10 Books to Help Build a Business

Familiarize yourself with these tools to help achieve your dreams.

When you begin your startup journey, you should prioritize reading books.  There are countless benefits that reading can have on your business.  Whether it be for pleasure or curiosity, reading enhances your knowledge in several ways; it amplifies your critical thinking abilities allowing you to question things and develop creative ideas and solutions to problems you never thought possible. This is crucial for the dynamics of building a business.  They also help you build empathy, essential to working with others and scaling your business.

We believe that developing good reading habits is invaluable to your startup journey.  With this in mind, I’d like to share with you the ten books we read to build the foundation for Profitual - and provide reasons why these books could enhance the entrepreneurial journey for those looking to take the leap and start a business.

Here are the ten books to help build your business:

Financial Intelligence by Joe Knight, Karen Berman, and John Case

Why Read It?

Financial Intelligence is quite simply the most impactful read for those looking to level up their knowledge in finance and accounting and develop the ever-important skills needed to become financially intelligent. The authors, Karen Berman - a Ph.D. in the financial field - and Joe Knight - a finance MBA with years of industry experience - unleash their incredible wisdom in this 260-page masterclass in financial explanation. Everything you need to know to speak the language, understand the financial statements, and so much more can be found in this easily digestible and incredibly valuable resource.

Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Why Read It?  

Simon Sinek’s Start with Why is an essential read for any leader who wants to inspire others. This book shows you that leaders with the most significant influence all act, think, and communicate similarly. This way is illustrated through the Golden Circle, a framework to share your ideas by starting with the purpose, then moving to your process and what you do. This is a counterintuitive approach to what most do - simply telling people what you do.

Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson

Why Read It?  

Venture Deals is the best introductory read for any aspiring professional looking to break into venture capital. This is also a must-read book for entrepreneurs as well. Written by two venture capitalists at Foundry Group, Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson, this book provides the basics of venture capital financing so that both sides can focus on negotiating the critical issues and ultimately get to the right deal faster. Venture Deals provides a crash course in negotiation and will enlighten the burgeoning entrepreneur on all things venture capital, so they’re prepared if they ever get to the table.

The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki

Why Read It?  

This is the obvious place to start if you want to read a book before beginning your next big idea. The Art of the Start is written by legendary product evangelist Guy Kawasaki. It is the battle-hardened standard for learning how to start a company, a charity, or any new business opportunity. Packed with decades of experience, Guy provides time-tested advice on writing a business plan, raising capital, branding, and recruiting the best.

Hooked by Nir Eyal

Why Read It?  

Based on years of research by author Nir Eyal comes Hooked, the answer to how successful companies create technologies and products that hook users. This book explains the “Hook Model,” a four-step process embedded into products that encourage customer behavior. Read this book if you seek to understand how products influence our behaviors.

Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares

Why Read It?  

From the minds of serial entrepreneurs Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares, Traction provides startup tools for creating customer growth. This book tells you how to find the proper channels to reach your customers and find ones that your competitors might not be using, in addition to showing you how to boost your email marketing campaign effectiveness.

Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross and Marylou Tyler

Why Read It?  

Predictable Revenue is more than just a book; it is a toolkit and manual that shows you how to build a sales machine that generates predictable recurring revenue. Written by Aaron Ross, former Director of Corporate Sales at Salesforce.com, Predictable Revenue shows you how to make an outbound sales process, avoid fatal sales mistakes, and inspire great people.

Obviously Awesome by April Dunford

Why Read It?  

Written by positioning expert April Dunford, Obviously Awesome is the “secret sauce” to finding your awesome. This book shows you how to find your product’s positioning fit through entertaining anecdotes and case studies. Read this book to gain invaluable insights into how to connect with your customers and choose the best market for your product.

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout

Why Read It?  

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing is a timeless classic authored by two of the world’s best-known marketing strategists, Al Ries and Jack Trout. As the title presents, this book provides 22 laws essential for learning what works in marketing and why. The laws outlined in this book will become the basis for your company’s marketing strategy.

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Why Read It?  

The Lean Startup is a narrative for a foundational framework that helps entrepreneurs continuously test their company and product vision. This testing enables entrepreneurs to test their startup ideas to adapt and adjust to market needs before it is too late. This book also outlines a strategy that will help the entrepreneur become savvier with their limited capital and focus on validating the product based on consumer response with quick, effective, and inexpensive iterations until the product-market fit has been discovered.

There are hundreds - maybe thousands - of books that can leave an incredible impact on a budding entrepreneur. Therefore, the ten books listed above should not be considered the only - or the best - source the entrepreneur should consult before leaping into business ownership. However, they provide a fantastic mix of things that we feel are greatly important to entrepreneurs, such as accounting principles, marketing strategies, and so much more that will put the entrepreneur in a great position to question things and build a robust and well-balanced foundation that could potentially put their business in a healthy position to succeed. Success is not guaranteed - it never is in life or business. However, it is likely more achievable if the entrepreneur has an open mind and a willingness to learn.

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