Why do some products capture public’s imagination while others fizzle out of public consciousness? How do some products and services become a part of our daily routines?

Is there an underlying process that companies follow to create successful habit-forming products like Instagram, Candy Crush, and Netflix?

Nir Eyal has the answers to all these questions and more in his groundbreaking book Hooked.

Originally published in 2013, Hooked is arguably one of the best marketing books ever written. It’s a must-read business book for all marketers, product designers, and business owners.

Based on Eyal’s years of research, consulting, and practical experience, the book dives deep into the Hook Model, a four-step process used by successful companies to create habit-forming products. Eyal deconstructs the subtle tactics used by companies like Apple, Facebook (now Meta), Pinterest, and many more to link their products to their users’ daily routines and emotions.

Anchored around the Hook Model and filled with fascinating examples and anecdotes, Eyal’s book doesn’t just reveal the secrets behind building better products, but also the moral implications involved in creating highly addictive products.

As I share before every article in my “Book Lessons” series, I’d be doing a massive injustice to the book if I were to summarize its content in this compressed blog post. Please treat these lessons below as highlights or my key takeaways from the book. I’d urge you to pick up a copy of Hooked to get a deeper understanding of the Hook model and how successful companies leverage it to create products used habitually by customers.

In the meantime, here are 7 of the most important marketing lessons I learned from Nir Eyal’s Hooked.

How the Hook Model Works

Before I delve into the marketing lessons I learned from Hooked, it’s important to understand the methodology that the book is based on. And that methodology is the Hook Model.

Here’s a quick preview of what the Hook Model looks like:

Let’s quickly deconstruct the Hook Model:

1. Trigger

A trigger cues the user to take action. Triggers come in two types: external and internal.

External triggers tell the users what to do next by placing information within the user’s environment. Examples include emails, website links, or the app icon on your smartphone.

Take a look at the big “Start Free Trial” button on Apple TV+. This is an external trigger.

Internal triggers occur when a product becomes closely associated with a thought, an emotion, or a preexisting routine. Negative emotions like boredom, loneliness, frustration, and indecisiveness are powerful internal triggers and habit-forming products leverage these internal triggers by connecting these emotions to their products.

Think about the last time you were bored and binge-watched the entire season of a show on Netflix. Ring a bell? You were just cued by an internal trigger.

New habits always begin with an external trigger, but are sustained for a long period of time through internal triggers. In other words, it’s the internal triggers that keep users hooked.

2. Action

Action is the behavior done in anticipation of a reward.

A simple action like clicking on the “Get Started” button enables you to create an account on Netflix where you can check out the wide collection of movies and TV shows on the world’s favorite streaming service.

3. Variable Reward

If you’d like users to use your product frequently, then it must deliver what it promises. In other words, you need to offer them a reward for their actions.

But a predictable reward isn’t enough to keep users hooked to the product. It needs to be unpredictable.

Studies show that the unpredictability involved in variable rewards serves as a much bigger motivation for users to keep using the product.

Put differently, it’s not the reward that keeps users hooked to a particular product. It’s the anticipation of a reward.

Bottom line? The reward needs to have an element of unpredictability.

Imagine if Netflix had movies and shows from just one genre. What if they didn’t have Netflix Original shows or refused to add new movies to their collection? Would you still renew your Netflix subscription every month? Unlikely!

4. Investment

Investment occurs when the user puts something into the product such as time, effort, or money. The more time and effort that users invest into a product, the more they value it.

The investment phase increases the chances that the user will go through the Hook cycle in the future. Inviting friends to use the product, stating preferences, and learning new features are all investments that users make in a product to improve their experience.

The IKEA effect, which we will explore in detail shortly, is a great example of the investment phase. Another example is Netflix’s “My List” feature, which allows you to create a watch list of movies and TV shows.

7 Marketing Lessons from Hooked by Nir Eyal

1. All habit-forming products use the Hook Model

Companies behind habit-forming products like Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, iPhone, and several others use the Hook Model to stay relevant in users’ minds. These companies attach their products to internal triggers.

Throughout the book, Nir Eyal provides different examples of habit-forming products and services that change user behavior and create unprompted user engagement. These companies have mastered habit-forming product design.

Google’s search engine is perhaps the best example of a habit-forming product. Google commands a global market share of over 90%.

Image Credit: Oberlo

Why is it that more Google users haven’t migrated to rival search engines like Bing or DuckDuckGo?

Because Google is a habit-forming product. And habits keep users loyal.

If a user is familiar with Google’s interface, switching to Bing would require a lot of cognitive effort. Even if Bing’s technology and features were superior, adapting to its interface would take time for new users who have just migrated from Google.

As a result, Google has such a stranglehold on the search engine market and Bing is the subject of widespread internet memes.

So in order to create a product that’s used frequently by your customers, you need to master the art of habit-forming product design, which incorporates the Hook Model.

2. Habits are good for business

Habits are great for the bottom line of companies that are able to harness the power of habits in an effective way.

In the book, before diving into the mechanics of habit formation, Eyal helps us understand the importance and benefits of habits from a business perspective.

Here are some of the ways in which habits are good for business:

1. Habits increase Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)

Customer lifetime value (CLTV) is a metric that indicates the total worth of a customer to a business over the period of their relationship. Put differently, CLTV is the amount of money you make from a customer before he/she switches to a competitor.

Habits increase how long and how frequently customers use a product, resulting in higher CLTV.

2. Habits provide pricing flexibility

Habits give companies greater flexibility to increase prices. Eyal provides the examples of Candy Crush and Evernote to illustrate this point. Both these apps follow a “freemium” model.

In the case of Candy Crush, some of the users who’ve been playing the mobile game for free end up being paid customers, netting the company millions of dollars.

Similarly, loyal Evernote users typically upgrade to the paid version to use advanced features like calendar integration, increased note size, and more.

3. Habits supercharge growth

Users who are hooked to a particular product are more likely to tell their friends about it. In other words, they become brand evangelists, bringing in new users at no cost.

To elaborate on this, Eyal provides the example of Facebook which beat established social media platforms like MySpace and Friendster because of higher user engagement despite being late to the social networking game.

4. Habits sharpen the competitive edge

As the saying goes, “old habits die hard.” For new entrants to stand a chance against existing solutions, they need to build products that are not just marginally better, but substantially better and superior in every way.

Which is why user habits can be such a potent competitive advantage.

When you combine these four benefits, it’s easy to see why habits are good for business and why it’s worth investing your time and resources to build habit-forming products.

3. Successful companies understand users’ triggers

Successful companies have a deep understanding of users’ internal and external triggers. To demonstrate this, Eyal attributes a large component of Instagram’s success to the company’s ability to understand its users’ triggers.

In the book, Eyal deconstructs Instagram’s triggers and shows us how the app benefits from both internal and external triggers. Most users who are habitually using Instagram start using it because of an external trigger — a recommendation from a friend, media, or bloggers.

But with repeated use of the service, Instagram forms strong internal triggers with the users.

The fear of missing out on capturing a special moment that leads to stress is an internal trigger. It’s this pang of stress that keeps bringing users back to Instagram to share their special moments with their audience.

So in order to create a habit-forming product, you need to understand which user emotions are tied to internal triggers and know how to leverage external triggers to drive the user to action.

4. The importance of heuristics in product design

Heuristics are the mental shortcuts we take to make quick decisions and form opinions. Companies typically use a plethora of heuristics to increase engagement, but Eyal shares four of the most important heuristics in the book:

1. The Scarcity Heuristic

In this scenario, the appearance of scarcity affects the perceived value of a product or service. Scarcity, or perceived scarcity, of a product may discreetly signal the popularity of the product. It may also trigger the dreaded fear of missing out (FOMO) feeling.

Brands use scarcity effect all the time. Amazon is perhaps the best example of a company that uses scarcity heuristic to good effect.

How often have you searched for something you wanted to buy on Amazon only to notice the “only X left in stock” warning?

Case in point:

In this case, Amazon is using the scarcity heuristic to influence your buying behavior.

2. The Framing Heuristic

In this scenario, context shapes the perceived value of a product or service.

To illustrate this heuristic in action, Eyal shares the example of world-class violinist Joshua Bell’s popular social experiment. Typically, a ticket to Bell’s concert costs hundreds of dollars. Venues like Kennedy Center and Carnagie Hall are packed with his fans.

But when Bell played his violin for free in a busy subway station, very few people stopped to listen to his music.

You can check out the experiment here:

This is the framing heuristic in action. It doesn’t just influence our behavior, but it also changes how our brain perceives pleasure.

3. The Anchoring Heuristic

In this scenario, people often anchor to one piece of information when making a decision.

If you’ve ever walked into a clothing store with a signage of “Up to 50% off” or “Buy one, get one free”, you’ve been exposed to the anchoring heuristic.

In this scenario, even if we stumble upon better, less expensive (yet not discounted) products in the same store, we may end up buying products which are on sale because we have been influenced by the anchor of “50% off”.

4. The Endowed Progress Heuristic

This is a phenomenon that increases motivation as people believe they are nearing a goal.

An example of this heuristic in action is how LinkedIn prompts its users to share more information about themselves with the Profile Strength meter.

The more information and content you add to your profile, the more strength your LinkedIn profile gains. The ultimate goal is to reach the LinkedIn All-Star status.

5. Companies use gamification with varying success

Gamification is the use of game-like elements in non-game environments. The use of points, badges, and leaderboards are examples of companies using gamification to increase user engagement.

But gamification is not a magical solution that will automatically drive user engagement. And when it comes to successful implementation of gamification, some companies do it better than others.

Gamification can enhance the features of a product if it’s already delivering value to its users. On the other hand, if a product fails to hook users at the basic level, no amount of gamification can save the product from impending doom.

As Eyal points out, if there’s a mismatch between the customer’s problem and the company’s assumed solution, adding game mechanics to the product will not make it instantly more attractive.

That said, there are companies that are using gamification to great effect. Duolingo is an excellent example of an app that utilizes gamification to drive engagement among language learners.

Duolingo’s game mechanics like XP points, leaderboards, and leagues target different types of users to keep them hooked to the app.

Related: 7 Marketing Lessons I Learned from “Traction” by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares

6. The IKEA effect

IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer, follows a unique approach to sell its furniture products. Instead of selling preassembled furniture, IKEA puts its customers to work by making them assemble the furniture themselves.

In addition to decreased labor costs and optimized distribution efficiency, there is a hidden benefit to making people assemble their own furniture — customers develop an irrational love for the furniture they built. As a result, they assign a greater value to it. This cognitive bias is called the IKEA effect.

Businesses that include DIY elements in their products can place a higher value to them because of the investment users have made in the products through their labor.

Companies like Basecamp, iDoneThis, and Wistia have employed the IKEA effect in their onboarding process to increase a new user’s commitment in their product.

7. Understanding the Manipulation Matrix

The Hook Model can be used to build remarkable products that seamlessly integrate into our daily routines. But as you may have rightly guessed by now, it can also be a recipe for manipulation. Since it involves changing people’s behaviors, you should use it responsibly.

How? Eyal proposes using the Manipulation Matrix as a guide.

Manipulation Matrix is a decision-support tool that entrepreneurs can use long before they launch their product.

Here’s a quick look at the Manipulation Matrix:

To use the Manipulation Matrix, you need to ask yourself two questions:

1. Would I use the product myself?
2. Will the product help users materially improve their lives?

Your answer to these two questions will determine where you fall on the Manipulation Matrix.

Let’s take a quick look at each of the creators who represent the four quadrants in the Manipulation Matrix:

1. The Facilitator

If your answer to both these questions is yes, then that means your product is facilitating a healthy habit. Facilitators have the highest chance of success because they truly understand the needs of their users.

2. The Peddler

If you believe your product can materially improve users’ lives but have no intention of personally using it yourself, then you fall into this quadrant.

While there’s nothing wrong in launching a product when you’re in this quadrant, the odds of success are very low because you’re designing products for a user you don’t know extremely well.

3. The Entertainer

Entertainers use their product but don’t believe it can enhance users’ lives. If your product falls into this category, then it can indeed be successful, but its success will be short-lived. Games like FarmVille and Angry Birds are classic examples of products that fit this category.

4. The Dealer

Dealers are the worst of the lot. They neither believe in their product nor use it themselves. If your product falls in this category, you’re simply exploiting users to earn a quick buck.

So these are the four quadrants in the Manipulation Matrix.

If you’re creating a habit-forming product, it’s important to assess the morality behind the techniques you’ll use to manipulate users.

The Manipulation Matrix helps you determine which of the four categories your product fits into. It helps you decide whether it’s the right move to push forward with the launch or hold back and make changes to the product before it’s finally released to the general public.

The Manipulation Matrix is a reminder to creators and innovators to consider the implications of the products they build.

Final Thoughts on Hooked by Nir Eyal

If you’re planning to launch a new product, you need to stop everything and grab a copy Hooked right now.

As I mentioned at the start, Nir Eyal’s Hooked is required reading for all marketers, product designers, and business owners.

Why?

Because you’ll not just get an understanding of the process involved in creating habit-forming products, but also gain a perspective on the moral implications of launching a product that has your users hooked. 

Successful companies and apps like Apple, Google, Facebook, Pinterest, Candy Crush, and many more are using the four-step Hook model to get people to use their products over and over again.

Once you’re done with the book, you too will learn the exact techniques involved in building highly addictive products. You’ll also discover where you fall on the Manipulation Matrix and figure out whether it’s morally right to release your product to the market.

Click here to order Hooked on Amazon

Have you read Hooked by Nir Eyal? What lessons were you able to pick from this book? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you.

If you liked this article, please share it on Twitter using the link below:

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on December 10, 2021 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance and comprehensiveness.

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The post 7 Marketing Lessons I Learned from “Hooked” by Nir Eyal appeared first on 99signals.

Cryptocurrency is a complex, ever-evolving concept that has implications for investors, customers, financial institutions, and entrepreneurs.

In an attempt to deconstruct the complex world of cryptocurrency and blockchain, we have already covered the best crypto YouTube channels and top cryptocurrency podcasts on our blog. So I decided to expand the list of cryptocurrency resources by listing down the best cryptocurrency books that every crypto enthusiast and investor should read.

The world of cryptocurrency and blockchain may seem overwhelming at first, but the books listed here cover all the essential aspects you need to know to get a deep understanding of how crypto works and the potential it offers.

Here are the 12 best books on cryptocurrency and blockchain that can help open your mind up to the real potential of these revolutionary technologies.

Top 12 Cryptocurrency Books

1. Blockchain Bubble or Revolution by Neel Mehta, Aditya Agashe, and Parth Detroja

The bubble-or-revolution debate surrounding cryptocurrency has been raging for several years.

While some believe cryptocurrencies and blockchain are nothing but a hype-fueled bubble or scam with no legitimate use cases, others genuinely believe they are revolutionary inventions that will transform governments, businesses, economies, and societies.

But not many people understand how these technologies work and the real potential they have.

In Bubble or Revolution, the authors break down the basics of cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain technology through real-world examples and simple explanations.

You’ll learn about how crypto works at a fundamental level, where it’s useful, and where it isn’t. They offer their take on the bubble-or-revolution debate, while providing the necessary tools you’ll need to decide for yourself.

The book also delves deep into the social, political, economic, and technical implications of blockchain and cryptocurrencies and offers insights into their future from their exclusive interviews with dozens of tech industry leaders.

If you’d like to understand the building blocks of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, the economics of bitcoin mining, crypto regulations, and the future of money, this cryptocurrency book is a must-read.

Goodreads Rating: 4.35/5 (1,400+ ratings)

2. The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains by Antony Lewis

If you’d like to master the fundamentals of blockchain and bitcoin, this book on cryptocurrency is tailored for you. It assumes no starting expertise in these subjects and provides a breakdown of complex concepts in a simple, easy to understand way.

The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains is essentially a comprehensive guide to the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain. You’ll learn everything you need to know about the history of money to a thorough introduction to cryptocurrency to the latest thinking about cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings (ICOs), and enterprise blockchains.

This book covers the basics of cryptocurrency while also delighting you with little-known tidbits and gems that even experienced crypto investors and industry insiders will appreciate.

Despite being a researcher at a world-leading enterprise blockchain firm, author Antony Lewis maintains a neutral position on cryptocurrencies throughout the book, allowing you, the reader, to make your own conclusions about digital currencies.

Goodreads Rating: 4.1/5 (1,400+ ratings)

3. The Cryptopians by Laura Shin

The Cryptopians is authored by Laura Shin, the host of the popular Unchained podcast. Laura has been covering the crypto industry for more than 7 years, and Unchained actually had its sixth birth this past June.

But birthdays aren’t the only thing that the Unchained team should be celebrating — because this cryptocurrency book is amazing.

Laura Shin’s experience definitely shows in this book about the origin story of Ethereum. She spent three years conducting countless interviews with many of the book’s characters, including Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood, and even founder of the once viral site ChatRoulette (his involvement is a pretty great story in itself).

This book is so well-written that one reviewer thinks it will someday be adapted into a movie. Characters get introduced seamlessly, the events that take place are well described, and at no point in the book does the talk get too technical – meaning it reads well whether you are a crypto newbie or expert.

When reading the book, you’ll learn about the 8 founders of Ethereum, some of the dramatic events that occur, like the “Game of Thrones” day which led to one of the founders being let go, and many other events that took place.

Shin even takes a deep dive into the events that centered around the DAO hack — one of the most infamous hacks in crypto due to this day that happened because of a recursive calling vulnerability.

In short, this book provides a platform for fine-tuning your crypto knowledge as well as catapulting it to another level. The book also features a crypto glossary at the end, with 6 pages of crypto terms.

Goodreads Rating: 3.8/5 (400+ ratings)

Related: 22 Best Cryptocurrency Podcasts

4. Blockchain Revolution by Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott

Blockchain Revolution explores the technology behind blockchain and cryptocurrencies, how it’s currently being used, and more importantly, dissects blockchain’s potential to solve the most pressing global challenges faced by the world today.

As the authors write, “Blockchain holds the potential for unleashing countless new applications and as yet unrealized capabilities that have the potential to transform many things.”

This cryptocurrency book neatly deconstructs the promise and problems associated with the blockchain technology and provides a sneak peek into the future of money and humanity.

From covering the basics of blockchain protocol to explaining the seven design principles of the blockchain technology to examining new business models enabled by blockchain, the authors offer a detailed account of the current digital money landscape while simultaneously providing insights into a technology that has the power to reshape the global financial system.

Goodreads Rating: 3.4/5 (4,100+ ratings)

5. The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking by Saifedean Ammous

A few months ago, when I searched for “best bitcoin books” on Reddit, any answer that contained the book The Bitcoin Standard by Dr. Saifedean Ammous as one of the recommendations almost invariably got the most upvotes.

The Bitcoin Standard is perhaps the most definitive guide on the economic theory and history of bitcoin. It’s easily one of the best books on cryptocurrency and the best cryptocurrency book to get a deep understanding of how bitcoin works and the promises it holds.

This book explains the economics of bitcoin, how the bitcoin network operates, and analyzes the potential uses of bitcoin as a form of sound money. It highlights a few use cases of bitcoin and addresses some of the most common misconceptions surrounding the most popular cryptocurrency in the world.

In the book, author Saifedean Ammous argues that anyone who wants to invest or trade in bitcoin should first have an understanding of how it works and learn about the practical operational aspects of owning and storing bitcoins.

Goodreads Rating: 4.2/5 (7,300+ ratings)

6. The Internet of Money by Andreas Antonopoulos

Andreas Antonopoulos is one of the most outspoken advocates of bitcoin and blockchain technology. With his first book, Mastering Bitcoin (featured later on the list), Antonopoulos wrote one of the finest books on the technical aspects of cryptocurrency. The Internet of Money (split into 3 volumes) focuses on a much broader audience.

As Antonopoulos states at the start of this book, The Internet of Money is like an abridged diary of his discovery of Bitcoin. It’s a compilation of his talks on bitcoin and blockchain delivered to a live audience from 2013 to early 2016.

While the central theme of the book understandably revolves around bitcoin and blockchain, it also reflects Antonopoulos’ worldview, political ideas, and summarizes his optimistic vision about the blockchain technology.

The book starts with an introduction into the origins of bitcoin and all the subsequent topics explored in the book evolve from there. It’s a must-read book for crypto beginners as it helps you get a fundamental understanding of how bitcoin works.

Almost all of Antonopoulos’ books are available for free online, under open-source licenses. The Internet of Money is no exception. You can download the free Kindle version of all 3 volumes of this book on Amazon.

Goodreads Rating: 4.1/5 (3,700+ ratings)

Related: 13 Best Crypto YouTube Channels You Need to Follow

7. Cryptoassets by Chris Burniske and Jack Tatar

While most other books on this list explore cryptocurrencies from a technological and economic perspective, Cryptoassets takes a different approach: while it does cover the history and technology of cryptocurrencies, it also examines digital currencies from an investment perspective. As such, it’s one of the best books to learn cryptocurrency trading and investing.

Several experts believe bitcoin and the blockchain technology is the greatest investment opportunity since the internet. None more so than the authors of Cryptoassets. In this book, two industry insiders Chris Burniske and Jack Tatar provide a clear and concise roadmap to investing in bitcoin and other emerging cryptocurrencies to secure your financial future.

The authors acknowledge the rapidly-evolving nature of the crypto markets while providing a comprehensive breakdown of the history, technology, and marketplace dynamics of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

At the same time, the methodologies laid forth in this book are presented in an evergreen fashion so that it retains its value over a long period of time.

If you want to familiarize yourself with the technological landscape of digital currencies and make sound investment decisions, this cryptocurrency book is a must-read.

Goodreads Rating: 3.9/5 (2,100+ ratings)

8. Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption by Ben Mezrich

If there’s one person well equipped to write the story of the Winklevoss twins’ redemption and revenge in the wake of their highly publicized legal battle with Facebook, it’s Ben Mezrich.

Mezrich has authored several business thrillers, but he’s best known for his book The Accidental Billionaires, which was later adapted into a critically-acclaimed movie The Social Network by David Fincher.

In Accidental Billionaires, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss were two of the central characters engaged in a legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg, who they claimed stole their idea and code to create Facebook. While the Winklevoss twins won a $65 million legal settlement, Mezrich’s account of the legal battle and its subsequent adaptation by David Fincher didn’t exactly bolster their image and reputation.

Mezrich’s book Bitcoin Billionaires chronicles the Winklevoss twins’ second act of redeeming their public image by becoming Bitcoin’s most prominent adopters and advocates. As Mezrich remarks, “There is every chance that the Winklevoss twins’ second act will eventually overshadow their first.”

Like every other Ben Mezrich book, Bitcoin Billionaires is novelistic and fast-paced. It introduces you to the exciting and messy world of cryptocurrency startups, and provides a dramatic, narrative-based account of how the Winklevoss twins became Bitcoin’s biggest advocates.

Goodreads Rating: 4/5 (6,500+ ratings)

9. Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper

Nathaniel Popper is a New York Times finance and technology reporter who first became interested in bitcoin after writing an article on how the Winklevoss twins had amassed a large stockpile of bitcoin. He then spent a considerable time researching the origins of bitcoin and this eventually led him to write the book Digital Gold.

Like the author, if you too have been intrigued by the mysterious origins of bitcoin, then this cryptocurrency book is deeply rewarding. Nathaniel Popper’s well-researched book takes readers on a journey across continents to understand this revolutionary technology and the implications that it may have.

The book chronicles the dramatic rise of bitcoin through the eyes of the movement’s central characters, including Bitcoin’s mysterious inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, an Argentine millionaire, a Chinese entrepreneur, and the Winklevoss twins.

Popper delves deep into the motivations behind the most ardent supporters of bitcoin, the various controversies it has sparked, and the potential of digital currencies to disrupt the traditional financial system.

Goodreads Rating: 4.1/5 (6,100+ ratings)

10. Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking Digital Cryptocurrencies by Andreas Antonopoulos

This is the second book by Andreas Antonopoulos on this list. While Antonopoulos’ other book, The Internet of Money, covers the basics of cryptocurrencies, and as such, is intended for crypto beginners and enthusiasts, Mastering Bitcoin is a book mainly meant for coders and people who are seeking to examine bitcoin from a technical perspective.

If you’re a programmer, this book will teach you how cryptocurrencies work, how to use them, and how to develop software that works with them. But even if you don’t have a programming background, you can refer to the first few chapters of the book to get a basic understanding of the inner workings of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

That said, for all non-coders who are reading this article, I’d highly recommend you check out Antonopoulos’ other book, The Internet of Money, before you grab a copy of Mastering Bitcoin.

Goodreads Rating: 4.3/5 (2,300+ ratings)

11. The Book of Satoshi: The Collected Writings of Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto by Phil Champagne

The most astonishing fact about bitcoin is that no one knows the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. Satoshi Nakamoto, which may represent an individual or a group, exists only in the virtual world through online publications that introduced and explained bitcoin during its early days.

This book is a collection of Satoshi Nakamoto’s essential writings that detail bitcoin’s creation. The collection includes:

• Satoshi Nakamoto’s emails and posts on computer forums presented in chronological order
• Bitcoin fundamentals presented in layman’s terms
• Bitcoin’s potential and profound economic implications
• The seminal paper which started the bitcoin movement

Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity may remain unknown forever. All that exists now is the work he published over a span of two years before he disappeared from the internet.

This cryptocurrency book is an attempt to preserve his writings on bitcoin’s creation and fundamentals.

Goodreads Rating: 4.1/5 (500+ ratings)

12. Digital Cash: The Unknown History of the Anarchists, Utopians, and Technologists Who Created Cryptocurrency by Finn Brunton

This cryptocurrency book tells the story of how digital currencies came to be and the people who sought to build it. It explores the preconditions, the technologies, subcultures, ideas, and models of the future that made bitcoin and cryptocurrencies possible.

In the book, author Finn Brunton makes two compelling arguments. First, the concept of digital cash is best understood as part of the challenge to making digital data valuable, and that most of the problems facing digital cash resolve themselves when they are understood in terms of authentication, ownership, certainty, and proof for digital objects.

The second argument the author makes is that the history of digital currencies provides us a vivid example of the use of money and technologies to tell stories about the future. Indeed, the book describes several utopian and speculative monetary projects.

Filled with interesting characters, stories, ideas, and mental models, Digital Cash is an engaging account of the origins and technologies behind cryptocurrency and blockchain.

Goodreads Rating: 3.38/5 (100+ ratings)

Final Thoughts

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain may have gained mainstream acceptance, but there’s still a lot to unpack and learn about these disruptive technologies. Let these cryptocurrency books take you on a journey and help you understand the complex world of digital currencies.

Whether you’re a crypto beginner or someone who has dabbled in cryptocurrencies for years, you’ll find something to learn and cherish in these books.

Did I miss out on any of your favorite cryptocurrency books? Let me know in the comments section. I’m always on the lookout for book recommendations.

If you found this article useful, please share it on Twitter using the link below:

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on 26 July 2022 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance, freshness, and comprehensiveness. 

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The post 12 Best Cryptocurrency Books appeared first on 99signals.

I’ve always been an avid book reader. But before I started my own business, I used to devote my time reading mostly fiction. That changed in 2015 when I launched my digital marketing agency.

Just as I was about to quit my 9-to-5 job to embark on an exciting entrepreneurial journey, I started binge-reading tons of business books to get myself in the right frame of mind.

A few of the books featured here played a huge role in giving me that much-needed encouragement while others helped me navigate the challenges of business. Ultimately, these books helped me grow, both professionally and personally, and now I’m recommending these books to you. I hope they have the same influence on you and help you become a better entrepreneur.

Side note: This article took me a long time to write. Originally I wanted it to be a small list of my 15 favorite business books, but then as I kept reading more business books, I thought it’d be worthwhile to make it an exhaustive list of the top business books for entrepreneurs. That said, this is not the final iteration of this article. I’ll keep updating this article as and when I read new business books which are worth recommending.

Below are 85+ best books I’d recommend to both new and seasoned entrepreneurs.

85+ Must-Read Books for Entrepreneurs

1. Mindset by Carol S. Dweck

Of all the business books I’ve read over the years, the concept explained by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck in her book Mindset will stay with me the longest. In short, the book delves deeper into two mindsets that dominate our lives — fixed mindset and growth mindset.

The fixed mindset limits our learning and makes us more concerned about how we’ll be judged by others. The growth mindset, on the other hand, is concerned with improving. When we are in the growth mindset, failure is not an indication of our potential — it’s a stepping stone to success and greater opportunities.

While we are all a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets, it’s only when we truly embrace our growth mindset that we are empowered to take up new challenges, learn new things, and confront obstacles.

As entrepreneurs, it’s important that we embrace the growth mindset while taking up new challenges. As such, this book is required reading for anyone who wants to start their own business.

Goodreads Rating: 4.09/5 (145,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 5/5

2. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson

Naval Ravikant is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and angel investor. He’s launched several successful startups, including AngelList, and invested in over 200 companies, including Uber, Twitter, and Clubhouse. Naval has been sharing his unique perspective on business, investing, and happiness on Twitter for over a decade, where he has amassed over a million followers.

If you follow Naval on Twitter or have listened to his interviews on podcasts like The Tim Ferriss Show and The Joe Rogan Experience and have been impressed with the depth of his knowledge and wisdom, this book is for you.

Eric Jorgenson neatly curates Naval’s philosophy on two of his most explored topics: wealth and happiness. The book is a collection of Naval’s reflections on these topics from different sources like tweets, transcripts, essays, blog posts, and podcast interviews. It’s full of lessons, anecdotes, and advice that every entrepreneur will cherish as a guide to lead a more fulfilling life.

Side note: The entirety of this book is free to read at navalmanack.com.

Goodreads Rating: 4.5/5 (42,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 5/5

3. Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

The goal of this book is simple: to help you make your ideas stick. How do you make your ideas stick? By defeating the arch-nemesis of sticky messages — the Curse of Knowledge, which says that once you know something, it’s hard to imagine not knowing it. And that makes it hard for us to communicate our ideas clearly to our audience.

In the book, Chip and Dan Heath explain how the Curse of Knowledge can be overcome by following the six principles of stickiness — Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories — called the SUCCESs checklist. Each of these principles is explained in detail in separate chapters with elaborate examples and illustrations (called ‘Idea Clinics’) to really drive home the message.

Made to Stick is a must-read business book for entrepreneurs and marketers who’d like to master the art of storytelling and create compelling marketing content for their products or services.

Goodreads Rating: 3.98/5 (92,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 5/5

4. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

We are shaped by our habits. Whether they are good ones, like exercising or meditating, or bad ones, like smoking and gambling, our habits play a huge role in our lives and define who we are as an individual.

In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg, a Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist and author, explains in detail how habits are formed and how we can change them, both on an individual and on an organizational level.

Filled with interesting findings and anecdotes to elaborate the claims, The Power of Habit is a must-read for all entrepreneurs who are looking to cultivate good habits and eliminate bad ones to run successful businesses.

Goodreads Rating: 4.13/5 (500,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

5. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Startups need to be managed differently from established companies. That’s the core message of The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, a business book that applies the concepts of lean manufacturing and agile development to the startup process.

Ries goes on to explain the purpose of a startup — to find a sustainable business model and how validated learning is the most effective way startups can achieve sustainability.

Some of the ideas that resonated with me the most were concepts like minimal viable product (MVP), build-measure-learn feedback loop, and pivot.

Goodreads Rating: 4.11/5 (320,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

6. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

Negotiation is often called “the art of letting someone else have your way.” Successful entrepreneurs are often powerful negotiators as well. Luckily, negotiation is a skill that can be developed and improved.

If you’d like to improve your negotiation skills, there’s no better book than Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. Chris Voss is a former international hostage negotiator for the FBI and in Never Split the Difference, he reveals the negotiation skills and tactics he used at the FBI in some of the toughest scenarios.

In the book, Voss shares nine effective negotiation principles you can use to become more persuasive in both your professional and personal life. This book is required reading for all entrepreneurs who’d like to hone their negotiation skills and gain a competitive edge over their rivals.

Goodreads Rating: 4.37/5 (150,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

7. Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

This book is an absolute page turner. It covers the rise and fall of Theranos, a multibillion dollar biotech “unicorn” that promised to transform the healthcare industry with a machine that would make blood tests significantly faster and easier.

For a long time, Elizabeth Holmes was considered a Silicon Valley wunderkind. Her health technology company Theranos was all set to launch a device that would revolutionize the healthcare industry and make blood testing easier and less painful. Holmes herself was hailed as the next Steve Jobs. The only problem? The technology didn’t work. For many years, Holmes deceived and misled investors and business partners before her fraudulent practices were finally exposed.

John Carreyrou, the author of Bad Blood and a Pulitzer-winning journalist at the Wall Street Journal, was the first reporter to investigate Theranos and its astonishing claims. In late 2015, Wall Street Journal published several articles, questioning Theranos’ claims and techniques. At the time, Theranos was valued at $9 billion. By early 2017, the company’s value was zero.

Bad Blood provides the full inside story into the rise and fall of Theranos. It’s a story of how Elizabeth Holmes deceived and manipulated some of the smartest minds in the world and how she used intimidation tactics to silence her critics.

Goodreads Rating: 4.41/5 (250,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 5/5

8. Atomic Habits by James Clear

If you need a step-by-step guide to building better habits, there’s no better book than James Clear’s Atomic Habits. In this groundbreaking book, world-renowned habits expert James Clear provides a highly actionable and proven framework for creating good habits and shaking off bad ones.

Built on the principles covered in Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit (see #4), Atomic Habits offers a more practical framework that anyone can apply to make positive changes in their life. Clear argues that real change in our behavior comes from the compound effect of tiny changes we make on a daily basis. These tiny changes, when done consistently, can transform into habits and lead to greater results. As James Clear writes, “The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger.”

Drawing on scientific research and examples from different fields (biology, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, and more), Atomic Habits provides a solid roadmap to improve your productivity, motivation, and happiness.

Goodreads Rating: 4.37/5 (800,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 5/5

9. Influence by Robert B. Cialdini

Robert Cialdini is considered an expert in the field of influence and persuasion. And it’s largely due to his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion which was published in 1984. In Influence, Cialdini explains in detail six fundamental principles of persuasion: reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking, and scarcity.

Influence will help you understand the psychology behind persuasive techniques employed by skilled marketers and salespeople, honing your own persuasion skills, while also arming you against tactics commonly used by manipulators.

Goodreads Rating: 4.21/5 (152,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

10. Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Rework is unlike any other business book you’ll ever read. Written by founders of Basecamp (formerly 37signals), Rework contains unconventional business advice that may just be what you are looking for while venturing out on your own.

It’s a quick read with hundreds of amazingly simple rules to run your business, broken down into bite-sized chapters.

If you need some motivation to get started with your business idea, this is the book you should read.

Goodreads Rating: 3.97/5 (165,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 5/5

Recommended reading: 7 Business Lessons I Learned from Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson

11. Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon

Originality is overrated. All creative work builds on what came before and is a mashup of influences. In this short but nifty guide to creativity, bestselling author Austin Kleon shares ten principles to help readers embrace their artistic side and forge their own unique path.

At the outset, Kleon makes a distinction between good theft and bad theft. Bad theft is when you blatantly rip off and plagiarize the work of others and pass it as your own. Good theft, on the other hand, is when you deeply study the work of your heroes, reverse-engineer and remix their work, and build something unique. When you emulate the work of others, you end up finding your own voice.

If you’re struggling through a creative block, this book will teach you how to look at the world like an artist and discover your own creative path.

Goodreads Rating: 3.96/5 (285,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

12. Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss

Tim Ferriss is one of the most successful entrepreneurs of our generation and the New York Times best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek (see #18). His podcast The Tim Ferriss Show is often the #1 business podcast on all of Apple Podcasts. He has interviewed over 200 guests on his podcast, ranging from celebrities and star athletes to successful entrepreneurs and self-help gurus.

Tools of Titans draws heavily from Ferriss’ podcast and contains interviews of world-class performers from different walks of life who reveal the different tools and tactics they’ve used to achieve tremendous success both in personal and professional capacity.

The book is divided into three different sections — Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise — each section features interviews, tools, advice, and life hacks.

Goodreads Rating: 4.10/5 (40,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

13. All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin

Seth Godin is an influential marketing thought leader, entrepreneur, and the author of 19 international bestselling books, some of which you can find in this list.

All Marketers Are Liars explores the concept of storytelling and why it’s so important for marketers to tell authentic stories that resonate with consumers.

According to Godin, it’s not the product that a consumer buys, but the story behind the product. And all successful marketers tell engaging stories. It’s one of the most compelling business books I’ve ever read and it’s highly recommended to all marketers and entrepreneurs.

To learn more about my thoughts on the book, please check out this article — 7 Marketing Lessons I Learned from “All Marketers Are Liars” by Seth Godin.

Goodreads Rating: 3.88/5 (15,500+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

14. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

Amusing title aside, this book can change your perspective on life. Mark Manson, the author of this book, is a star blogger with more than two million readers. With his book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, he makes a compelling argument, backed by academic research, for empowering ourselves by embracing our flaws and limitations.

It’s a humorous book with interesting anecdotes and an important life lesson you’ll never forget.

Goodreads Rating: 3.90/5 (1 million+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

15. Quiet by Susan Cain

Being an introvert, I’ve often wondered if extroverts have an unfair advantage when it comes to entrepreneurship. After all, extroverts tend to be more social, enjoy teamwork, and always like being the center of attention — all of which are crucial personality traits required when you’re starting a new business. That said, introversion has its own unique strengths and attributes — less obvious but no less formidable.

In her international bestseller Quiet, Susan Cain shows how our society undervalues introverts and gives introverts the tools to take full advantage of their strengths. In this book, you’ll learn how prominent figures like Eleanor Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi, and Warren Buffet achieved what they did not in spite of but because of their introversion.

Goodreads Rating: 4.06/5 (430,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

16. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Thinking, Fast and Slow summarizes decades of research undertaken by Nobel Memorial Prize winner Daniel Kahneman.

In the book, Kahneman explains that our mind has two systems — the first system acts instinctively and requires little effort while the second is more deliberate and requires much more of our attention. According to Kahneman, our thoughts and actions depend on which of the two systems is in control of our brain at the time. In other words, we either rely on intuition or deliberation.

Thinking, Fast and Slow is a thought-provoking read which will make you question the major decisions you have taken in your life.

Goodreads Rating: 4.18/5 (485,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

17. Hooked by Nir Eyal with Ryan Hoover

Hooked reveals the secrets that habit-forming companies use to link their products or services to the users’ daily routines and emotions.

This book is more like a how-to guide for building better products. Nir Eyal explains the concept with vivid examples of companies using the so-called Hook model — a four-step process followed meticulously by companies to subtly encourage customer behavior.

Hooked is mandatory reading for entrepreneurs who’d like to learn the art of building habit-forming products or services.

Related: 7 Marketing Lessons I Learned from “Hooked” by Nir Eyal

Goodreads Rating: 4.10/5 (42,000+ votes)
My Rating: 4.5/5

18. The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss

The second book by Tim Ferriss in the list (and not the last), The 4-Hour Work Week is undoubtedly Tim Ferriss’ most popular book, having sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. Filled with personal anecdotes and numerous productivity hacks, The 4-Hour Work Week will make you reexamine your lifestyle and motivate you to start your own business.

Here’s a quick warning though — In the first few pages of the book, Ferriss comes across as a bit obnoxious as many reviewers on Goodreads have already noted, but I’d urge you to please continue reading to find an incredible pool of life hacks and productivity tips.

If this is your first Tim Ferriss book, you’ll take time to get acquainted to his style of writing and his boisterous personality. So, before you grab a copy of this book, I’d advise you to watch some of his videos on YouTube or subscribe to his podcast to get yourself acquainted with his work.

Goodreads Rating: 3.92/5 (290,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

19. Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy

Known as the “father of advertising”, David Ogilvy was an advertising wizard who founded the ad agency Ogilvy and Mather. In his book Ogilvy on Advertising, Ogilvy shares his views on all aspects of advertising, drawing inspiration from his wealth of experience handling ad campaigns of large brands like Rolls Royce, Dove, and Shell.

Though the book was published way back in 1983, Ogilvy’s principles of advertising still hold true and as such, should be required reading for anyone who wants to learn the basics of advertising.

Goodreads Rating: 4.14/5 (10,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

20. Side Hustle by Chris Guillebeau

Chris Guillebeau is a New York Times bestselling author who understands the importance of a successful side project that generates extra income without putting your day job in jeopardy.

His book Side Hustle offers specific guidelines to help you design and launch a profitable side hustle without quitting your day job.

This book should be required reading for anyone who’d like to learn the basics of starting a side business and get a taste of entrepreneurship without losing the security that a day job offers.

Goodreads Rating: 3.70/5 (4,500+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

21. Originals by Adam Grant

Adam Grant is a New York Times bestselling author and the highest-rated professor at Wharton for seven straight years.

In his book Originals, Grant deals with the concept of originality and debunks the notion that leaders are born, not made. The book explores the origins of good ideas and how anyone can recognize a good idea. Grant explains the concept of originality with vivid examples of successful nonconformists who dared to speak up and changed the world for the better.

Originals is filled with fascinating insights, findings, and examples, so grab this book to be entertained and educated at the same time.

Goodreads Rating: 3.97/5 (50,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

22. #AskGaryVee by Gary Vaynerchuk

I’ve been a fan of Gary Vaynerchuk ever since I started my own business back in 2015. It’s difficult to not be engaged by his charming charisma and passion. Having been inspired by his podcast, videos, and social media posts, I presumed the logical next step would be to read his business books. And I’m glad I invested time and money in reading all five business books by Gary Vaynerchuk.

While I’d personally recommend all of them as each book provides a unique perspective (and you’ll find some of them in this list), #AskGaryVee covers all the essential aspects of Gary Vee’s business philosophy.

The book draws from Vaynerchuk’s popular #AskGaryVee show and it showcases some of the most thought-provoking questions Gary has addressed on his show. You’ll find Gary’s unique perspective on different business topics — from startups to social media platforms to influencer marketing.

If Gary Vaynerchuk has inspired you in any way through any of his social media accounts, then this is the book you should start with.

Goodreads Rating: 4.02/5 (3,600+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

23. Only the Paranoid Survive by Andrew S. Grove

Andrew Grove was one of the founders of Intel and a key player who helped transform the company into the world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductors.

In Only a Paranoid Survive, Grove shares his business philosophy and strategy that helped him steer Intel through a series of potential major disasters. He introduces the concept of strategic inflection points (SIPs) — the moments in any business when massive change occurs.

In the book, Grove recounts how he successfully guided Intel through several strategic inflection points to make it one of the most admired companies in the world. Only a Paranoid Survive is a must-read for all entrepreneurs who’d like to hone their leadership skills and get unique insights into the management of change.

Goodreads Rating: 3.97/5 (9,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

24. Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuk

Crushing It is Gary Vaynerchuk’s sequel to his 2009 international bestseller Crush It (see #86). I’ve included Crushing It higher on this list because it was published in 2018, and as such, the strategies that are outlined in the book are more in line with the current marketing and business trends.

In Crushing It, Gary Vaynerchuk doubles down on the importance of creating a strong personal brand to achieve personal and professional freedom. The book offers both theoretical and practical advice on how to grow your personal brand on every current major social media platform. It also contains numerous examples of entrepreneurs who have used social media to grow their personal brand and, as a result, are living life on their own terms.

Goodreads Rating: 3.98/5 (10,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

25. Deep Work by Cal Newport

Want to get rid of procrastination and improve your productivity? Then you should grab a copy of Deep Work by Cal Newport. In the book, Newport suggests that we should cultivate the skill of deep work i.e., the ability to focus on an important task without distractions.

The book is divided into two parts — in the first part, Newport presents a case for deep work in any profession. In the second, Newport reveals the four rules of deep work for training our mind and habits to support the skill of deep work.

Sprinkled with interesting stories and anecdotes, Deep Work is a profoundly impactful book that will change the way you approach work.

Goodreads Rating: 4.19/5 (139,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

26. Pre-suasion by Robert Cialdini

Pre-suasion refers to the process of arranging for recipients to be receptive to a message before they encounter it. According to Robert Cialdini, the renowned social psychologist and the author of global bestseller Influence (see #9), pre-suasion is an art you need to master in order to be better placed to win a debate, get support for an idea or cause, or promote a campaign.

Based on Cialdini’s latest research and packed with fascinating examples and case studies, Pre-suasion is a compelling account of the strange workings of the human mind.

Goodreads Rating: 4/5 (8,600+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

27. Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson

Steve Jobs continues to be an inspirational figure for thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs across the world. This biography by bestselling author Walter Isaacson, which was published a few months after his death, offers an in-depth look into Steve Jobs’ professional and personal life.

Isaacson conducted three years of exclusive interviews with Jobs, his family members, colleagues, and even his rivals to write an excellent biography of one of the greatest innovators of our generation. It’s an unbiased book that dives deep into Jobs’ amazing abilities and foresight, but also reveals many of his flaws.

Goodreads Rating: 4.16/5 (1 million+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

28. Getting Things Done by David Allen

Hailed as ‘the definitive business self-help book of the decade’ by Time magazine, David Allen’s Getting Things Done offers principles and proven tricks to optimize the way you work and live. The premise of Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology is simple: our productivity is directly proportional to our ability to relax. Only when our minds are clear and our thoughts are organized that we achieve remarkable results and achieve our creative potential.

This book contains a gold mine of insights into strategies to boost your productivity and mental well-being. Want to beat your procrastination and achieve profound results for your business? Get a copy of David Allen’s Getting Things Done today.

Goodreads Rating: 4/5 (150,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

29. Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss

Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss is a mammoth 580-page book which features tips and lessons from more than 100 successful people from all walks of life. Tim Ferriss advocates asking good questions to gain uncommon clarity and results, and he does a great job selecting 11 questions to ask the mentors in this book.

Here are a few questions from the book which I think were excellent and the answers to these questions from mentors were illuminating to me as the reader:

• What is the book you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
• What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months?
• What is an unusual habit that you love?
• In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life
• When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

I enjoyed reading almost all the 100+ interviews in the book since the answers to these questions revealed so much about the mentors.

Goodreads Rating: 4.07/5 (15,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

30. Zero to One by Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel is a well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneur and venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal and was Facebook’s first outside investor.

In Zero to One, Thiel reveals how to build companies that create new things, drawing on everything he’s learned directly as a co-founder of PayPal and Palantir and then as an investor in hundreds of startups, including Facebook and Space X.

Goodreads Rating: 4.17/5 (320,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

31. Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a Hungarian-American psychologist who pioneered the psychological concept of flow, a mental state in which a person is fully immersed in the activity at hand. Csikszentmihalyi’s seminal work Flow outlines his theory that people are happiest when they are in a state of flow.

According to Csikszentmihalyi, we can sometimes get too focussed on extrinsic rewards (power and wealth), while ignoring intrinsic rewards (the performance of the task itself). It’s only when we focus on intrinsic rewards that we enter a state of pure flow. This theory is further explored in Daniel H. Pink’s bestselling book Drive (see #35).

Based on empirical research, the book offers techniques that enable us to focus on intrinsic rewards, helping us achieve the state of pure flow.

Goodreads Rating: 4.10/5 (75,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

32. Thrive by Arianna Huffington

Thrive is a business book by Arianna Huffington, the immensely successful co-founder and editor-in-chief of Huffington Post. In the book, Huffington makes a passionate argument for redefining success. Traditionally, success is designed in terms of money and power. But Huffington makes a compelling case for a “third metric” which comprises of well-being, wisdom, and compassion.

Huffington starts the book by sharing her own personal wake-up call at a stage in her life when she was overcome by stress and exhaustion. This compelled her to find a daily rhythm to support her well-being and, as a result, she was able to improve her health and happiness, without losing productivity.

If you want to thrive in your professional and personal life, you need to create some room for well-being and wisdom. That’s the key message of the book.

Goodreads Rating: 3.69/5 (17,700+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

33. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk

If there’s one thing Gary Vaynerchuk loves, it’s social media marketing. Vaynerchuk leveraged the power of social media to grow his own personal brand and became one of the leading marketing influencers of our generation.

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook is about social media marketing and while it may not stand the test of time, it’s a highly resourceful book for entrepreneurs and marketers who are looking to leverage social media to grow their public profile.

Goodreads Rating: 3.98/5 (8,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

34. The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki is one of the greatest marketing thought leaders of our time and a prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist. He was responsible for marketing Apple’s Macintosh computer line in 1984. Since then, he’s started three companies and advised organizations as small as two people and as large as Google. Currently, he’s the chief evangelist at the design startup Canva.

His book The Art of the Start is a guide to launching and making your new product, service or idea a success. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or an experienced one, you will benefit greatly from Kawasaki’s tips and insights.

Goodreads Rating: 3.88/5 (27,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

35. Drive by Daniel H. Pink

For decades, scientists believed our motivation was powered by two main drives — the first was the biological drive and the second drive was any behavior done in anticipation of rewards or fear of punishment.

In Drive, Daniel H. Pink proposes a new way to think about motivation. Drawing on insights uncovered by two scientists, Harry F. Harlow and Edward Deci, Pink offers us a more dynamic view of human motivation by introducing a third drive — wherein the joy of the task has its own reward.

When our motivation is powered by the third drive, we are driven by the human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to better the world. The book contains several examples of companies that have benefited greatly by enlisting this new approach to motivation.

Goodreads Rating: 3.94/5 (110,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

36. Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy

Brian Tracy is a renowned motivational speaker and the author of over eighty books. Eat That Frog! is perhaps his most popular book, having sold millions of copies worldwide. If you want to overcome procrastination and manage your time better, Tracy’s book is a must-read.

I think we’d all agree that we never have the time to do everything on our to-do list. When swamped with work, most people tend to focus on the easier tasks first, even if they are less important. But Tracy advises you to do the opposite — focus on the hardest, most important task first before moving on to easier tasks.

Tracy uses the metaphor of eating a frog to demonstrate the importance of completing our most critical tasks. Your “frog” is basically the toughest, most difficult task on your to-do list. It’s the task you’re most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t get started with it. By completing the most challenging task on your list first thing in the morning, you’ll have a sense of achievement that will help you power through the rest of the day. As Tracy writes, “The more important the completed task, the happier, more confident, and more powerful you feel about yourself and your world.”

In the book, Tracy shares 21 rules and principles to tackle challenging tasks, combat procrastination, and reach higher levels of performance and productivity.

Goodreads Rating: 3.87/5 (68,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

37. Company of One by Paul Jarvis

What if you could scale up your company’s revenue and customers while resisting the urge to blindly scale up the number of employees, expenses, and resources? Company of One is a book that explains how you can do exactly that.

In the book, author Paul Jarvis offers a refreshing approach focused on staying small on purpose and questioning growth every step of the way. The title of the book may suggest that it features advice that’s solely intended for solopreneurs and freelancers. But as Jarvis explains, a “company of one” approach is not just aimed at single-person businesses. It can be applied by any small business that wants to remain small and become better without suffering the setbacks of growth.

A must-read business book for entrepreneurs who’d like to learn the secrets behind scaling up profitability and customers while staying small, lean, and agile.

Goodreads Rating: 3.90/5 (4,500+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

38. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

Having sold more than 25 million copies worldwide, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is recognized as one of the most influential books ever written.

The book presents Stephen Covey’s approach to effectiveness wherein he lays out seven habits for lasting effectiveness. By adopting these seven habits, you can be more productive both in life and at work.

Goodreads Rating: 4.15/5 (700,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

39. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell’s groundbreaking debut book The Tipping Point explains why certain ideas, products, and behaviors spread like epidemics and what we can do to consciously trigger and have control over such epidemics.

In the book, Gladwell describes the three rules of epidemics and other key concepts with numerous examples to elaborate his theory.

Goodreads Rating: 4/5 (790,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

40. Blue Ocean Strategy by Renée Mauborgne

In the international bestseller Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne coined the terms ‘red ocean’ and ‘blue ocean’ to describe the market universe. Red oceans are all the industries in existence today — the known market space. Blue oceans, on the other hand, denote all the industries not in existence today — the unknown market space, untainted by competition.

Based on a study of 150 strategic moves (spanning more than 100 years across 30 industries), the authors argue that lasting success comes not from battling competitors, but from creating ‘blue oceans’ — untapped market spaces where a business can grow and thrive.

The book presents a systematic approach to making competition irrelevant and outlines tools any company can use to create and capture their own ‘blue oceans’.

Goodreads Rating: 4/5 (72,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

41. Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

Lean In examines the reasons for gender inequality both at home and at work. Published in 2013, Lean In has now become a “movement” encouraging women’s workplace empowerment.

In the book, Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook and ranked the 5th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2011) shares her personal stories and encourages women to lean into their careers by seizing opportunities and aspiring leadership positions. She also makes a compelling case for why both men and women should acknowledge the gender inequalities in our society and work towards a solution.

Goodreads Rating: 3.95/5 (250,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

42. Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

Tony Hsieh tragically passed away at the age of 46 in November 2020. He was a successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist who served as the CEO of the online shoe and clothing company Zappos for over 20 years.

Delivering Happiness offers a glimpse into Tony Hsieh’s business philosophy through key lessons he learned in business and in life, from starting a worm farm to running a pizza business, through LinkExchange (which he sold to Microsoft in 1998 for $265 million), Zappos, and more.

Zappos is known for having a different sort of work culture. For instance, the company pays brand-new employees $2,000 to quit. Having a unique company culture has enabled Zappos to be in Fortune magazine’s annual “Best Companies to Work for” list on a consistent basis and has helped the company generate over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually.

Tony Hsieh’s book dives deep into his work philosophy and explains why he emphasizes happiness for his employees, colleagues, vendors, and customers over profitability.

Goodreads Rating: 4.03/5 (72,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

43. Linchpin by Seth Godin

“Are you a linchpin or a replaceable cog in a machine?” — This is the question Seth Godin compels us to ask ourselves in his New York Times bestselling book Linchpin, and then highlights the differentiating characteristics between the two, and goes on to reveal ways in which we too can become indispensable aka linchpins.

Godin’s business philosophy and his theory of linchpin, sprinkled with numerous real-world examples, shines through and in turn compels you to acquire characteristics to become a linchpin yourself.

Goodreads Rating: 3.83/5 (44,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

44. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

This is not a business book in the traditional sense, but it certainly falls in the leadership category. Leadership plays a crucial role in an entrepreneur’s life and there has never been a leader more inspirational than Abraham Lincoln.

Team of Rivals delves deep into Lincoln’s political career and accomplishments, and also of  his chief political rivals who later became an integral part of his administration. It’s as much a political thriller as it’s a lesson in leadership; a testament to the brilliance of Abraham Lincoln’s strategy to stabilize America in one of its toughest times.

With over a million copies sold worldwide, this book has inspired several leaders, including Barack Obama. When Obama was asked which book he could not live without in the White House, his answer was instant: Team of Rivals.

Goodreads Rating: 4.27/5 (180,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 5/5

45. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

In The Hard Things About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley’s most respected entrepreneurs, draws on his own story of starting, running, and investing in technology companies to offer practical advice for navigating the toughest problems you encounter while running your own business.

It’s a great read with lots of uncomfortable truths about entrepreneurship and a valuable resource for anyone who’s interested in building, growing, or leading a company.

Goodreads Rating: 4.22/5 (87,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

46. Lost and Founder by Rand Fishkin

In Lost and Founder, Rand Fishkin (founder of Moz) provides a compelling and transparent account of his experience of starting and running a successful SaaS company. Fishkin is brutally honest about the startup ecosystem and business culture. Each chapter is a startup myth buster, wherein Fishkin dismantles the commonly held beliefs in the technology world, first with his own stories, and later through data, research, and analysis.

I’ll be honest: I’m not a huge fan of Moz (I prefer Semrush). I believe their flagship product, Moz Pro, has many flaws which need to be addressed before it can dominate the SEO software industry. That said, Rand Fishkin is one of the few marketing thought leaders I admire and his authenticity shines through in this book. If you’re a budding entrepreneur, let this be your startup guide.

Goodreads Rating: 4.33/5 (2,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

47. Purple Cow by Seth Godin

A Purple Cow is a product that’s remarkable — something that’s worth talking about. In this groundbreaking book, Seth Godin explains how businesses stand to gain by creating remarkable products and get noticed in a world where most products are invisible.

The book contains lots of examples and case studies to illustrate Godin’s concept of the Purple Cow. It’s slightly dated, since it was published in 2001, but the lessons and insights in the book are still as relevant as ever.

Goodreads Rating: 3.78/5 (50,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

48. The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson

Having sold 15 million copies worldwide, The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson is the ultimate resource on managing your work and increasing your productivity. The One Minute Manager introduces the readers to three One Minute Secrets: One Minute Goals, One Minute Praisings and One Minute Re-directs. Using these three One Minute Secrets, we can lead a happier, healthier, and more productive lives.

The revised edition, called The New One Minute Manager, was published in 2015 and introduces the original book’s concepts and lessons to a new generation.

Goodreads Rating: 3.95/5 (120,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

49. Jack: Straight from the Gut by Jack Welch

Straight from the Gut is an autobiography by Jack Welch, the former chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE). He’s largely credited for increasing GE’s value by 4000% during his tenure.

In the book, Welch provides insights into some of the strategies he implemented at GE during his tenure, like the Six Sigma quality program and the vitality curve performance management practice. Straight from the Gut offers a candid glimpse into the leadership and management style of arguably one of the greatest business leaders of the 20th century.

Goodreads Rating: 3.82/5 (15,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

50. Made in Japan by Akio Morita

Akio Morita was the co-founder of Sony and an advocate for all the products made by Sony from 1949 to 1994, including the revolutionary Walkman.

Made in Japan is Akio Morita’s autobiography where he describes the rise of Sony in the wake of World War II, his extraordinary career as one of the most successful businessmen in Japan, and his views on the Japan, U.S., and the world economy.

Goodreads Rating: 4.08/5 (4,200+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

51. The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries

Al Ries is a world-renowned marketing expert and bestselling author. Along with Jack Trout, Ries is credited for creating the concept of “positioning” in the field of marketing.

In The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, Al Ries and his daughter and business partner Laura Ries examine branding strategies from the world’s best brands, including Coca-Cola, BMW, and Starbucks, to provide you with the expert insight you need to build a world-class brand.

Goodreads Rating: 3.88/5 (3,500+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

52. Screw It, Let’s Do It by Richard Branson

Screw It, Let’s Do It is a quick read that lays out Richard Branson’s business philosophy. In the book, the billionaire founder of Virgin Group shares his ideas and the secrets of his success to inspire you to achieve your own entrepreneurial goals.

If you’re currently facing skepticism and fear of failure in your entrepreneurial quest, read this short book and get inspired by the lessons learned by Branson along the road to success.

Goodreads Rating: 3.91/5 (14,500+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

53. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

You may be wondering what’s a Stephen King book doing in a “best books for entrepreneurs” list. Described as the “King of Horror”, he’s written over 50 novels, including horror classics such as Carrie, Misery, and It. But On Writing is a different kind of Stephen King book — it’s part autobiography and part master class on the craft of writing.

Even if you’re not a Stephen King fan, you’ll find the collection of tips and advice in this book to be incredibly useful.

Goodreads Rating: 4.33/5 (270,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

54. Good to Great by James C. Collins

Good to Great is the result of a five-year study undertaken by Jim Collins and his research team to answer one compelling question: “Can a good company become a great company, and, if so, how?”

Collins’ five-year study yielded many insights, but one finding stood above the others — that any organization can substantially improve its stature and performance and even become great if it conscientiously applies the framework of ideas uncovered by Collins and his research team.

From the Hedgehog concept to the Flywheel and the Doom Loop, the book contains a treasure trove of ideas and concepts that will enable business leaders to achieve good-to-great transformations for their companies.

Goodreads Rating: 4.14/5 (188,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

55. The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen

The Innovator’s Dilemma is a business book by Clayton Christensen, a Harvard professor, that expands on the concept of disruptive technologies. Incidentally, the term “disruptive technologies” was coined by Christensen in a 1995 article in Harvard Business Review.

In the book, Christensen demonstrates how successful companies can do everything right and still lose their hold on the market or fail completely as new competitors emerge and control the market. Drawing lessons from successes and failures of leading companies, Christensen presents a set of rules that businesses must follow in order to ride the wave of innovative disruption.

Goodreads Rating: 4.04/5 (52,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

56. Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston

In Founders at Work, Jessica Livingston reveals what went on in the early days of over 30 influential startups. The book consists of interviews of founders of innovative companies such as Apple, PayPal, Flickr, and more.

In their own words, these founders explain the many challenges they faced and the huge obstacles they overcame to make their ideas a reality.

Goodreads Rating: 3.99/5 (29,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

57. The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau

While not as good or practical as Chris Guillebeau’s other book Side Hustle (see #20), The $100 Startup is nevertheless an interesting book that serves as a valuable guide for those who are tired of their regular nine-to-five jobs. The book contains several examples and case studies of “solopreneurs” who started their own business (or microbusiness as Guillebeau describes it) on a shoestring budget.

The $100 Startup demonstrates how easily an idea can be transformed into a successful business.

Goodreads Rating: 3.88/5 (63,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

58. Console Wars by Blake J. Harris

If you were a gamer in the 90s, like I was, you probably have fond memories of playing classic NES games like Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong. Or if you owned a Sega console, you’d most likely have spent a major portion of your childhood playing Sonic the Hedgehog and The Revenge of Shinobi. While you enjoyed these games, you were probably not aware of the intense rivalry between Nintendo and Sega to control the gaming world.

Based on over two hundred interviews with former Sega and Nintendo employees, Console Wars offers a behind-the-scenes sneak peek at one of the fiercest rivalries of the 90s. To be more precise, this book chronicles how Sega, a small gaming company led by Tom Kalinske, took on the juggernaut Nintendo, and revolutionized the video game industry.

Goodreads Rating: 3.93/5 (7,500+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

59. Masters of Doom by David Kushner

This is a book that entrepreneurs, gamers, and gaming entrepreneurs will enjoy. Masters of Doom tells the tale of John Carmack and John Romero, co-creators of Doom and Quake, two of the most iconic video games in history. The “Two Johns” were heralded as the Lennon and McCartney of the $10.8 billion video game industry.

The book reveals the inside story of how Carmack and Romero transformed their personal passions to form a company that was responsible for iconic games like Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein — games that dominated the video game industry for years. The book also briefly covers the aftermath of Columbine High School massacre in 1999 and the impact it had on the gaming industry.

If you enjoyed Console Wars, you’ll surely love this. While Console Wars delves into the world of console games of the 90s, Masters of Doom documents the history and journey of PC games in the 80s and 90s.

David Kushner, video game journalist and the author of this business book, spent six years researching for the book and conducted hundreds of interviews with the subjects, including Romero and Carmack. As a result, Masters of Doom vividly captures the role the “Two Johns” and their company, id Software, played in shaping the industry and how the team worked in “crunch mode” during the wee hours to churn out games that gamers loved.

Like Bad Blood and Console Wars, Masters of Doom reads like a novel and is entertaining enough to keep you on the hook.

Goodreads Rating: 4.29/5 (17,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

60. Iacocca: An Autobiography by Lee Iacocca and William Novak

Recognized as one of the greatest American CEOs of all time, Lee Iacocca is best known for the development of Ford Mustang and Pinto cars, while he was at Ford in the 1960s, and then later for reviving Chrysler Corporation as its CEO in the 1980s.

In this autobiography, Iacocca recounts his thirty-eight years in the automotive industry. He candidly describes his spectacular rise through the ranks of Ford Motor Company to become its president, only to be fired by Henry Ford II. A life event that would have shattered others in his position only made him stronger and more resolved as he joined Chrysler to save it from the brink of bankruptcy.

Iacocca may have had a fixed mindset, as proclaimed by Carol S. Dweck in her book Mindset (see #1), but one can’t disregard his achievements. By saving Chrysler from its imminent collapse, Iacocca demonstrated exceptional leadership skills and great business acumen.

Goodreads Rating: 3.97/5 (10,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

61. Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger

Total Recall is the story of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s extraordinary life, told in his own words.  As a 90s kid I grew up watching and idolizing Arnold and devoured his movies. Terminator 2 still remains my all-time favorite action movie. For me, he was the quintessential Hollywood superstar.

As years went by I admired Arnold even more when I realized he was than just a blockbuster movie star. He was one of those rare individuals who had been equally successful in three different fields — bodybuilding (5 Mr. Universe and 7 Mr. Olympia wins), acting, and politics (Governor of California). To read his autobiography and learn about his journey, the ups and downs, and his achievements was really inspiring.

If you’re an Arnold Schwarzenegger fan, then it goes without saying that you should grab a copy of this book right away. But the book also has several key takeaways and lessons for entrepreneurs. What resonated most with me is how he’d set super specific goals for every aspect of his life. I was also amused by the different side hustles he engaged in (real estate investments, mail-order business, etc.) before he made it big in Hollywood.

Another thing that struck me was how Arnold could shift into a higher gear whenever the situation demanded it. In the book, Arnold provides an analogy of a superfast sports car with a nitrous injector on the engine that gives you extra horsepower when you need it.

Goodreads Rating: 4.15/5 (20,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

62. Leapfrog by Nathalie Molina Niño

In Leapfrog, serial tech entrepreneur and investor Nathalie Molina Niño shares fifty proven hacks for women entrepreneurs.

The book is packed with practical and relevant advice for budding entrepreneurs who’d like to take the first step toward making their business idea a reality.

Goodreads Rating: 4.28/5 (175 ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

63. We Are the Nerds by Christine Lagorio-Chafkin

Reddit is the sixth most-visited website in the world, yet millions of people have no idea what it is and how it operates. We Are the Nerds is all about the birth and rise of Reddit. The book reveals Reddit’s central role in the dissemination of culture and information in the 21st century.

Christine Lagorio-Chafkin does a phenomenal job in telling the story of how Reddit’s founders, Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, transformed themselves from student video-gamers into Silicon Valley millionaires as they turned their website into an icon of the digital age.

We Are the Nerds is brilliantly written and packed with insights and lessons for building startups.

Goodreads Rating: 3.90/5 (800+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

Recommended reading: 25 Best Marketing Subreddits (That You Should Join Today)

64. Conspiracy by Ryan Holiday

Conspiracy recounts the tale of how the controversial media outlet Gawker Media was secretly taken down by billionaire investor Peter Thiel with the help of an unlikely ally, Terry Bollea, better known as the wrestling legend Hulk Hogan. I consider this book to be Ryan Holiday’s best work.

Like many, I was fascinated by the Gawker vs. Bollea trial in 2016 and was surprised by the verdict which eventually bankrupted the notorious publication Gawker. It was only at the end that the world became aware of Thiel’s involvement in the trial and how he had funded Hogan’s lawsuit.

In the book, Holiday explores how Thiel masterminded the whole scheme, his reasons for doing so, presents the whole facts of the case, and the events that caused Gawker’s destruction. Though the book is slightly biased towards Thiel, it’s an enjoyable read which is hard to put down.

Goodreads Rating: 3.98/5 (6,100+ ratings)
My Rating: 4.5/5

65. Trust Me, I’m Lying by Ryan Holiday

Ryan Holiday’s Trust Me, I’m Lying is an eye-opening revelation into media manipulation. While I always knew news could be manipulated, I had not realized the scale at which the manipulation takes place.

In the book, Ryan Holiday shares his own personal experience as a media manipulator and then provides real-life examples of media manipulation which feature prominent media brands such as Huffington Post, Gawker (now defunct), Buzzfeed, HARO, and many more.

Goodreads Rating: 3.87/5 (11,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

66. It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier

It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work is more like a direct sequel to Fried and Hansson’s brilliant book Rework (see #10). I was slightly underwhelmed by the book, but that may have been because I consider Rework to be one of my favorite business books and my expectations before reading this book were too high.

In the book, Fried and Hansson reveal a bold strategy for creating the ideal company culture — a culture that celebrates ‘calm’, instead of ‘crazy’. It’s packed with insights and tips for entrepreneurs who’d like to build and sustain a positive work culture where productivity can thrive.

Goodreads Rating: 4.01/5 (12,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

67. The Winning Way by Harsha Bhogle and Anita Bhogle

The Winning Way by Anita Bhogle and Harsha Bhogle was just a pleasure to read. I’m a massive fan of cricket and of Harsha Bhogle’s commentary. I believe there’s no cricket pundit in the world who understands and analyzes the game better than him. So it was really interesting to see him combine his knowledge of cricket with business and leadership, and reveal ways in which we can achieve success in a competitive business environment.

Filled with amusing anecdotes and sports analogies (mostly cricket), The Winning Way is a compelling read.

Goodreads Rating: 3.72/5 (1,400+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

68. iWoz by Steve Wozniak

iWoz is an interesting account of Steve Wozniack’s life before and after he co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs.

Woz, as he’s affectionately called, is often called the “Other Steve” and although he was instrumental to Apple’s success, especially in the early years, his legacy has largely been overshadowed by Steve Jobs. So it was really interesting to read about his escapades in his autobiography and get a different perspective into the fascinating journey of Apple.

Goodreads Rating: 3.84/5 (16,500+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

69. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

In this cult bestseller, two economists, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, explore the hidden side of everything to show us a totally new perspective of the world. Having sold more than 4 million copies worldwide, Freakonomics is both loved and hated in equal measures.

The book is a collection of articles written by Steven D. Levitt, an economist with a notorious reputation for applying economic theory to subjects not usually covered by traditional economists. In Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner combine pop culture and economics to cover diverse subjects such as the economics of drug dealing and the role of legalized abortion in reduced crime rate.

Love it or hate it, but one can’t deny it’s a fascinating read.

Goodreads Rating: 4/5 (820,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

70. The Innovators by Walter Isaacson

The Innovators is Walter Isaacson’s revealing story of the people who created the computer and the internet. In the book, Isaacson narrates the history of the digital revolution and reveals how certain innovators and entrepreneurs turned their visionary ideas into disruptive realities.

Isaacson focuses on the collaboration aspect of these inventions — collaboration that took place not just among peers but also between generations. Starting with Ada Lovelace’s “Notes” on Analytics Engine in 1843 (considered one of the first computer programmers) and ending with IBM’s computer Watson winning the game show Jeopardy, The Innovators covers tales of computer pioneers like Alan Turing, Steve Jobs, Jimmy Wales, and several others.

Goodreads Rating: 4.11/5 (35,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

71. Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg

Smarter Faster Better explores the science of productivity and explains why some individuals and companies are so much better than others at the things they do. Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit (see #4), reveals eight key concepts — from motivation to decision making to innovation — that explain why some people and companies are more productive than others.

Like his international bestseller The Power of Habit, this book contains numerous examples and draws heavily on the latest findings in neuroscience and psychology.

As the title suggests, this book will help you become smarter, faster, and better at everything you do.

Goodreads Rating: 3.90/5 (32,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

72. Grit by Angela Duckworth

In this New York Times bestselling book, Angela Duckworth combines decades of psychological research and inspiring success stories from business and sports to demonstrate the power of grit to help you reach your potential. The book demonstrates why grit is far more important than talent or intelligence to achieve success.

In Grit, Duckworth explains the importance of passion and perseverance in achieving our long term goals and reveals techniques we can use to grow our grit to succeed in life.

Goodreads Rating: 4.08/5 (113,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

73. The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli

As an entrepreneur, you’ll be required to make important decisions on a daily basis. A major obstacle to effective decision-making is cognitive bias.

Rolf Dobelli’s The Art of Thinking Clearly examines our most common cognitive biases and describes how to counter them with instructive good sense.

Goodreads Rating: 3.83/5 (16,900+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

74. So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport

In So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Cal Newport (author of Deep Work — see #25) explores the reality of how people end up loving what they do.

Drawing from real-life examples and cutting-edge science, he details the alternative strategies that work much better for developing a compelling career.

Goodreads Rating: 4.08/5 (41,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

75. The Big Short by Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis’ bestselling book The Big Short tells the story of four outsiders in the world of high-finance who predicted the credit and housing bubble collapse before anyone else. The book is both illuminating and entertaining, and Lewis is an amazing writer who’s able to hold your attention even while explaining mysterious financial instruments like credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligation (CDO).

The film adaptation of this book is one of my favorite movies of all time — a movie that I’d recommend to all entrepreneurs. It features an amazing ensemble cast that includes Christian Bale, Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt, and it’s a near pitch perfect adaptation of the book (side note: The movie is included in my list of best movies for entrepreneurs. Do check out the list if you’re looking for some inspiration).

Goodreads Rating: 4.29/5 (155,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 5/5

76. The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

In The Happiness Advantage, Harvard Professor Shawn Achor reveals that the age-old formula of “Success first, happiness second” is broken. In fact, the relationship between success and happiness works the other way around. Decades of research in the field of positive psychology have shown that happiness actually fuels performance and achievement — giving us the competitive advantage that Achor calls the Happiness Advantage.

In the book, Achor lays out seven actionable principles that predict success and achievement. The Happiness Advantage will change your perspective and help you develop a more positive mindset at work and in all other aspects of your life.

Goodreads Rating: 4.14/5 (36,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

77. Give and Take by Adam Grant

Adam Grant’s Give and Take provides a counterintuitive approach to what it takes to succeed and get ahead in life. According to Adam Grant, helping others is just as important as hard work, luck, and talent in order to achieve greater personal success.

Using cutting-edge research and success stories from Hollywood to history, Grant’s book makes a compelling argument for altruism and demonstrates that in the long run, giving is the recipe for success in the corporate world.

Goodreads Rating: 4.07/5 (33,500+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

78. The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind

If you’d like to learn everything about the infamous Enron scandal, there’s no better book than The Smartest Guys in the Room.

The Smartest Guys in the Room tells the remarkable story of the rise and fall of Enron Corporation, an American energy, commodities, and services company which went bankrupt in 2001 when it was reported that the company’s financial condition was the result of a systematic accounting fraud. Since then, the name Enron has become synonymous with fraud and deceitful practices.

Meticulously researched by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, the book delves deep into Enron’s dramatic rise and its scandalous fall and serves as a cautionary tale of corporate greed and toxic culture.

Goodreads Rating: 4.21/5 (23,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

79. Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

In this compelling and insightful book, Chip and Dan Heath (authors of Made to Stick — see #3) make an argument for change — even when it’s hard. In Switch, the Heath brothers consider change at every level — individual, organizational, and societal — and offer us a basic three-part framework to guide us in any situation where we need to change behavior.

Just like their bestselling book Made to Stick, this book is packed with examples and “idea clinics” to help anyone make long-lasting change a reality.

Goodreads Rating: 4.04/5 (50,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

80. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Having sold over 32 million copies and endorsed by celebrities like Oprah and Will Smith, Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad is one of the most widely read personal finance books of all time.

In the book, Kiyosaki asserts the importance of financial education and financial independence aka financial IQ. Kiyosaki draws inspiration from his own life to educate readers on different financial aspects, and talks extensively about how he developed his perspective on money through two unique influences on his life – his two fathers. One father was his real father who was highly educated but financially poor and the other was his best friend’s dad who, despite being a high-school dropout, was a self-made millionaire.

While the book continues to be popular even after more than 20 years after its publication, there are a few critics of the book. Just head over to Goodreads to find numerous reviews where people either love it (5 stars) or absolutely hate it (1 star). That said, there’s no denying the fact that Rich Dad, Poor Dad has helped several people improve their financial intelligence. Daymond John, an entrepreneur and regular investor on TV show Shark Tank, considers Rich Dad, Poor Dad to be one of his favorite books.

Goodreads Rating: 4.12/5 (570,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

81. This is Marketing by Seth Godin

This is Marketing is Seth Godin’s most recent business book. In the book, Godin explains how advertising no longer makes sense in today’s marketing landscape. Instead, Godin believes marketers should adopt an approach that identifies people’s underlying needs and desires, develop a product that satisfies these needs, and then use value-proposition and storytelling to target a core group of fans who are receptive to trying new things.

If you’ve never read a Seth Godin book before, I’d urge you to start with this.

Goodreads Rating: 3.96/5 (13,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

82. Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares

Traction is a business book by Gabriel Weinberg (founder of the privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo) and Justin Mares (serial entrepreneur). Traction is growth and the pursuit of traction is what defines a startup.

In the book, Weinberg and Mares reveal nineteen different traction channels — from SEO to email marketing to community building — and present the so-called Bullseye framework that will help you figure out which channels will work best for your business.

Traction will help you get a deeper understanding of how these nineteen different traction channels work and the three-step framework will help you choose the best traction channel for your business. Filled with examples and case studies, Traction features a ton of marketing lessons for founders of early-stage startups.

Goodreads Rating: 4.12/5 (9,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

Related: 7 Marketing Lessons I Learned from “Traction” by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares

83. Factfulness by Hans Rosling

Hans Rosling was a Swedish physician, academic, statistician, and public speaker. In his lifetime, he held several TED talks where he shared his optimistic general views of humanity’s future. These views were later summarized in his posthumous book Factfulness.

The book reveals ten instincts that distort our perspective. Filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is a must-read book that will change your worldview forever.

Here’s a fun fact: Bill Gates featured Factfulness as one of his suggested 5 books worth reading for 2018. You can also find his glowing 5-star review of the book at Goodreads.

Goodreads Rating: 4.36/5 (170,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 4/5

84. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham

Benjamin Graham was an American investor and economist who flourished after the financial crash of 1929. He is regarded as the “father of value investing”. His widely acclaimed book The Intelligent Investor was first published in 1949 and has sold over a million copies worldwide. Since then, the book has been revised several times and the most recent revised edition was published in 2003.

The latest revised edition of the book includes updated commentary by noted financial journalist Jason Zweig, whose perspective incorporates the realities of today’s market and gives readers a deeper understanding of how to apply Graham’s principles.

Successful entrepreneurs are great investors too. And The Intelligent Investor is the best book you can invest in to reach your financial goals.

Goodreads Rating: 4.25/5 (121,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3.5/5

85. 18 Minutes by Peter Bregman

18 Minutes is the perfect blend of a business book and a self-help guide. In the book, Peter Bregman offers you a clear view of yourself and your surroundings, and then provides you with a map to help you get where you want to go. It will guide you to your most effective self, helping you make smart, thoughtful decisions about what’s worth doing and what’s not.

Goodreads Rating: 3.8/5 (5,500+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

86. Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk

I’m going to end this list with Gary Vaynerchuk’s book Crush It. In the book, Vaynerchuk shows how to use the power of the Internet to turn your real interests into real businesses.

As the book was published back in 2009 and specifically talks about leveraging different online platforms to gain traction for your business, it is slightly dated as some of the popular platforms of the time no longer exist. Take Viddler and ustream.tv for instance.

That said, the core message of the book still holds true today and with the proliferation of social media and influencer marketing, Gary Vee’s reasoning behind combining passion with business is more relevant than ever a decade since the book’s publication.

Goodreads Rating: 3.87/5 (32,000+ ratings)
My Rating: 3/5

Conclusion

Did I miss any of your favorite business books? I’m sure I have. What business books would you recommend to entrepreneurs who are seeking inspiration? I’d love to hear your recommendations, so please share your favorite books in the comments section below.

If you liked this article, please do me a favor and share this post on Twitter using the link below or use the social share bar on the left to share it on other social channels.

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on April 30, 2019 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance and comprehensiveness.

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The post 85+ Best Books for Entrepreneurs and Business Owners appeared first on 99signals.

As an entrepreneur, you know that time is your most valuable asset. You’re constantly juggling tasks, projects, and deadlines, and it can be tough to stay on top of everything.

That’s where productivity books come in.

The right productivity book can help you:

• Set clear goals and priorities
• Break down large tasks into smaller, more manageable ones
• Eliminate distractions and focus on what’s important
• Develop better habits and routines
• Optimize your time and energy

If you’re looking for a productivity boost, here are 12 of the best productivity books for entrepreneurs.

Top 12 Productivity Books for Entrepreneurs

1. Atomic Habits by James Clear

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

James Clear’s Atomic Habits dives into the incredible impact of small, incremental changes on our habits. It’s all about those little habits that pack a punch!

Clear emphasizes the concept of atomic habits, which are small, consistent actions that may seem insignificant at first, but over time, they accumulate and create remarkable results.

In the book, Clear offers practical strategies and actionable advice that are easy to implement. He shares effective methods to break bad habits and establish positive ones.

What’s great about Atomic Habits is that it presents a realistic approach to personal and professional growth. Clear provides real-life examples and vivid anecdotes to make his ideas come to life.

With over half a million reviews on Goodreads, Atomic Habits is perhaps the most popular productivity book on this list, and you may wonder if it lives up to the hype. Rest assured, this book surpasses expectations and delivers on its promises.

If you’re looking for a roadmap to make continuous improvement a natural part of your life, this book has got you covered.

Order Atomic Habits on Amazon

2. Indistractable by Nir Eyal

“Most people don’t want to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that distraction is always an unhealthy escape from reality.”

From the best-selling author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products comes a book that unravels the science of attention and presents a groundbreaking approach to combating distraction in our information-saturated world.

Nir Eyal’s Indistractable addresses the prevalent issue of distraction in our modern, tech-driven society. In a casual and relatable tone, Eyal explores the root causes of distraction and provides practical strategies to reclaim our focus and regain control over our time and attention.

The book delves into internal triggers and provides tips for managing external distractions, setting goals, creating time-boxed schedules, and practicing focused work to enhance productivity and accomplish meaningful tasks.

Throughout the book, Eyal offers actionable advice, insightful anecdotes, and helpful exercises to guide readers on their journey to becoming “indistractable.” By applying the principles outlined in this book, you can cultivate a deep sense of focus, boost your productivity, and lead a more fulfilling life.

Order Indistractable on Amazon

Related: 7 Marketing Lessons I Learned from “Hooked” by Nir Eyal

3. The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

“Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls — family, health, friends, integrity — are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.”

A must-read for entrepreneurs who want to maximize their productivity, The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan provides a simple roadmap to cut through the clutter and focus on what truly matters.

The book challenges the notion of multitasking and instead advocates for identifying the one thing that, when accomplished, makes everything else easier or unnecessary. Keller and Papasan provide practical strategies for identifying and prioritizing this crucial task, leading you to sharpen your focus and remove any distractions standing in your way.

Packed with compelling examples, stories, and insights from successful individuals across various fields, the authors showcase how focusing on the one thing can lead to remarkable achievements.

Order The One Thing on Amazon

Related: 25 Best AppSumo Lifetime Deals for Entrepreneurs

4. Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy

“One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not to be done at all.”

With millions of copies sold worldwide, Eat That Frog! Is Brian Tracy’s most popular book.

If you find yourself constantly struggling with procrastination and yearning for a solution, Tracy’s book is like a divine intervention.

The “frog” in the title symbolizes the most difficult and important task on your to-do list. Brian Tracy emphasizes that by prioritizing and completing this task early in the day, you can eliminate procrastination, increase productivity, and achieve greater success in both personal and professional endeavors.

Packed with twenty-one rules and principles, Eat That Frog! provides a comprehensive roadmap to conquer difficult tasks, overcome the perils of procrastination, and elevate your performance and productivity to new heights.

Order Eat That Frog! on Amazon

5. Do the Work by Steven Pressfield

“A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. It’s only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate.”

Steven Pressfield is a prominent figure in the realms of historical fiction, screenplays, and self-help literature. His most popular book, The War of Art, explores the different forms of resistance faced by artists and entrepreneurs, and offers practical strategies to overcome these obstacles and thrive creatively.

Do the Work picks up where The War of Art left off and serves as a concise and motivational guide that focuses on overcoming resistance and embracing the creative process.

Pressfield encourages readers to take action, face challenges, and remain persistent in their creative endeavors. The book provides practical advice and serves as a powerful tool to help individuals bring their ideas to life and achieve their goals.

Drawing from his own experiences as an author and screenwriter, Pressfield delves into the challenges and obstacles that often hinder progress and offers actionable advice to break through them.

This book is a perfect companion to other works by Pressfield, particularly The War of Art and Turning Pro.

Order Do the Work on Amazon

Related: 20 Podcasts That Will Make You a Better Entrepreneur

6. Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg

“Every choice we make in life is an experiment.”

Though I considered adding The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg to this list, I must admit that his follow-up work, Smarter Faster Better, is even better and takes productivity insights to greater heights.

This book explores the science of productivity and provides valuable insights into achieving better results in all aspects of life. Drawing from cutting-edge research, it explores the key factors that set highly successful individuals and organizations apart from others.

Duhigg presents a compelling framework that emphasizes the importance of motivation, goal-setting, decision-making, focus, innovation, and teamwork in attaining peak performance.

Smarter Faster Better offers a wealth of interesting ideas and mental models, but the one that resonated with me the most was that of “cognitive tunneling.” Duhigg highlights how this mental glitch that occurs when our brains are forced to transition abruptly from relaxed automation to panicked attention can result in catastrophic events, as evidenced by the Air France Flight 447 tragedy.

Order Smarter Faster Better on Amazon

7. Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

“People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any of us can come to being happy.”

In his seminal book Flow, renowned psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi presents an in-depth exploration of the concept of flow, where individuals experience optimal engagement and enjoyment in their activities. Like a skilled surfer riding the crest of a wave, those in flow become fully absorbed and energized by their pursuits, achieving peak performance and profound satisfaction.

The book provides valuable techniques, backed by thorough research and real-life illustrations, to cultivate the state of flow and reach peak performance in different areas of life. In fact, Csikszentmihalyi’s groundbreaking work on the flow state has been a key reference in several of the books on productivity featured on this list.

Order Flow on Amazon

8. Getting Things Done by David Allen

“If you don’t pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.”

No list of the best productivity books would be complete without featuring the works of productivity guru David Allen. While any of his books offer a wealth of productivity hacks, Getting Things Done stands out as the most influential and valuable resource.

Allen’s book offers a comprehensive framework for organizing tasks, reducing stress, and achieving greater efficiency. Allen’s methodology, known as GTD, provides a step-by-step approach to managing workflow, capturing ideas, and maintaining a clear and stress-free mind.

If you’d like to boost your productivity, improve time management, and excel in your business endeavors, make sure to grab a copy of Getting Things Done today.

Order Getting Things Done on Amazon

Related: 21 Movies Every Entrepreneur Should Watch for Inspiration

9. Mini Habits by Stephen Guise

“Be the person with embarrassing goals and impressive results instead of one of the many people with impressive goals and embarrassing results.”

Stephen Guise’s Mini Habits is a productivity book that introduces a simple yet powerful strategy for creating positive changes in one’s life. The core concept revolves around the idea of setting extremely small, manageable habits, or “mini habits,” to overcome resistance and build momentum towards bigger goals.

Guise argues that traditional approaches to forming habits often fail because they require significant willpower and can be overwhelming. Instead, he proposes setting mini habits that are so easy to do that they almost feel effortless. By committing to these mini habits consistently, they become ingrained in our routines, leading to lasting behavioral changes.

With relatable examples and practical advice, Mini Habits is one of the best books on productivity for entrepreneurs and content creators.

If you enjoyed Atomic Habits (see #1), you’ll find Stephen Guise’s Mini Habits to be a fantastic addition to your reading list of business books.

10. Deep Work by Cal Newport

“If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive—no matter how skilled or talented you are.”

Deep Work is easily one of the best productivity books for entrepreneurs and business owners to improve focus, productivity, and business success.

In the book, bestselling author and productivity expert Cal Newport advocates for the importance of focused, undistracted work in today’s hyper-connected world. Newport argues that deep work, which refers to the ability to concentrate without interruption on cognitively demanding tasks, is becoming increasingly rare but is essential for producing high-quality work and achieving professional success.

Throughout the book, Newport provides actionable strategies for cultivating deep work habits. He also shares real-life examples of individuals and organizations that have embraced deep work principles and achieved remarkable success as a result.

In simple terms, Deep Work encourages entrepreneurs and creators to reevaluate their work habits, prioritize depth over shallowness, and unlock their full potential in an increasingly distracted world.

Order Deep Work on Amazon

11. Drive by Daniel Pink

“Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.”

For entrepreneurs in pursuit of motivation, Daniel Pink’s bestseller Drive offers all the necessary answers.

Drawing and expanding on insights revealed by two scientists, Harry F. Harlow and Edward Deci, Pink offers us a fresh perspective on human motivation.

Throughout the book, Pink intertwines scientific research, engaging stories, and practical examples to emphasize his points. From innovative companies that have successfully implemented these principles to individuals who have found fulfilment by embracing intrinsic motivation, Drive offers a compelling case for adopting a new approach to motivation in both our personal and professional lives.

Order Drive on Amazon

Related: 125 Inspirational Quotes for Entrepreneurs to Stay Motivated

12. The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”

In The Compound Effect, bestselling author and entrepreneur Darren Hardy highlights how making small, positive changes and maintaining consistent habits can create a profound impact on one’s life.

The core concept of the compound effect is that small actions, when consistently applied, will compound and build momentum, ultimately resulting in substantial improvements in various aspects of life, including personal growth, relationships, health, and finances.

The book contains practical examples and relatable stories that demonstrate how the compound effect works and how it can lead to exponential growth and success in all areas of life.

Order The Compound Effect on Amazon

Final Thoughts

There you have it — the 12 best productivity books for entrepreneurs. These aforementioned books offer a treasure trove of lessons and insights that can change the way you approach work.

From mastering time management to harnessing the power of habits and unlocking your creative potential, these books provide valuable tools and strategies to elevate your productivity and achieve greater success.

Did I leave out any of your favorite productivity books? Please share your favorite productivity book in the comments section below. I’d love to hear your recommendations.

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The post 12 Best Productivity Books for Entrepreneurs appeared first on 99signals.

In their brilliant book Traction, authors Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares reveal nineteen different traction channels and offer a three-step framework, called the Bullseye framework, to figure out which traction channel works best for your business.

Of all the business books I’ve read over the years, Traction is one of those books that I keep revisiting. It’s also one of the most practical and actionable marketing book ever put to paper.

Before we get to the marketing lessons featured in Traction, it’s important that you know the definition of traction and the different traction channels discussed in the book.

What is Traction?

Traction is a sign that your company is growing. It can be seen in your core metrics: If you have a mobile app and your download rate is growing, that means your company has achieved traction. In other words, traction is growth.

The book uses this definition of traction by angel investor and serial entrepreneur Naval Ravikant:

Traction is basically quantitative evidence of customer demand.

The pursuit of traction is what defines a startup. In their research, Weinberg and Mares discovered nineteen different customer acquisition channels, aka traction channels. These are marketing and distribution channels through which your startup can achieve real customer growth.

Here are the 19 different traction channels that the book deep dives into:

• Targeting Blogs
• Publicity
• Unconventional PR
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
• Social and Display Ads
• Offline Ads
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Content Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Engineering as Marketing
• Viral Marketing
• Business Development
• Sales
• Affiliate Programs
• Existing Platforms
• Trade Shows
• Offline Events
• Speaking Engagements
• Community Building

This book explains in length with examples and case studies how each of these traction channels can work for your business and how you can use the Bullseye framework to zero in on a traction channel that works best for you.

For me, the two channels that resonated the most were SEO and content marketing, because quite frankly, these are the two channels that have worked best for me and for my clients. As such, the last two marketing lessons featured here are from the SEO and content marketing chapters of the book.

But if you’re a small business owner, I’d encourage you to experiment with all of these channels to figure out which is the one best traction channel you can use to grow your business.

As I share before every article in my “Book Lessons” series, I’d be doing a disservice to the book if I were to summarize its content in this compressed blog post. Please treat these lessons below as a book summary of Traction or my key takeaways from the book. I’d urge you to pick up a copy of Traction to get a better understanding of all the nineteen traction channels featured in the book and the best way to implement the three-step Bullseye framework for your business.

With that said, here are the 7 marketing lessons I learned from Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares.

7 Marketing Lessons from Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares

1. The 50 Percent Rule

“The 50 percent rule: Spend 50 percent of your time on product and 50 percent on traction.” 

Having a great product or service is only job half done. If you don’t have a good distribution strategy, you’ll not be able to acquire new customers. As Peter Thiel, venture capitalist and author of Zero to One puts it, “Poor distribution — not product — is the number one cause of failure.”

To solve this common problem that many startups face, Weinberg and Mares suggest that you spend your time building your product or service and testing traction channels in parallel. This is called the 50 percent rule.

This rule may seem simple, but it’s not easy to follow. This is because the temptation to focus solely on product is strong. For many entrepreneurs, a lot of traction activities fall outside their comfort zone. Furthermore, running traction tests in parallel can slow down product development; and building great products is probably one of the main reasons why most founders pursued entrepreneurship in the first place.

But the truth is, the 50 percent rule can speed up the process of launching your product successfully to market. This may sound counterintuitive, but it’s true. A key benefit to parallel product and traction development is that you can build the right product by incorporating good feedback from early customers.

By interacting with your early customers, you can find out how the market is responding to your product and what features are missing from your product. The 50 percent rule ensures that you’re not spending time on the wrong things in terms of product development.

Bottom line: If you follow the 50 percent rule right from the beginning, then you’ll have the best chance to avoid the traps that doomed startups fall into. This rule will guide you around these traps and toward the traction channel that’s best suited for your business.

2. The Bullseye Framework

“Bullseye is designed to be a straightforward way to direct your traction focus and maximize your results.”

With nineteen different traction channels, it’s not easy to focus on just one. To make things easier for entrepreneurs, Weinberg and Mares recommend the three-step Bullseye framework. They named their framework Bullseye because you’re aiming for the Bullseye — the one traction channel at the center of the target that will unlock your next growth stage.

Let’s examine the three steps involved in the Bullseye framework:

I. The Outer Ring

The first step is to brainstorm every single traction channel. For each channel, you should identify one channel strategy that has a chance of providing the best results. For instance, if social ads is the traction channel, then running ads on Facebook is a channel strategy.

II. The Middle Ring

The second step is running cheap traction tests in the channels that seem most promising. You need to review the channels in the outer ring and move the best channels to the middle ring. Make sure you have more than one traction channel in your middle ring.

For each traction channel in the middle ring, design a cheap traction test to determine how good or bad the idea is. These tests should answer the following questions:

• How much will it cost to acquire customers through this channel?
• How many customers are available through this channel?
• Are the customers you’re getting through the channel the customers you want right now?

An important thing to remember while running traction tests is that you’re not trying to get a lot of traction with a channel just yet. Your main consideration at this point is speed — to get data and to prove your assumptions.

Make sure the traction tests you’re running here are cheap and short. For example, don’t start with ten Google ad campaigns. Start with just one or two.

III. The Inner Ring

The final step is to focus solely on one channel that will move the needle for your startup. This is where you finally hit the bullseye!

Once you’ve completed your middle ring tests, you need to pick one traction channel that produced the most promising results.

When you’ve finally completed the three steps in Bullseye, you’ll have identified one channel where you can direct all your traction efforts and resources. This will be your core traction channel.

This is the Bullseye framework in a nutshell. We’ll explore the nuances of traction tests shortly.

3. Defining Your Traction Goal

“Startup growth happens in spurts. Initially, growth is usually slow. Then it spikes as a useful traction channel strategy is unlocked.”

From the perspective of getting traction, you need to think about working on your product in three phases:

Phase 1 — making something people want (product focused)
Phase 2 — marketing something people want (marketing focused)
Phase 3 — scaling your business (business focused)

The authors use the leaky bucket metaphor to describe phase 1. This is the stage when your bucket (product) has the most leaks. At this point, there’s no point in scaling up your efforts, but it’s important to acquire a few customers to see where the holes are and determine the best ways to fix them.

In phase 2, you have product-market fit and customers are sticking around. Now is the time to scale to scale up your traction efforts and fine-tune your positioning and marketing messages.

In phase 3, you have an established business model and significant position in the market, and are focused on scaling both to further dominate the market and to profit.

Moving the needle means different things in each phase. In phase 1, it’s getting those first customers so you know product can get traction. In phase 2, it’s getting enough customers to know you’re on the path to sustainability. In phase 3, you’ll focus on revenue growth, scaling your marketing channels, and creating a sustainable business.

To show readers how traction thinking works, Weinberg provides the example of his own search engine company DuckDuckGo.

• In phase 1, DuckDuckGo’s traction goal was to get in front of users searching for “new search engine.”
• In phase 2, DuckDuckGo had a traction goal of 100 million searches a month.
• In phase 3 (its current phase), DuckDuckGo’s traction goal is to get 1 percent of the general search market.

4. Defining Your Critical Path

“Assess every activity you do against your Critical Path and consistently reassess it.”

Once you’ve defined your traction goal, the next step is to define your Critical Path. The path to reaching your traction goal with the fewest number of steps is your Critical Path. These steps are basically milestones that are absolutely necessary to reach your traction goal.

Taking DuckDuckGo’s traction goal of 100 million searches as an example, the DuckDuckGo team believed the milestones they needed to hit included a faster website, a more compelling mobile offering, and more broadcast TV coverage.

Your milestones will be highly dependent on your business. You need to be critical and strategic in deciding what you need to include in your milestones. Which is why it’s called the Critical Path.

But more importantly, your Critical Path should also help you decide what not to do. All the things you do to reach your traction goal should be assessed against your Critical Path. If adding a specific feature or engaging in a particular marketing activity derails you off your Critical Path, you shouldn’t do it.

Weinberg and Mares believe this is where most entrepreneurs mess up: by focusing their limited resources on things off Critical Path. In all likelihood, you may be competing with companies with significantly more resources than you. As such, you can’t afford to waste what little resources you have.

Bottom line: Determine your traction goal and define your Critical Path against that goal. Then work backward and list down the necessary milestones you need to achieve to reach your traction goal.

5. Running the Traction Tests

“Continuous testing is the key to getting traction with Bullseye.”

As mentioned earlier, the goal of middle ring tests is to find a promising channel strategy that you can focus on to grow your business.

A channel strategy is a way to acquire customers within a traction channel. For instance, if social media ads is a traction channel, then Facebook ads, Twitter ads, and Pinterest ads are all channel strategies within social media ads.

When you’re just starting out testing a traction channel, Weinberg and Mares recommend that you focus on one channel strategy. It’s important to keep the tests cheap and short at this stage. In other words, don’t get deep into tactics; stick to the strategy level.

In particular, your traction tests should be designed to answer three questions:

• How much does it cost to acquire each customer through this channel strategy?
• How many channels are available through this channel strategy?
• Are the customers you are getting through this channel the ones you want right now?

In phase 1 of your middle ring tests, you shouldn’t be spending more than $1000 and a month’s time on a middle ring test. In the next two phases, your channel tests may be longer and bigger in order to meet your traction goal.

The middle ring tests provide you with the data you need to compare channel strategies. If all goes well, you can move on to inner ring testing.

Inner ring tests have a dual role: the first is to optimize your chosen channel strategy. The second role is to uncover better channel strategies within your chosen traction channel.

When it comes to optimization, each channel strategy has a set of things that you can tweak. For example, if search engine marketing (SEM) is your chosen channel strategy, then you can tweak your target keywords, ad copy, demographics, and landing pages.

You should continuously test your chosen channel strategy to increase its effectiveness. The most common approach is to use some form of A/B testing.

By making A/B testing a habit, you’ll improve your efficiency in a traction channel by two or three times.

6. SEO for Startups

“SEO allows you to amplify all of the good things you’re already doing in other traction channels (publicity, unconventional PR, content marketing) and use them to bring in more customers from search engines.”

SEO keyword research involves two high-level strategies: fat-head strategy and long-tail strategy.

Fat-head keywords are one and two-word popular searches that get the highest search volume. Examples of fat-head keywords include phrases like “Amazon”, “Twitter”, and “Reddit.”

Fat-head keywords make up about 30% of all searches. The remaining 70% are long-tail keywords that don’t have a high search volume, but in the aggregate add up to the majority of the searches made.

As you may have guessed, long-tail keywords are easier to rank for than fat-head keywords, provided you create top-notch content.

A fat-head keyword strategy involves trying to rank for keywords that directly describe your company. For example, if you run an online furniture store, then you’d want to rank for fat-head keywords like “fabric sofa” or “leather sofa.”

On the other hand, a long-head keyword strategy involves ranking for keywords like “what is the best fabric for a sofa” or “how to clean fabric sofa at home.” These long-tail keywords may have lower search volumes, but in the aggregate make up to be the majority of all searches.

Which SEO keyword strategy you’ll go for will ultimately depend on your business goals.

To determine whether fat-head strategy is right for your business, you need to first research the keywords people use to find products in your industry, and then see if the search volumes are large enough to move the needle.

Because it’s difficult to rank for competitive fat-head keywords, a long-tail keyword strategy is ideal for early-stage startups to reach a meaningful number of customers.

The authors recommend Google’s Keyword Planner for researching keywords. But my personal recommendation would be to invest in premium SEO tools like Semrush or GrowthBar. You can learn more about these tools by checking out their in-depth reviews below:

• Semrush Review
• GrowthBar Review

Whichever keyword strategy you use, SEO eventually comes down to two things: content and links. While link building is the more challenging of the two, creating amazing content goes a long way in building natural backlinks.

Related: 15 Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid

7. Blogging is the Most Effective Content Marketing Tactic

“The most common hurdle in content marketing is writer’s block. To overcome it, simply write about the problems facing your target customers.”

Blogging is the cornerstone of content marketing. Your business blog can either become a leading source of customer acquisition or it can be an obscure entity that ends up doing more harm than good.

If it does indeed become a lead generation machine, then that means you’ve just unlocked the secrets of a marketing channel that can continue to give you returns in the long run.

To illustrate the power of content marketing, the authors showcase case studies from two vastly different companies: Unbounce (a leading landing page software) and OkCupid (an online dating service).

Both these companies used their blogs to acquire new customers, but did so using completely different approaches. Unbounce started blogging a year before they launched their landing page solution while OkCupid started blogging almost five years after the launch of their dating site.

For both these companies, their blog became their primary source of customer acquisition.

Unbounce founder Rick Perreault started sketching out his product features on his blog. This early adopter approach to blogging allowed Unbounce to build an email list over five thousand strong before product launch.

Here are some key takeaways from Unbounce’s content marketing strategy:

• Unbounce followed a blog-from-the-beginning approach. They also began sketching their product features on the blog. Rick’s first hire was a full-time blogger.
• The Unbounce team relied heavily on social media to drive readers to their blog. After each post, they’d reach out to influencers on Twitter asking for feedback. They also engaged with their target customers on Quora.
• Unbounce captilized on its blog traffic by offering free eBooks and infographics to gain more subscribers.

By the time Unbounce launched their landing page software, their site was getting 20,000 unique visitors a month.

On the other hand, OkCupid’s approach was totally different. They started using blogging as a traction channel five years after their launch.

Here’s how OkCupid’s content marketing worked:

• Unlike Unbounce, the OkCubid team wrote longer posts with less frequency. Each of their blog posts took a month to write and drew on the data they had from studying the usage patters of their members. They also wrote controversial posts to generate traffic and conversation.
• OkCupid never invested in paid advertising. Instead, they focused on traction channels without per-user acquisition costs (content marketing, SEO, viral marketing) to drive its growth.
• OkCupid posts received organic publicity. CNN, Rachael Ray, The New York Times, and many other media outlets were interested in the blog topics they covered.
• Their blog started generating SEO traction by ranking for highly competitive keywords like “online dating” almost a year after their post was published.

One of the many benefits of using content marketing as your core traction channel is how it positions you as an authority in your space. Both Unbounce and OkCupid are great examples of how your blog can make your company a recognized industry leader in a highly competitive space.

Recognition as an industry leader leads to opportunities to speak at major conferences, give press quotes to journalists, and influence industry direction. It also means your content is shared many more times than it would be otherwise.

In the case of Unbounce, being an industry leader brought them comarketing opportunities. When they reached out to companies for integration before their blog gained traction, their business development pitches were ineffective. But once their blog started getting readership, they were able to get numerous integrations (including Salesforce, Mailchimp, and AWeber).

Having a strong company blog can also positively impact at least eight other traction channels — SEO, publicity, email marketing, targeting blogs, community building, offline events, existing platforms, and business development.

Final Thoughts on Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares

The Bullseye framework is a proven method to decide which traction channel is ideal for growing your business. In their book, Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares make a compelling case for each of the nineteen traction channels to help you implement the Bullseye framework in the best way possible.

Have you read Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares? What marketing or business lessons were you able to pick from this book? Which of the traction channels resonated the most with you and what results were you able to achieve through them? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you.

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The post 7 Marketing Lessons I Learned from “Traction” by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares appeared first on 99signals.

In 2021, I read 25+ new business books and revisited some of my all-time favorite business books.

Earlier last year, I tweeted my picks for the 10 best business books I read in the first half of 2021:

10 best books I’ve read in 2021 (so far):

1. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
2. The Psychology of Money
3. Building a StoryBrand
4. Everybody Writes
5. The 1-Page Marketing Plan
6. The Millionaire Fastlane
7. Hacking Growth
8. Mini Habits
9. Masters of Doom
10. The 80/20 Rule pic.twitter.com/OdJivjvk6E

— Sandeep Mallya (@sanmallya) July 12, 2021

Fast forward 6 months, I have had time to read a few more business books. So it’s not going to be easy to condense this list down to just ten of my favorite business books of 2021.

But I’m going to give it a shot. Here are the 10 best business books I read in 2021. If you’re looking for more book recommendations, you’ll find them at the end of the list or you can simply check out my list of 85+ Best Books for Entrepreneurs and Business Owners.

10 Best Business Books of 2021

1. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson

Starting this list off with the best business book I read in 2021 — The Almanack of Naval Ravinant by Eric Jorgenson. This book is essentially a compilation of Naval’s philosophy on two of his most explored topics: wealth and happiness.

Collected from different sources like Naval’s tweets, blog posts, podcast interviews, and more, this book delves deep into Naval’s unique philosophy. It’s full of lessons, mental models, anecdotes, and advice for entrepreneurs from all walks of life.

The book works as a guide you can read at any time for advice on specific topics. You can expect gems like, “The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner,” and, “At the end of the day, you are a combination of your habits and the people who you spend the most time with.”

The book also has a recommended reading section where Naval lists down his favorite books from different categories.

If you prefer to read this book online, you can read the entirety of it for free at navalmanack.com.

Order this book on Amazon

Recommended reading: 50 Best Naval Ravikant Quotes to Inspire You

2. The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

This book changed my perspective on money, investing, and saving. It’s the best investing and personal finance book I’ve ever read since The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.

Morgan Housel’s The Psychology of Money features 19 stories that reveal the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to better manage your money. Housel also does a phenomenal job explaining the fundamental roles of compound interest and long tails in financial success.

Here are a few key takeaways from the book:

• Doing well with money has little to do with smartness and a lot to do with behavior.
• Focus less on specific individuals and case studies and more on broad patterns.
• Controlling your time is the highest dividend money pays.
• The price of investing is not dollars, but volatility, fear, doubt, uncertainty, and regret.

Order this book on Amazon

3. Billion Dollar Loser by Reeves Wiedeman

I’m fond of business thriller books and Billion Dollar Loser is hands-down the best business thriller I read in 2021. The book documents the rise and fall of WeWork and its founder, Adam Neumann. It neatly deconstructs how Neumann duped wealthy investors into thinking his real-estate business was a revolutionary technology company right until its disastrous IPO.

The narrative structure of this book reminded me of Bad Blood by John Carreyrou, my favorite business thriller book, which tells the story of the rise and fall of Theranos and its devious founder, Elizabeth Holmes. There’s also a ton of similarities between the two disgraced founders despite being from completely different backgrounds and industries.

You have to read this book to learn about the sheer insanity that took place at WeWork. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable read that is hard to put down.

Order this book on Amazon

4. Masters of Doom by David Kushner

I read this book at the start of the year and really enjoyed it.

A few years ago, I had read Console Wars, another video game book that details the history of console games in the 90s and the intense rivalry between Nintendo and Sega. Masters of Doom is similar in terms of evoking nostalgia, but it documents the history of PC games in the 90s and focuses mostly on the games developed by id Software and its two founders.

Dubbed the Lennon and McCartney of the video game industry, John Carmack and John Romero founded id Software and developed iconic video games such as Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake. Video game journalist David Kushner offers a behind-the-scenes look at how these games were developed, the various conflicts and controversies that arose, and the role played by Carmack and Romero in shaping the video game industry.

A must-read book for video game nerds and entrepreneurs alike.

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5. Company of One by Paul Jarvis

I wish this book was around at the time I launched my agency. It’s chock full of insights and lessons for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

In Company of One, author Paul Jarvis reveals how you can stay small on purpose while avoiding the pitfalls of growth at each stage. It’s for entrepreneurs who are focused on getting better rather than bigger.

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to run a successful business on your own terms, this book is for you.

Order this book on Amazon

6. Hacking Growth by Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown

Hacking Growth is a must-read book for marketers, growth hackers, and entrepreneurs. Why? Because it reveals the secrets behind some of the most successful startups and it’s written by the key architects of the growth hacking methodology and the founders of GrowthHackers, Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown.

The book is divided into two parts — the first part introduces you to the growth hacking techniques and shows how to set up growth teams that produce quick and powerful results. The second part is essentially a growth hacking playbook with individual chapters dedicated to acquiring, activating, retaining, and monetizing users.

The book is filled with interesting case studies and examples that illustrate how growth hacking works and how you can achieve consistent, data-driven growth by implementing the techniques explained in the book.

Order this book on Amazon

7. Mini Habits by Stephen Guise

This is the best productivity book I read in 2021. In Mini Habits, Stephen Guise explains how we can achieve great things and lasting change by implementing mini habits — habits that involve “stupid simple” steps and are “too small to fail.”

Guise also reveals why it’s better to use willpower exclusively and ignore motivation altogether when it comes to building new habits.

If you enjoyed reading Atomic Habits by James Clear, you’ll love this book.

Here are a few key lessons I picked from the book:

• Doing a little bit every day has a greater impact than doing a lot on one day.
• Unlike motivation, willpower can be strengthened like a muscle.
• Being mindful is the difference between living purposefully and going through the motions.
• The difference between winners and losers is that the losers quit when things get boring and monotonous.

Order this book on Amazon

8. The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich

The GameStop short squeeze was one of the biggest news stories in 2021. Essentially, a small group of private investors, spearheaded by the WallStreetBets subreddit, took down one of the biggest hedge funds on Wall Street by initiating a short squeeze of the stock of GameStop, a struggling video game retailer.

Authored by Ben Mezrich, who also wrote The Accidental Billionaires which was later adapted into the Academy Award-winning film The Social Network, The Antisocial Network offers a detailed account of the GameStop short squeeze and introduces us to the different characters that were involved during one of the most volatile weeks in financial history.

Order this book on Amazon

9. Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon

If you’re looking to boost your creative energy, there’s no better book than Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon.

The book is based on a simple premise: Originality is overrated. All creative work builds on something that came before and is a sum of influences. So to unlock our creative potential, we have to embrace influence instead of running away from it.

Having said that, the book clearly states the difference between plagiarism (bad theft) and copying (good theft). As Kleon writes, “Plagiarism is trying to pass someone else’s work off as your own. Copying is about reverse-engineering. It’s like a mechanic taking apart a car to see how it works.”

Kleon proceeds to share 10 principles to unleash your artistic side and build a more creative life.

Here are a few key lessons I learned from the book:

• All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.
• Don’t ask a question before you Google it. You’ll either find the answer or you’ll come up with a better question.
• Our failure to copy our heroes is where we discover where our own thing lives. That is how we evolve.
• Practice productive procrastination.

Order this book on Amazon

10. Everybody Writes by Ann Handley

Authored by the marketing veteran Ann Handley, Everybody Writes is a guide for marketers to create content that cuts through the clutter. As Handley argues in the book, in our content-driven world, writing matters now more than ever.

Whether you own a blog or write for a major publication or create social media content, Handley offers expert guidance and insight into the process of content creation and production that’s designed to get results. Filled with practical information, examples, and anecdotes, the book explains why most content doesn’t work, while offering actionable advice on how we can go about fixing it.

Read it for insights like, “If writing were a sport, it would be a tennis match played against a brick wall, or a solo game of tetherball. You can do it, but it’s a little lonely,” and, “Your number one goal is to be useful to your readers or listeners — so make sure you are an advocate for them, and get what they need.”

Order this book on Amazon

Final Thoughts

So these were the 10 business books I enjoyed reading in 2021.

Here are some more books that didn’t make the top-10 list, but were just as interesting and filled with practical advice:

• The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco
• Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller
• 30 Second Thrillers by K.V. Sridhar
• The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch
• The 1-Page Marketing Plan by Allan Dib
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
• Business Made Simple by Donald Miller
• How to Write Better Copy by Steve Harrison
• Cashvertising by Drew Eric Whitman
• Do the Work by Steven Pressfield

Now I’d like to hear from you. What are your picks for the best business books you read in 2021? I’d love to see your recommendations in the comments section below.

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The post 10 Best Business Books I Read in 2021 appeared first on 99signals.

“All marketers are storytellers. Only the losers are liars.”

Seth Godin’s book All Marketers Are Liars is a must-read for all entrepreneurs, marketing professionals, and business leaders. The book explores the concept of storytelling and why it’s so important for marketers to tell authentic stories that resonate with consumers.

Businesses, both large and small, are sometimes so engrossed in describing the various features and benefits of their products or services that they fail to tell a convincing story to their consumers. As a result, their offerings get little attention or are totally ignored.

In the book, Godin suggests that if businesses truly believe in their products or services, they should take the time to tell a story that resonates with consumers.

Godin tries to differentiate the lies that marketers tell — one lie is told to make a product or service better. It is authentic and fits the consumer’s worldview. The other lie is a deceitful one, told by marketers for selfish gain. It’s only by focusing on the former — lies that fit consumers’ worldview and makes the product/service better can marketers truly thrive.

I’d be doing injustice to Seth Godin’s book if I were to sum it up in 7 lessons. So these are just the highlights. I’d urge you to read All Marketers Are Liars to get a deeper understanding of Godin’s marketing philosophy.

In the meantime, here are the 7 most important marketing lessons I learned from Seth Godin’s All Marketers Are Liars.

7 Marketing Lessons from All Marketers Are Liars

1. Tell stories or be irrelevant

“Marketers didn’t invent storytelling. They just perfected it.”

All successful marketers tell stories. When they are marketing a product or service, they don’t focus on its facts, features, or benefits. They focus on stories. This is because only stories have the potential to spread from person to person.

To elaborate on this point, Godin provides the example of Riedel Wine Glasses.

Riedel tells a story of how any wine, whether it is a $200 bottle of wine or cheap wine, tastes better when served in proper Riedel glasses.

While there’s absolutely no scientific reason why it should taste better, it does because people believe it should. Millions of wine drinkers around the world, experts and amateurs alike, believe the story told by Riedel and have no trouble discerning just how much the wine tastes better in Riedel wine glasses. The story told by Riedel is not true because it’s factual, but true because it’s consistent and authentic.

It’s just marketing that’s making the wine taste better, not the glasses.

2. Focus on satisfying wants, not needs

“Marketers profit because consumers buy what they want, not what they need.”

There was a time when marketers could profit by satisfying needs. And they used to do this by selling people a commodity. Making a product or service cheaper or better was top priority and a sure-shot path to profitability. Times have changed. Plenty of businesses can make something marginally better than you can and offer it at a cheaper price. Satisfying needs is no longer a sustainable strategy for marketers.

As a result, marketers should focus on satisfying wants, not needs. Needs are practical and objective, whereas wants are irrational and subjective. It doesn’t matter what you sell as long as you are satisfying wants, and not needs.

Godin believes that the best marketers are artists, not scientists. They realize that whatever is being sold (a product, a service, a religion, or a political candidate) is being purchased because it creates an emotional want, not because it fills a simple need.

3. Telling a great story

“Truly great stories succeed because they are able to capture the imagination of large or important audiences.”

All great stories have the following things in common:

• A great story is true.
• Great stories make a promise.
• Great stories are trusted.
• Great stories are subtle.
• Great stories happen fast.
• Great stories don’t appeal to logic, but they often appeal to our senses.
• Great stories are rarely aimed at everyone.
• Great stories don’t contradict themselves.
• Great stories agree with our worldview.

Godin believes all great stories agree with what the audience already believes. The stories make them feel smart and secure when reminded how right they were in the first place.

Godin provides an example of how special a consumer feels when she buys a new pair of Puma sneakers for $125. It’s not the product that makes her feel special, but the story told by Puma — a story about hipness, belonging, and fashion.

4. Leverage a worldview a consumer already has

“Don’t try to change someone’s worldview is the strategy smart marketers follow.”

Worldview refers to the rules, values, beliefs, and biases that an individual holds. Marketers should never try to change their consumers’ worldview. Instead, they should try to frame their story in a way that leverages a consumer’s existing worldview.

Godin illustrates this by showing us the worldview of the audience for new technology devices through this curve below:

The Innovation Diffusion Curve (Worldview of the Audience for New Technology Devices)

Marketers usually focus at the center of every curve they encounter which is always crowded and devoid of unfilled wants. As a result, they are always disappointed. Successful marketers always focus on the edges as this is where you’ll find people with an unfulfilled worldview.

Godin suggests that marketers should work towards identifying a population with a certain worldview, and frame their stories in terms of that worldview.

5. First impressions are far more important than we give them credit for

“Humans are able to make extremely sophisticated judgments in a fraction of a second. And once they’ve drawn that conclusion, they resist changing it.”

First impressions play a vital role in all the important buying decisions consumers make. Snap judgements are usually made to avoid the onslaught of choices and once the decision is made, consumers will bend over backward to defend these choices later.

The concept of snap judgments is also at the heart of Malcolm Gladwell’s groundbreaking book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.

The problem for marketers is that we have no idea at all when the first impression is made. This is why marketers must always be authentic in their storytelling.

Godin believes the reason why authenticity matters is because the timing of consumers’ first impressions is too hard to predict. Therefore, if marketers are authentic and consistent in their storytelling, they will cover all the possible impressions, and allow the consumer to convert them into a convincing story.

6. The difference between fibs and frauds

“Just because people might people your story doesn’t give you a right to tell it!”

A fib is a story that makes something better. It’s an honest lie — it’s authentic, like the Riedel Wine Glasses. Another example would be the claim by Mercedes that they are fifteen times better than Toyota. Is this claim true? Hard to tell. But Mercedes buyers tend to believe the story. It’s a story of solidity, workmanship, safety, and performance. Mercedes is telling an authentic lie by telling a story about a car that’s worth talking about.

A fraud, on the other hand, is a story primarily told for personal gain. It’s a deceitful lie told by the marketer for his selfish benefit. The most recent example I can think of is the Fyre Festival. Watch the Netflix documentary Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened and Hulu’s Fyre Fraud to learn more about this gigantic fiasco.

Godin suggests that we make use of fibs in our marketing. Fibs allow marketers to take responsibility for the stories they’re telling. It enables them to be authentic and live the lie fully and completely.

7. Authentic marketing thrives

“Once fooled, a person will never repeat your story to someone else.”

The cost of deception is high. Storytelling has to be authentic. If your story is inauthentic, you’ll get the benefit of just one sale as opposed to a hundred when your story is authentic. It works incredibly well for marketers in the long run. Because authentic stories have the power to spread from person to person.

Godin suggests that we craft a story that we enjoy telling ourselves. Before we tell the stories to our consumers, we need to tell the story to ourselves and be convinced of its authenticity.

Final Thoughts

Seth Godin is a marketing guru who has earned the title through his rigorous work in the field of marketing. He believes All Marketers Are Liars is one of the most important books he’s ever written.

And once you’re done reading the book, you’re able to fully appreciate Godin’s passion for storytelling and why it’s so important for marketers to enhance their offerings by telling compelling stories to consumers.

As the cover of the book claims, authenticity is indeed the best marketing of all, and authentic marketers succeed and thrive.

Click here to order All Marketers Are Liars on Amazon

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Also check out my review of Seth Godin’s book Linchpin

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The post 7 Marketing Lessons I Learned from “All Marketers Are Liars” by Seth Godin appeared first on 99signals.

While all the books I read during this time were immensely insightful, nothing triggered that eureka moment in me where I said: “Yes, this is exactly what I was looking for!” A business book that served as an impetus for doing what I was about to do. That was until I grabbed a copy of Rework.

I first heard of Rework from a talk given by Rameet Chawla, co-founder of Fueled Collective, an app design agency. I wish I could link to the video on YouTube, but for some reason I’m just not able to find it. Anyway, it was one of his must-read books for entrepreneurs — a book by the founders of Basecamp (formerly called 37signals), Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.

Without wasting any time, I bought a Kindle version of the book and skimmed through the first few chapters in a daze. I realized this is the book I was waiting for all along. The book that would give me the much-needed confidence boost to venture out on my own.

The numerous pieces of business advice in the book were scary, yet reassuring at the same time. After finishing it, I read it one more time within the week, picked up a paperback version of the book, and since then I revisit this book every six months to get my dose of startup wisdom and inspiration. Also, on a side note, the book contains illustrations by Mike Rohde which are simply brilliant.

(Above) A couple of illustrations by Mike Rohde from Rework

Rework is a quick read with bite-sized chapters. The book contains valuable business lessons for entrepreneurs from all walks of life — entrepreneurs who are currently dealing with self-doubt for taking perhaps the most important decision in their lives.

If this person is you, then I’d urge you pick up a copy of Rework immediately.

In the meantime, here are 7 of the most important business lessons I learned from Rework.

7 Business Lessons from Rework

1. Planning is guessing

Long-term planning is a waste of time because there are too many factors that are completely out of your control. Factors such as market conditions, the economy, competition, etc. As a result, plans let the past define your future and give an illusion that you’re in control of things when you really aren’t.

Fried and Hansson suggest that you start treating plans as they really are: guesses. This will enable you to stop stressing about them too much and focus on the next most important thing to do.

2. Stay lean, agile, and flexible

There’s nothing wrong with staying small. Expansion is not always the right goal. Staying small and lean is a great goal in itself. Having a sustainable business is all that matters.

Fried and Hansson believe that businesses should avoid huge growth spurts and grow at a pace that feels right. Growth should not come at the cost of profitability and sustainability.

3. Execution is everything

It doesn’t matter how brilliant or revolutionary your idea is. If you’re not able to execute it well, it amounts to nothing.

Fried and Hansson illustrate this point by offering an example of the iconic filmmaker Stanley Kubrick whose advice to aspiring filmmakers was this: “Get hold of a camera and some film and make a movie of any kind at all.”

Kubrick knew the importance of starting and creating, and entrepreneurs need to do the same to be successful in their endeavors.

4. Don’t delay the launch

When it comes to launching your product, you need to stick to strict deadlines. Even if you have a list of things you need to do before your product is fully ready, the best approach would be to launch now, and do iterations and improvements to your product later.

Fried and Hansson suggest that it’s always better to launch a minimum viable product (MVP) first and then make iterations as you gain feedback from your audience. Take care of the necessities first and worry about the luxuries later.

This approach is also supported by Eric Ries who pioneered the MVP concept in his book The Lean Startup, and by Seth Godin’s ‘shipping approach’, a concept explained in detail in his book Linchpin.

5. Interruption kills productivity

You’re most productive when you are all alone. When there’s no one interrupting your flow of work. When you’re not constantly being bombarded by phone calls, meetings, and Skype messages. So it’s important that you value alone time that’ll enable you to get things done.

Fried and Hansson suggest that we set aside long stretches of alone time with no interruptions from instant messages, phone calls, emails, and meetings. Allow passive communication tools like email that don’t require an instant reply.

6. Make smaller to-do lists

The longer your to-do list, the worse you feel when you have unfinished items on your list. On the other hand, smaller to-do lists can have an amazing impact on your productivity and motivation.

Fried and Hansson suggest that we break our long list of to-do items into a bunch of smaller lists. When you look at the small picture and find progress, that’s a lot better than staring at the huge picture and being terrified and demotivated.

7. Choose niche media over mainstream media

When you’re just starting out, it’s virtually impossible to get attention from mainstream media outlets like the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Forbes. Instead, you should focus on getting your story published in niche media outlets and blogs which are always on the lookout for interesting new stories.

Fried and Hansson have had stories about Basecamp published on numerous mainstream publications like Wired and Time, but they’ve noticed more traction by publishing on sites like Lifehacker and Daring Fireball.

Final Thoughts

Rework is a book I revisit every six months and each time, I’m able to gain fresh perspective and find new lessons which I then incorporate firmly into my business philosophy.

I was also able to grab the latest book by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson — “It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work“, but sadly, I was a bit underwhelmed. Perhaps my expectations were too high after reading Rework.

Just the same, I couldn’t recommend this book more highly. If you found the business lessons listed above intriguing, then I’d urge to buy a copy of Rework right away. You won’t be disappointed.

Click here to order Rework on Amazon

Have you read Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson? What business lessons were you able to learn from this book? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you.

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The post 7 Business Lessons I Learned from “Rework” by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson appeared first on 99signals.

“Yesterday’s remarkable is today’s really good and tomorrow’s mediocre.” 

“Are you a linchpin or a replaceable cog in a machine?” — This is the question Seth Godin compels us to ask ourselves in his New York Times bestselling book Linchpin, and then highlights the differentiating characteristics between the two, and goes on to reveal ways in which we too can become indispensable aka linchpins.

All marketers know about Seth Godin. Even if you aren’t familiar with his work, chances are you have heard of his name. He’s one of the most influential business bloggers in the world, a popular speaker, and a bestselling author.

I’m a frequent visitor of Seth Godin’s immensely popular blog. Despite the brevity of his blog posts in an era of long form blog posts, there are several insights to be gained.

So I thought the logical next step would be to read one of his business books. While I bought two of his bestsellers – All Marketers are Liars and Linchpin, I decided to first read Linchpin. And here’s my short review of the book.

In the book, Seth Godin describes linchpin as an indispensable resource in an organization. The linchpin is an individual who can walk into chaos and create order, someone who can invent, connect, create, and make things happens. Godin believes every organization has linchpins who make differences like these.

Having described linchpin in detail with examples, Godin then goes on to reveal the key characteristics that set linchpins apart from cogs.

The book is packed with lessons for marketers, but below are some of the key lessons and insights that I was able to draw.

• Emotional Labor – as opposed to physical labor. In simple terms, emotional labor is the work you do with your feelings, not your body. Examples of emotional labor would be making art, producing generosity, and exposing creativity.
• The Importance of Shipping – In this context, shipping means ending the project that we began. Godin summarizes this pretty well — The only purpose of starting a project is to finish. While the projects we do are never really finished, they must ship.
• The Lizard Brain – One of the key challenges to shipping is the resistance from our lizard brain. The lizard brain is the reason we are afraid, the reason we don’t ship. Godin explains many ways in which we can nullify the lizard brain and overcome resistance to be more productive.
• Generosity and Gifting – Linchpins are able to give real gifts. Real gifts don’t demand reciprocation and the best kinds of gifts are gifts of art. Godin also describes the three circles of gifting – friends and family, the circle of commerce, and the Internet. When we tend to focus only on the second circle (commerce), our art suffers. It’s only when we focus on enlarging our first and third circles that we profit from our art.

I found Linchpin to be immensely insightful, though the points that Seth makes tend to get a bit repetitive.

The book is also written in a nonlinear fashion which is unlike most business books I’ve read, and it took me some time to really get immersed in it.

But once you’re able to get past the nonlinear style of the book, Godin’s business philosophy and his theory of linchpin, sprinkled with numerous real-world examples, shine through and in turn compel you to acquire characteristics to become a linchpin yourself.

Order Linchpin on Amazon

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That was when I discovered the true meaning of growth hacking – marketing techniques used by startups/small businesses/solopreneurs to grow their respective businesses in the absence of big budgets. These marketing techniques are often metric and ROI driven, rather than chasing vague notions like branding or mind share. In the past few years, top companies like Netflix, Dropbox, and Airbnb, among others have used growth hacker marketing techniques to acquire new customers and achieve sustainable growth.

Ryan Holiday’s book Growth Hacker Marketing aims to be the essential growth hacking guide for growing a sustainable business. It’s a quick read – in fact, it’s like reading a long form blog post on growth hacking which was one of the issues I had with the book (more on that below). In less than 80 pages, Ryan explains the steps involved in growth hacker marketing, elaborating each step with various examples of companies which leveraged growth hacking to scale up their respective businesses. Sadly, it just doesn’t have enough content to be considered a serious growth hacking guide.

But first, here are some positives:

• Ryan features several examples of companies that used growth hacking as a secret weapon to acquire new users to their platform. I really enjoyed reading about how Airbnb started as a concept and how Hotmail used a simple growth hack to gain millions of new users. I was also intrigued by how Ryan used growth hacking to boost sales of Tim Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour Chef.
• The concept of Product Market Fit (PMF) is explained well. Product Market Fit is achieving a state in which a product and its customers are in perfect sync. As Ryan calls it, this is the ‘holy grail for every growth hacker’ and he does a good job simplifying this technical concept.
• The revised and expanded edition of the book contains an additional chapter where Ryan explains how he used the four-step growth hacker marketing approach to promote his own book.

So these are the things I liked about the book. Now let’s talk about a few things that I didn’t like.

• The length: As I described earlier, this book reads like a long form blog post. It just doesn’t have enough content to teach you anything life-changing. If you’re already aware of the growth hacking concept and are familiar with the works of Andrew Chen, Noah Kagan, and Tim Ferriss, you’ll not learn anything new in this book.
• The examples: Yes, there are several examples of brands which became household names after adopting growth marketing techniques. But these examples are just that: examples. They are not case studies. Ryan provides little to no data for his examples. For instance, he talks about Twitter’s nifty little growth hacking technique where a growth hacker named Andy Johns replaced Twitter’s antiquated email system with automated reminders, alerts, and notifications that have since increased engagement. But there’s no data provided on how this move improved engagement and user retention for Twitter. In fact, Twitter is still struggling with user growth.
• The price point: A minor gripe, but nonetheless I found the price of this book to be marginally high. I bought the paperback edition of the book on Amazon and paid ₹162 (approx. $2.50). And this was bought on Prime Day (Amazon’s big day of deals and discounts) at a discounted rate of over 30%. The revised and updated version of the book doesn’t add much and brings nothing new to the table. There is an additional chapter on how Ryan Holiday used growth hacking techniques to promote his book and an FAQs section at the end which are mostly answers to questions Ryan received when he participated in a Reddit AMA.

Final Verdict

Growth Hacker Marketing is an interesting read, but it falls short of expectations. If you’d like to learn more about how to leverage growth hacking to grow your business or website, join the GrowthHacker online community instead and read some of the trending articles and case studies on the forum. But if you have to purchase a copy of the book, grab the Kindle edition and save yourself some money. Just don’t expect it to be a tutorial on growth hacking.

Order Growth Hacker Marketing on Amazon

I’m sharing a few essential growth hacking resources here, if you’re interested in learning more about the concept:

• How BuzzFeed Makes The World Go OMG, LOL and Win Every Day [Case Study]
• How We Scaled a Startup from 0 Organic Traffic to 100,000 Visitors/Month
• How Slack Became the Fastest Growing B2B SaaS Business (Maybe) Ever [Case Study]
• 20 Marketing Experts Share The Growth Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2018
• AMAs with Growth Hacking Experts

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