Asking Minds

With different goals and priorities, we all want to taste success. Everyone comes with their own definition of success. Money, Happiness, Travelling, Independence and many more goals are stated as the actual success. We are here with a list of 10 best books for aspiring Entrepreneurs who want to run a successful venture and achieve success on their own.

Well, as we all know, running a venture is not a piece of cake. To achieve success, you need to give your best. But, its wise to gain some knowledge before jumping in.

These 10 best books for aspiring Entrepreneurs will give you some real encouragement and knowledge.

 

1. ‘Traction: A Start-up Guide to Getting Customers‘ by Gabriel Weinberg & Justin Mares –

Well, I can assure you that this quick read is worth your time. If you are looking to gain traction for your business, you should definitely read it. It is one of the best marketing books.
According to a review, “Traction is overall, a great read with valuable case studies! This is a book that you will always return to and look at specific chapters again and again.”

“In the context of start-ups, literally “going viral” means that every user you acquire brings in at least one other user.” – Gabriel Weinberg, Traction

2. ‘Steve Jobs‘ by Walter Isaacson –

Walter Isaacson is one of the best-selling authors and Steve Jobs is undoubtedly a powerful personality. There are three things necessary for a great biography:

1. A compelling subject
2. An engaging narrative
3. Accuracy

Walter Isaacson’s ‘Steve Jobs’ has all the three.

“Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect, in my opinion.” – Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs

3. ‘The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Start-up‘ by Noam Wasserman –

The Founder’s Dilemmas draws on the inside stories of founders like Evan Williams of Twitter and Tim Westergren of Pandora while mining quantitative data on almost ten thousand founders. It is a book that belongs to every Entrepreneur’s book-shelf.

Tech in Asia mentioned that this book is highly recommended for those who plan to embark or are already living the entrepreneurial lifestyle, it can serve as a guide to very tough situations for founders to evaluate the best possible way out.

“A friendship built on business can be glorious, while a business built on friendship can be murder.” – Noam Wasserman, The Founder’s Dilemmas

4. ‘A Paperboy’s Fable: The 11 Principles of Success‘ by Deep Patel –

A Paperboy’s fable is a very quick and interesting read written in the form of a story. With sound principles that set entrepreneurs up for success, there are many benefits to reading this book.

A Paperboy’s fable has a unique perspective on success. The book also features interviews with business executives (such as the co-founder of Vine, CNET, etc.), distinguished professors (from Stanford, Harvard, etc.) and General Petraeus.

 “Half the fun of success is discovering what the future holds even as you live it!” – Deep Patel, A Paperboy’s Fable

5. ‘The New Business Road Test: What Entrepreneurs and Executives Should Do Before Writing a Business Plan‘ by John Mullins –

This book provides a beneficial framework to draw a business plan. From models to case studies, this thoroughly organized book examines what entrepreneurs need to do to succeed. This book covers what to do before launching a start-up.

It will encourage you to be the best. The book highlights the importance of insight from customers, industry research, advisors, and so much more. This book gives you a structured approach to thinking about your idea with the 7 domains.

“Successful entrepreneurial ventures are about serving customers and their needs and resolving their pain. Not just any customers. Target customers. It” – John Mullins, The New Business Road Test

6. ‘100 Things Successful People Do – Little Exercises for Successful Living’ by Nigel Cumberland –

A truly refreshing book filled with the author’s real life and personal pieces of advice. Each chapter in this book helps you in a practical way to get closer to what you want to reach in life. The 100 ideas in this book are generic enough to help you.

As stated by Goodreads, “100 Things Successful People Do is packed with great ideas for working smart and living well, all carefully chosen to help you achieve any kind of success you can imagine. You will discover the habits that are common to successful people and find out how to use them in your own life.”

“The new disease of our age is being OK doing everything at exactly the same time.” – Nigel Cumberland, 100 Things Successful People Do

7. ‘The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business‘ by Emira Mears & Lauren Bacon –

Packed with lots of practical bits of advice, this book is purely aimed at women. With every passing day, more and more women are taking initiatives of starting their own business ventures. From start to finish, this book is like a breath of fresh air.

Kim Olson reviewed, “This is a fantastic little guide to launching a business, written specifically for women who plan to start a small, creative endeavor. It offers advice on planning, marketing, pricing–the whole gamut–with precisely this type of business in mind.”

 “Grow big and fast” – Emira Mears, The Boss of You

8. ‘EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches‘ by Dave Ramsey –

From New York Times, bestselling author and nationally syndicated talk radio host Dave Ramsey comes the secret to how he grew a multimillion dollar company. This is a book for any person in leadership, ministry, business, or any position of authority, whether big or small.

As reviewed by The Simple Dollar, “Ramsey maintains the friendly tone that has worked well for him in personal finance books, and it works well here with entrepreneurship. There’s just the right level of detail in the information, mixed with great anecdotes. If you’ve ever thought about launching your own business, this is a great book to start with.”

“Seth Godin says, “Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” – Dave Ramsey, EntreLeadership

9. ‘Start Something That Matters‘ by Blake Mycoskie –

In Start Something That Matters, Blake Mycoskie tells the story of TOMS, one of the fastest-growing shoe companies in the world, and combines it with lessons learned from such other innovative organizations such as Method Products, Charity: Water, FEED Projects, and TerraCycle. Start Something That Matters gives you the stories, ideas, and practical tips that can help you get started.

“Blake Mycoskie’s brief book covers his struggles in launching one of his companies: Tomorrow’s Shoes (TOMS). This work is not an autobiography. It is somewhat a company profile, almost an entrepreneurial self-help guide, and mostly an elaboration of his mission statement” said Tim.

“One day, when I own a house, I’ll keep a library full of books. Books are different from other possessions-they’re more like friends.” – Blake Mycoskie, Start Something That Matters

10. ‘Founders at Work: Stories of Startups Early Days‘ by Jessica Livingston –

“Founders at Work: Stories of Startups Early Days is a collection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in the very earliest days. These people are celebrities now” as stated by Goodreads.

What was it like when they were just a couple friends with an idea? Founders like Steve Wozniak (Apple), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Max Levchin (PayPal), and Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail) tell you in their own words about their surprising and often very funny discoveries as they learned how to build a company.

“Pick a big enough project, something that’s really hard, something that over the years you can work on.” – Jessica Livingston, Founders at Work

So these were the 10 best books for aspiring Entrepreneurs. If you really wish to achieve success in your Entrepreneurial journey, do check out these worthy reads.

We would like to have your opinion on more best books for aspiring entrepreneurs.

‘Successful people have libraries. The rest have big screen TVs’ – Jim Rohn

Also, read: Low-budget movies of Indian Cinema that sum up Life