4 Must-Read Startup Books You Probably Haven’t Heard Of

You’ve probably already read the Lean Startup, Zero to One, and The Hard Thing About Hard Things.

Here are four must-read startup books that you probably haven’t heard of.

Unscalable by Charlie Guo

Startups are hard. Unscalable makes you appreciate just how hard. The book is a series of interviews with Y Combinator companies. It takes you through the lengths founders go through to make their startup work. Reading these stories, you’ll quickly understand what Paul Graham means when he says, “Startups take off because the founders make them take off.”

Running Lean by Ash Maurya

Everyone’s read The Lean Startup. But most skip over this book from the same series. That’s too bad because Running Lean is much more approachable and actionable. It quickly takes you from zero to evaluating ideas to talking to customers.

Getting Real by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson

You’ve probably read Rework or Remote by the guys at Basecamp (formerly 37Signals). Getting Real is lesser known than those more recent bestsellers, but its advice is timeless. Build less, embrace constraints, and scale later are just some of the important lessons the book offers.

The Brain Audit by Sean D’Souza

This book isn’t specific to startups. But if you want your startup to take off, you’re going to have to learn how to sell. The Brain Audit gives you a framework for how to attract and win customers. It will help you improve your communication to match the way customers think about your product.

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