are computer and technology (15.4%), business (12.3%), and science (11.2%) (Forbes).
- The top 5 bestselling tech/startup books in 2020 were The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, Zero to One by Peter Thiel, The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen, Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore, and Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (Amazon Charts).
- Hardcover remains the most popular format purchased for tech books at 46%, followed by Kindle at 29% and paperback at 25% (Codeless).
- In 2020, computer and technology book sales were up 14.9%, showing the popularity of tech topics during the pandemic (NPD BookScan).
- The average price paid for a startup or tech focused book is $17 for a hardcover, $12 for a paperback, and $11 for Kindle edition (Refactor Capital analysis).