“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
Every successful entrepreneur shares one thing: they are all always learning. Whether you’re building your first startup, growing a small business, or refining a longer-term strategy, the right books for entrepreneurs can totally change how you think, plan, and execute. Today at What We Reading, we’re curating the best entrepreneurship books that cover everything from startup mindset and business strategy to productivity, leadership, and financial growth. These aren’t just theory-heavy reads – they are guides used by successful founders and business leaders across the globe. If you’re looking for the best books for startup founders or want to develop a stronger business mindset, this list provides a solid foundation. Each book has been chosen for its ability to help entrepreneurs make smarter choices, avoid common mistakes, and build businesses that actually last. Whether you’re starting out or scaling up, these are must-read books for entrepreneurs who want real-world results.
The Lean Startup – Eric Ries
First up on our list of the best books for entrepreneurs is Eri Ries’ acclaimed work, The Lean Startup. The Lean Startup is a new approach to business that has already been picked up and practised across the world. It is changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. Essential reading for any ambitious entrepreneur, Ries teaches you how to identify what your customers really want. With it, you’ll learn how to test your vision continuously, adapting and adjusting before it’s too late.
Zero To One – Peter Thiel
In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel begins with the premise that we live in an age of technological stagnation, even if we’re too distracted by shiny mobile devices to notice. Information technology has improved rapidly, but there is no reason why progress should be limited to computers or Silicon Valley. Progress can be achieved in any industry or area of business. It comes from the most important skill that every leader must muster: learning to think for yourself.
Zero to One is at once an optimistic view of the future of progress in America and beyond and a new way of thinking about innovation: it begins by learning to ask the questions that lead you to find value in unexpected places.
Think And Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
First published all the way back in 1937. Think and Grow Rich is a guide to success by Napoleon Hill. It was immediately acclaimed as an antidote to the hard times that were the years of the Great Depression, and has remained a bestseller since.
Many readers still cling to its philosophy of positive thinking and its specific steps for achieving wealth, both relevant and life-changing. Hill contends that our thoughts become our reality, and offers a plan and principles for transforming thoughts into riches, including visualisation, affirmation, creating a Master Mind group, defining a goal, and planning.
Start With Why – Simon Sinek
In studying the leaders who have had the greatest influence on the world, Simon Sinek discovered that they all think, act, and communicate in the exact same way – and it’s the complete opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organisations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.
Starting with why it works in big business and small business, in the nonprofit world and in politics. Those who start with why never manipulate; they inspire. And the people who follow them don’t do so because they have to; they follow because they want to. Drawing on a wide array of real-life stories, Sinek weaves together a clear vision of what it truly takes to inspire and lead. This entrepreneurial book is for anyone who wants to inspire others or who wants to find someone to inspire them.
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Getting Things Done – David Allen
In today’s world, yesterday’s methods just don’t work. In Getting Things Done, veteran coach and management consultant David Allen shares the breakthrough methods for stress-free performance that he has introduced to tens of thousands of people across the country. Allen’s premise is simple: our productivity is directly proportional to our ability to relax. Only when our minds are clear and our thoughts organised can we achieve effective productivity and unleash our creative potential.
From core principles to proven tricks, Getting Things Done promises to transform how you work, showing you how to pick up the pace without wearing yourself down.
Built To Last – Jim Collins & Jerry I. Porras
Built to Last explores what makes certain companies endure and thrive over decades, whilst others fade away. Based on extensive research comparing highly successful “visionary companies” with their less successful competitors, the book identifies the core principles behind long-term business excellence. Rather than exploring charismatic leaders or lucky breaks, this entrepreneurial book argues that companies are built on strong, deeply rooted principles and a clear sense of purpose that extends beyond profit.
One of the key ideas behind Built to Last is the concept of “preserve the core and stimulate progress,” meaning successful companies remain true to their founding principles while continually evolving in strategy, products, and operations. It is a foundational read for entrepreneurs who want to build businesses that are not only successful in the short term but also adaptable, resilient, and influential for generations to come.
Blue Ocean Strategy – W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne
In one of the best books for entrepreneurs, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne argue that cutthroat competition increasingly results in nothing but a bloody red ocean of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool. Based on a study of 150 strategic moves, the authors argue that lasting success stems from creating “blue oceans” – untapped new market spaces ripe for growth.
Such strategic moves, dubbed “value innovation,” create powerful leaps in value that often render rivals obsolete for more than a decade. Blue Ocean Strategy presents a systematic approach to making the competition irrelevant and outlines principles and tools any company, organisation, or government can use to create and capture their own blue oceans.
Mindset – Carol S. Dweck
After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck Ph.D., discovered a simple yet groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book for entrepreneurs, she shows how success in school, work, the arts, and almost every other avenue of human endeavour can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities.
Dweck introduces a phenomenon she calls false growth mindset and guides readers toward adopting a deeper, truer growth mindset. She also expands the mindset concept beyond the individual, applying it to the cultures of groups and organisations. With the right mindset, you can motivate those you lead, teach, and love – to transform their lives and your own.
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Grit – Angela Duckworth
In this must-read book for anyone striving to succeed, pioneering psychologist Angela Duckworth shows parents, educators, students, and business people both seasoned and new that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but rather a focused persistence called grit.
Drawing on her powerful story as the daughter of a scientist who frequently bemoaned her lack of smarts, Duckworth outlines her winding journey through teaching, business consulting, and neuroscience. Winningly personal, insightful, and even life-changing, Grit is a book about what goes through your head when you fall down, and how that, not talent or luck, makes all the difference.
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The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Ben Horowitz
In The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz draws on his own story of founding and running companies to offer essential advice and practical wisdom for navigating the toughest problems business schools don’t cover. A lifelong rap fan, Horowitz amplifies business lessons with lyrics from his favourite songs and tells it straight about everything from firing friends to poaching competitors, from cultivating and sustaining a CEO mentality to knowing the right time to cash in.
Filled with Horowitz’s trademark humour and straight talk, and drawing from his personal and often humbling experience, The Hard Thing About Hard Things is invaluable for veteran entrepreneurs as well as those aspiring to their own new ventures.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
