From: SG Ganesh sgganesh@gmail.comSubject:

Date: 2 January 2016 at 8:33 AMTo:

7 Books That Every Entrepreneur Must Read

1. Why do most startups-fail?

2. How do we go about increasing our odds-of success?

3. What specific techniques and practices can we adopt for creating game-changing companies?

Answers:

1. Most startups fail because they run out of cash too quickly. It’s not because of lack of ideas, talent or passion. Most startups have good ideas. Most startups have incredibly talented people. Most startups have zeal and passion that you won’t see in large corporations.

7 Books That Every Entrepreneur Must Read

7 Books That Every Entrepreneur Must ReadGanesh Samarthyam

zeal and passion that you won’t see in large corporations.

2. We can increase our chances of success by learning from others successes (and more important, failures) of other startups and entrepreneurs.

3. We not just need to survive but thrive to create game-changing companies. We need to do right things (right decisions, pragmatic practices, effective techniques, …). Fortunately, help is at hand! Read at least one of these 7 amazing books for entrepreneurial success.

1. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, Simon Sinek, Portfolio, 2011

Why do leaders like Steve Jobs inspire action (and why many others don’t)?Answer: They start with “why” — the complete opposite to everyone else (see Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle: “WHY -> HOW -> WHAT”).

Also, watch his TED talk (“How great leaders inspire action”) to help you decide if you want to go deeper and read the whole book.

2. “How to Get Ideas”, Jack Foster, Larry Corby, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2007

We live in times when ideas can be turned into a service or a product faster than ever before; but how to get great ideas?

This is a fun to read book on getting ideas. It has attractive cartoons, practical suggestions (“Give yourself a deadline, the shorter the better!”), and catchy phrases (e.g., “Different questions, different answers, different solutions”) that you can use in practice.

4. “The Lean Startup”, Eric Ries, Crown Business, 2011

Startups operate under extreme uncertainties and fail to turn profitable (they burn out cash too quickly!). This book is all about discovering the product and finding out what customers want (and are ready to pay for it). Fundamental idea: Startup == Experiment. Lean thinking defines value as providing benefit to the customer (everything else is a waste!)

as providing benefit to the customer (everything else is a waste!)

“Success is not delivering a feature; success is learning how to solve the customer’s problem.”

4. “Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future”, Peter Thiel, Blake Masters, Crown Business, 2014

This book is from Peter Thiel — venture capitalist and the billionaire co-founder of PayPal. It discusses how to create a game-changing company that goes from nothing to something (instead of running “yet-another” business). Many insights and bold ideas; examples:

“Every great entrepreneur is first and foremost a designer.”

“Every startup should start with a very small market. Always err on the side of starting too small.”

side of starting too small.”

4. “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, Robert T. Kiyosaki, Plata Publishing, 2011

Most of us are “financial illiterates”: Our schooling system does teach us how to handle money (even when we earn money, we don’t know how to handle with it well). As entrepreneurs, it is important to stay afloat (till we make it big) and survive. The ideas from this book are certainly useful for dealing with money well.

“The poor and the middle class work for money but the rich have money work for them.”

“Financial literacy is the key to financial freedom.”

6. “The Power of Less”, Leo Babauta, Hachette Books, 2009

Most of us are hyperactive with our lives filled with “too much” of activity— 24 hours a day doesn’t seem enough. Unfortunately, many of us live only in weekends and hence the idea of a 4-hour work-week is certainly attractive. “Less is more” is the philosophy behind this book.

Essence of this book: “Simplicity boils down to two steps:

* Identify the essential.

* Eliminate the rest.”

7. “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership”, John C. Maxwell, Thomas Nelson, 2007

Entrepreneurs — because we chart our own course — are by definition leaders. And, “everything rises and falls on leadership” and hence this is an important book for us to read it.

John C. Maxwell has condensed his wisdom about leadership in the form of “laws”. The book is filled with colourful examples, interesting anecdotes and pithy quotes. My favourite example — Law of Navigation:

“Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course.”

Another one is The Law of Priorities :

“Leaders understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment.”