Top Books for Founders’ Bookshelves
Many of the Sand Hill Angels members have been startup founders, executives, advisors, and investors many times over many decades. We reached out to our membership to share their thoughts on the best books that have helped them on their journey. Consider this to be our unscientific collection of the Top Books for Founders’ Bookshelves.
The most recommended book was The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz. Manisha Jain, one of our members, says “Number of founders that I know have used this book like a bible. It shares day to day challenges through so many stories that first-time founders found useful.” The book profile offers this description: “Ben Horowitz analyzes the problems that confront leaders every day, sharing the insights he’s gained developing, managing, selling, buying, investing in, and supervising technology companies.”
Also frequently mentioned is Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters. The authors encourage readers to push their thinking on new ideas and “present at once an optimistic view of the future of progress in America and a new way of thinking about innovation: it starts by learning to ask the questions that lead you to find value in unexpected places.”
Startup founders might also want to seek out Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist, by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson. Both authors are part of the Foundry Group, and Brad Feld has shared lots of startup advice since he co-founded TechStars. The new edition is recently updated to reflect changes in the marketplace and “continues to show fledgling entrepreneurs the inner-workings of the VC process, from the venture capital term sheet and effective negotiating strategies to the initial seed and the later stages of development.”
Several members recommend Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups--Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 into $100,000,000, by Jason Calacanis. Although this book is primarily for angel investors, it deserves to be on the founder’s reading list. Richard Walker points out: “so founders know what they're up against when they meet with people like us and VC's”. The book description supports that, saying “he guides you step by step through the process, revealing how leading investors evaluate new ventures, calculating the risks and rewards, and explains how the best startups leverage relationships with angel investors for the best results.”
Another favorite for much of the past decade has been The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, by Eric Ries. One of our members, Manisha Jain, reports “This book helps separate out the key ingredients of the startups from boilerplate.” As investors we like to see founders follow these principles to make the best use of their cash. The blurb points out “Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs—in companies of all sizes—a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late.”
Diane Palme, one of our board members, recommends The Design of Everyday Things, by Don Norman, saying: “We all need to consider customer interaction and user experience - regardless of whether we're designing software, hardware, or a service. This book helps us put the customer first and consider how we design a solution that is both intuitive and targeted.” Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, is useful according to Wayne Chang, because “founders need to have so many awkward & difficult conversations, but usually have never been taught the tools to do so. This book is great for that.“ Steve Bennet and Steffen Bartschat point to The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup, by Noam Wasserman, with Steffen sharing an example from the book, “Do you want to be King or do you want to be Rich?”
These are a few that rose to the top.