11 Must-Read Books for Entrepreneurs in 2021
Building a company from scratch is always hard. Especially the unpredictableness of 2020 made it almost impossible for a lot of entrepreneurs out there to accelerate. On top of numerous standard difficulties each business faces whether they are big or little, entrepreneurs had to face the pandemic as any other business in this world. To help you with some of the more predictable challenges, we’ve collected the best books for start-ups and entrepreneurs for the new year. From classical topics around innovation and growth to personal stories from founders and innovators to personal relationships and empathy, these are the 11 must-read books for 2021:
Move Fast. Break Shit. Burn Out
Why read?
This isn’t your typical changemaking book, because it’s not for your typical changemaker. It’s for the innovators who can’t stop taking in information, connecting dots, and changing the world—even when the world hasn’t asked for it. Even when the changemaker desperately needs a break.
306 pages, 2020
Out-Innovate
Why read?
Startups have changed the world. In the United States, many startups, such as Tesla, Apple, and Amazon, have become household names. The economic value of startups has doubled since 1992 and is projected to double again in the next fifteen years. For decades, the hot center of this phenomenon has been Silicon Valley. This is changing fast. Thanks to technology, startups are now taking root everywhere, from Delhi to Detroit to Nairobi to Sao Paulo. Yet despite this globalization of startup activity, our knowledge of how to build successful startups is still drawn primarily from Silicon Valley.
304 pages, 2020
Girl Decoded
Why read?
We are entering an empathy crisis. Most of our communication is conveyed through non-verbal cues - facial expressions, tone of voice, body language - nuances that are completely lost when we interact through our smartphones and other technology. The result is a digital universe that’s emotion-blind - a society lacking in empathy.
332 pages, 2020
How I Built This
Why read?
Drawing from his experience interviewing hundreds of founders, Guy expertly tells the story that any founders need to hear. Filled with inspiring stories, and lessons for anybody thinking about starting something, this book is not just a must-read, but it’s also a delight.
320 pages, 2020
The Innovation Stack
Why read?
In 2009, a St. Louis glassblowing artist and recovering computer scientist named Jim McKelvey lost a sale because he couldn’t accept American Express cards. Frustrated by the high costs and difficulty of accepting credit card payments, McKelvey joined his friend Jack Dorsey (the cofounder of Twitter) to launch Square, a startup that would enable small merchants to accept credit card payments on their mobile phones. With no expertise or experience in the world of payments, they approached the problem of credit cards with a new perspective, questioning the industry’s assumptions, experimenting and innovating their way through early challenges, and achieving widespread adoption from merchants small and large.
285 pages, 2020
Company of One
Why read?
Company of One is a refreshingly new approach centered on staying small and avoiding growth, for any size business. Not as a freelancer who only gets paid on a per piece basis, and not as an entrepreneurial start-up that wants to scale as soon as possible, but as a small business that is deliberately committed to staying that way. By staying small, one can have freedom to pursue more meaningful pleasures in life, and avoid the headaches that result from dealing with employees, long meetings, or worrying about expansion. Company of One introduces this unique business strategy and explains how to make it work for you, including how to generate cash flow on an ongoing basis.
272 pages, 2019
The Startup Community Way
Why read?
We are in the midst of a startup revolution. The growth and proliferation of innovation-driven startup activity is profound, unprecedented, and global in scope. Today, it is understood that communities of support and knowledge-sharing go along with other resources. The importance of collaboration and a long-term commitment has gained wider acceptance. These principles are adopted in many startup communities throughout the world.
368 pages, 2020
Uncanny Valley
Why read?
n her mid-twenties, at the height of tech industry idealism, Anna Wiener - stuck, broke, and looking for meaning in her work, like any good millennial - left a job in book publishing for the promise of the new digital economy. She moved from New York to San Francisco, where she landed at a big-data startup in the heart of the Silicon Valley bubble: a world of surreal extravagance, dubious success, and fresh-faced entrepreneurs hell-bent on domination, glory, and, of course, progress.
279 pages, 2020
Solving the People Problem
Why read?
Do you work with anyone who thinks or acts differently than you? Would you like to have a better understanding of why they think and act the way they do? Would you like to learn how to create healthier and more productive relationships with your coworkers, including colleagues, direct reports, and even your boss? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then Solving the People Problem is the book for you.
234 pages, 2020
The New Long Life
Why read?
Smart new technologies. Longer, healthier lives. Human progress has risen to great heights, but at the same time it has prompted anxiety about where we’re heading. Are our jobs under threat? If we live to 100, will we ever really stop working? And how will this change the way we love, manage and learn from others? One thing is clear: advances in technology have not been matched by the necessary innovation to our social structures. In our era of unprecedented change, we haven’t yet discovered new ways of living.
254 pages, 2020
Keinhorn (German)
Why read?
Julian Leitloff is 22 when he and his friends come up with an idea: jewelry from the 3D printer - that will become their business! But the beginning is tough and money is getting scarcer. Does he have to move back to his parents? Then the help: Investors get in big. The start-up is growing and with it the problems: Leitloff has to fire his best friend and lawyers threaten. But then things will go up again! Forbes voted him among the best “30 under 30”. With a large portion of self-irony, Julian Leitloff tells the journalist Caspar Schlenk about the most exciting trip of his life and explains why it is worth believing in your dreams, even if it does not turn into a unicorn in real life.
295 pages, 2020