Ask HN: As a technical founder what is the best business book you've read? - enjayz
======
tima101
All books from Basecamp founders. Especially the first one - Getting Real.

I preordered their latest book 'It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work'.

A lot of their advice is aimed towards small teams. And often contrary to SV
wisdom. We've built a few profitable businesses by following their advice
without raising any funding.

~~~
christophilus
I second this. My favorite was Rework.

------
mindcrime
Pinning down just one would be nearly impossible, but I can tell you a small
group that I consider indispensable.

 _The Four Steps to the Epiphany_ \- Steve Blank. This is a MUST read. If you
read nothing else, make it this book. Note that there is a 2nd Edition, which
changes the title to "The Startup Owner's Manual". There is a lot of overlap
in the content, but enough difference to justify reading both, IMO. I would
start with the older one.

 _The Discipline of Market Leaders_ \- Fred Wiersema, Michael Treacy - another
crucially important book IMO. Does a great job of explaining how there are
many different vectors along which you can compete, and explains how choosing
which vector you're going to compete on is fundamental to defining your
business and market.

 _The Art of the Start_ \- Guy Kawasaki. Lots of good basics on startups

 _Differentiate or Die_ \- Jack Trout, Steve Rivkin. - Title says it all.

 _It 's Not The Big That Eat The Small, It's The Fast That Eat The Slow_ \-
Jason Jennings

 _The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing_ \- Jack Trout and Al Ries

 _Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind_ \- Al Ries, Jack Trout, Philip Kotler

 _Crossing the Chasm_ \- Geoffrey Moore

 _Mastering The Complex Sale_ \- Jeff Thull - lays out an approach to selling
that I believe is one of the best out there for enterprise / B2B. May not be
as relevant for B2C or other approaches.

 _Exceptional Selling_ \- Jeff Thull - more on Thull's selling approach.

 _The Prime Solution_ \- Jeff Thull - and yet more still on Thull's selling
approach.

 _The Innovator 's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail_
\- Clayton Christensen

 _Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future_ \- Peter Thiel,
Blake Masters

 _How To Measure Anything_ \- Douglas Hubbard. - Maybe one of the most
important books I've ever read. The ideas in this book can apply in many
domains, related to startups or otherwise. I can't recommend this one highly
enough.

 _Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change and Crisis_ \-
Jack Trout, Steve Rivkin

 _Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the
Competition Irrelevant_ \- W. Chan Kim, Renée A. Mauborgne

 _Outside Innovation: How Your Customers Will Co-Design Your Company’s Future_
\- Patricia Seybold

~~~
slipwalker
Great list. I would add:

 _Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It_ \-
Chris Voss

~~~
mindcrime
Oh yeah. I bought that a while back, because it gets a lot of recommendations
here. Haven't had time to read it yet though.

------
raq2185
I'll draw heat for this but I think most business books are boring and/or
suffer from survivorship bias.

The most interesting business book I've ever read was Creativity Inc, by Ed
Catmull. He talks in depth about managing a business where creativity is the
most important aspect.

The Start-up manual is good too, if a little drawn out.

~~~
tonyedgecombe
I think you are right, I've read quite a few over the years but looking back I
learned far more by interacting with peers and just getting on and trying
things.

------
colinbartlett
Although not a technical book and sometimes maligned, I found How to Win
Friends and Influence People very helpful to my career and to my life.

~~~
gkoberger
I second this. In my opinion, it's the best book ever written on
relationships, business, leadership, friendship, politics and more.

That being said, a lot of people read it as a way to manipulate people. It
shouldn't be read that way. Rather, if you follow the advice, it has to be
genuine.

------
arthurcolle
Debt: The First 5000 years is more of a historical examination of the modern
origins of debt, not really 'business' per se but still a really solid book
that I think many people in this industry could benefit from reading.

~~~
itamarst
Except you reach the point where it talks about Apple and you start doubting
every other single fact in it:

"Apple Computers is a famous example: it was founded by (mostly Republi­can)
computer engineers who broke from IBM in Silicon Valley in the 1980s, forming
little democratic circles of twenty to forty people with their laptops in each
other's garages."

(Copy/pasted from web, but matches my memory of reading the book, so pretty
sure it's accurate.)

~~~
arthurcolle
Yeah this threw me for a loop, but didn't try to get it corrected - did anyone
follow up on this glaring error when the book was initially for sale/proof-
read more widely?

------
ptbello
"How to Talk so Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk".

Check this review of sorts by Jeff Atwood: [https://blog.codinghorror.com/how-
to-talk-to-human-beings/](https://blog.codinghorror.com/how-to-talk-to-human-
beings/)

------
yesimahuman
Hard thing about Hard things and then Rework. Two different perspectives, and
both light on bullshit

------
chwolfe
Creativity Inc., by Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull. A funny and insightful book
that should be required reading for any technical leader who works with
artists/designers.

[http://www.creativityincbook.com](http://www.creativityincbook.com)

~~~
vfulco2
Separately he gives good evidence of what an A-hole and tyrant Steve Jobs was.
Most won't talk about it out of politeness or concerns for their network.
Having worked for a psycho at one time, you know how others shade their
language when discussing. Very entertaining!

------
guiambros
As soon as you start hiring people, strongly recommend reading "Radical
Candor" [1].

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Kim-
Scott/dp/B01KTIEFE...](https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Kim-
Scott/dp/B01KTIEFEE)

~~~
mud_dauber
+1.

------
andrewstuart
Edward DeBono - SUR/PETITION Going beyond competition: creating value
monopolies when everyone else is merely competing.

[https://www.debono.com/book/surpetition/](https://www.debono.com/book/surpetition/)

It's probably out of date now but it inspired me to become an entrepreneur in
1994.

Also this is the best book I've ever read on negotiating by Chester Karass
[https://www.karrass.com/dr-chester-karrass](https://www.karrass.com/dr-
chester-karrass)

[https://www.amazon.com/Give-Take-Revised-Negotiating-
Strateg...](https://www.amazon.com/Give-Take-Revised-Negotiating-
Strategies/dp/0887307434)

------
andersthue
If you have tried to build a business and failed then read “The Anatomy of
Peace” or “Leadership and Self Deception” same writer, same message.

If you have build a business and want to do it even better, then “Principles”
by Ray Dalio

Both are about mindset and worldview - something I am learning now is much
more important in tools and marketing hacks and knowing what to do in every
situation.

~~~
cheez
I read Principles, I think it's VERY difficult to implement because you need
people around you who value the same things. Is that not the case for you?

------
mud_dauber
I recommend Github's "Awesome Leading & Managing" repo
([https://github.com/LappleApple/awesome-leading-and-
managing](https://github.com/LappleApple/awesome-leading-and-managing)).

The readme includes a Google Doc summary by Joe Goldberg. It's like a greatest
hits of greatest hits.

------
eries
I wish more technical founders would read this:
[http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/07/principles-
of-p...](http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/07/principles-of-product-
development-flow.html?m=1)

------
brandonhall
The Lean Startup and Good to Great

------
iovrthoughtthis
The four steps to epiphany was a pretty great book for me.

~~~
scoj
I'd agree. However, reading it is hard, really skim parts and come back to it
over time. It's also where the Lean Startup started.

------
cvaidya1986
Zero To One.

------
yread
Cashvertising was interesting - it's more for marketeers but if you're writing
your own copy on your landing page it has useful to checklists

------
rawrmaan
80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall

------
tmaly
the Personal MBA, it outlines all the importance points of 2000 business
books.

~~~
akulbe
Can't agree with this one enough! If this book existed before I started
college, I'd have read this and skipped the business major!

------
dejaime
How to take all the blame

------
simonjgreen
Traction / Get A Grip

Slicing Pie

Scrum

Hard thing about hard things

------
shawn
Zero to One [http://gsl.mit.edu/media/programs/south-africa-
summer-2015/m...](http://gsl.mit.edu/media/programs/south-africa-
summer-2015/materials/0to1.pdf)

(Caution: It was written by _gasp_ Peter Thiel.)

~~~
sshb
Why?

~~~
shawn
I've only read one business book, and that was it.

Kidding aside, I think it's a good one because it's a mix of analysis and
history. Thiel had a unique vantage point, and he shares it well.

It also challenges you to be ambitious, which is becoming a rare sentiment.

