Books

[chrisgr07]

Hey guys I'm thinking about starting a business and I want to get more knowledge about business so I've been reading some books so far the books I've read are marketing made simple and they ask you answer the lean startup. And I'm thinking about buying other books as well these are the books I'm planning on getting tell me what you guys think or suggest me some

1. How to win friends and influence people by dale Carnegie.
2. The startup j curve by Howard love.
3. The hard thing about hard things by ben Horowitz.
4. Blue ocean strategy by w chan kim and renee mauborgne.
5. Understanding Michael porter by joan magretta.
6. Good strategy bad strategy by Richard rumelt.
7. Traction by gabriel Weinberg.
8. Contagious by jonah berger.
9. This is marketing by seth godin
10. Building a story brand by Donald miller. Which of these books should I get or suggest anything else thank you also I'm thinking about starting a residential cleaning business that's why I'm trying to get as much knowledge as possible

 

[hylda]

@chrisgr07 I recently decided to reach out to founders and ask about their successes and setbacks that they have come across in their journey, if you or anyone else is interested its Stumble. I can ask others what books they would recommend!

 

[xyz103]

@chrisgr07 Diary of a CEO

 

[fowlerkencob]

@chrisgr07 Not a book recommendation but an idea, if you are in the USA you can reach out to SCORE.org . It is a volunteer program, overseen by the government, that assigns you a mentor to Zoom with and consult with no cost to you. They also conduct workshops and such. Worth looking into.

 

[zaphnatpanea]

@chrisgr07 This might be a contrarian viewpoint, but after starting business/investing in businesses/advising entrepreneurs, I've learned there is only a very small overlap between generic business skills and the things that are helpful for a new venture, and the humans operating that venture.

I.e. it's incredibly hard to answer this question without knowing anything about what kind of business you're trying to start. If you give more context, I bet commenters could give you better feedback.

I'm going to resist the recommendations I'm dying to give until I know more!

 

[chrisgr07]

@zaphnatpanea Omg I'm so sorry I didn't see your comment I'm thinking about starting a residential cleaning business that's why I want to get as much knowledge as possible sorry again for the late reply

 

[chrisgr07]

@zaphnatpanea Omg sorry for the late reply but I'm thinking about starting a residential cleaning business that's why I'm trying to get as much knowledge as possible sorry for the late reply

 

[zaphnatpanea]

@chrisgr07 As one of my mentors said “the problem with the new books is they distract you from reading the old books”. Consider that many of the newer books have not yet stood the test of time, whereas the older ones are still relevant despite being written decades ago. That says something about their value (see the Lindy Effect on wikipedia).

With that said, the books from your list that have continued to be relevant are:

• How to Win Friends and Influence People

• Understanding Michael Porter (grokking Porter’s generic strategies is a superpower)

The rest look suspiciously like books that you should have summarized by ChatGPT.

My bias, for new founders, is that the hardest thing about running a business is not having good ideas, or storytelling or marketing tactics. It is management. I would highly-recommend giving yourself a nuts and bolts education about how to manage and operate a business, with these books:

• High-Output Management by Andy Grove (what a manager should do, how they should think, what their day should look like. if I only had 1 to recommend, it would be this)

• Traction (but not the one you said, the one by Gino Wickman. this is a ready-made entrepreneurial operating system that it could take decades to build yourself thru trial-and-error)

• My Years with General Motors by Alfred Sloan (Bill Gates says this is the one book he recommends. again, this is a rare book that focuses on the actual profession of management)

• Disciplined Entrepreneurship by Bill Aulet (if startups are a process of systematically de-risking, this is the manual to help you do that)

I’ll also echo what others are saying: actually doing the work of acquiring, serving, and retaining customers will teach you what matters from the books you read.

Hope this helps - be careful with who you let mentor you (living or dead); their influence will imprint you as an entrepreneur and manager.

 

[robert2]

@chrisgr07 more here: https://alecrimi.substack.com/p/10-business-books-for-startuper-to

 

[sendmelord]

@chrisgr07 This is a good list. I would suggest scrapping all that, though, and starting with "$100M Offers" and "$100M Leads" by Alex Hormozi.

These are more to the point with much less fluff than a lot of other books for entrepreneurs. They will help you get to action (where you learn the most, as others have said here).

Having a stack of books can lead to analysis paralysis AND lack of focus.

Also consider investing in an accelerator and/or mastermind for efficiency and accountability.

 

[613jono]

@chrisgr07 Also add:

Purple Cow by Seth Godin

The Shift by Kim Walsh Phillips

 

[greg1911]

@chrisgr07 Start the business you want and learn as you go. Pick up the books to learn specific skills you need to run your venture.

 

[carebear47]

@chrisgr07 It’s a virtuous circle - read to get ideas and knowledge, test them out or try something, then read to expand and combine your experience with the ideas, then do.

You’ve read, now do. Then read some more.

At this stage of your entrepreneurial experience, you might need a book about starting and executing. Try Guy Kawasaki’s “The Art of the Start” and hit the pause button on the rest of the list (a good list, by the way).

 

[mosherjosh]

@chrisgr07 I’d definitely say starting a business is not so much textbook related, more so actual practice. You’ll find text book “stuff” doesn’t always relate to the actual business depending on what business your going into. Saying that it is definitely a good thing reading books if you do not have any business knowledge prior. Good luck! I’ve had 3 businesses myself.

 

[tr1n1ty]

@chrisgr07 Your title and comment made me think you want to start a book business. Reading books is great but start your business first, all that knowledge will come handy when you do it. Do that first and now!

 

[monni]

@chrisgr07 Read/Listen to Gary Vaynerchuck (Jab Jab Right Hook) and his upcoming book.

Maybe you should read books about negotiation and selling too. It’s an Art on his own. A good recommendation for this is the movie “The Wolf of Wallstreet”

 

[monni]

Ps.: I like your book choices.

We can talk abot them too.

But don’t forget to actually start your company and not just reading books