If you're a first-time founder
The 4-book core curriculum I'd hand to anyone starting their first company. Order matters: discovery, then strategy, then the hard middle, then the operating cadence.
- 01
The Mom Test
PickRob Fitzpatrick · 2013
The shortest, most practical book on this entire list. Read it in an afternoon, save yourself a year.
Read if you are pre-product or pre-PMF and doing customer discovery interviews.
playbook<200pbeginner - 02
Zero to One
PickPeter Thiel · Blake Masters · 2014
The contrarian counterweight to The Lean Startup. Short, dense, and quotable to a fault.
Read if you are a technical founder evaluating whether your idea is differentiated enough to build.
essay collection<200pintermediate - 03
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
PickBen Horowitz · 2014
The closest thing to a war diary that a Valley CEO has ever published — and the rare founder book that's better the second time.
Read if you are a first-time founder or CEO and want a realistic preview of the role.
memoir200–350pintermediate - 04
The Great CEO Within
PickMatt Mochary · 2019
The cheat sheet a generation of YC CEOs have been quietly running their companies from.
Read if you are a first-time CEO at a recently funded YC-track startup.
playbook<200pbeginner