14 Books to Grow a Business

Whether you’re launching a business or trying to grow it to the next level, there are plenty of useful ideas and lessons from the entrepreneurs who have gone before you. Here is a list of books for starting and growing a business. There are titles to help get a business off the ground, develop skills, and manage and grow.

Books for Growing a Business

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

Atomic Habits

“Atomic Habits” provides a system for making good habits inevitable. James Clear draws on biology, psychology, and neuroscience to reveal practical strategies for habit formation. Learn to make time for new habits, overcome a lack of motivation, design your environment, and get back on track when you fall off course.

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Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

Deep Work

“Deep Work” shows how to focus without distraction to master complicated information and produce better results in less time. In a frantic society driven by emails and social media, learn to cultivate concentrated work by following simple rules.

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The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki

The Art of the Start 2.0

“The Art of the Start” is Guy Kawaskai’s guide to starting anything. Learn from the legendary Silicon Valley marketer and venture capitalist how to launch a new business, product, service, or idea. Tap the changes in the marketplace, and master the fundamental challenges that have not changed, such as assembling a team, building a product, and facing competition.

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The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau

The $100 Startup

“The $100 Startup,” by the side-hustle master Chris Guillebeau, explores case studies of businesses that flourished from a small investment. Learn from a group of unexpected entrepreneurs, from launch and early mistakes to the crucial insights that made their businesses stick. This is a guide to taking action with a product or service you love.

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Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Rework

“Rework” is a guide from the founders of Basecamp, the collaboration platform, to doing it on your own with an easier way to succeed in business. Learn how to be more productive, get exposure without the expense, and adopt an easier-is-better approach to achieve success.

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The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries

The Lean Startup

“The Lean Startup” provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups. In an age when companies need to innovate to survive, learn to build a more capital-efficient company that leverages human creativity. Flourish through prudent business practices, such as shortening product development cycles, learning what customers want, and testing your vision continuously to adapt and adjust.

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The Money of Invention: How Venture Capital Creates New Wealth by Paul A. Gompers and Josh Lerner

The Money of Invention

“The Money of Invention” is a primer for understanding the relationship between venture capital and entrepreneurial success. Learn the history of the venture capital industry, and explore the limitations and challenges of venture capitalists in funding businesses.

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Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel with Blake Masters

Zero to One

“Zero to One,” by maverick entrepreneur Peter Thiel, presents a new way of thinking about innovation to find value in unexpected places. Contrary to popular opinion, we live in an age of technological stagnation, according to the author. He shows how to discover new things by learning to think for oneself to build a unique business.

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The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

“The Hard Thing About Hard Things,” by venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, offers practical advice on building and running a startup. Learn to manage the real problems confronting business leaders daily, including firing friends, poaching competitors, cultivating and sustaining a CEO mentality, and knowing when to cash in.

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Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur

Business Model Generation

“Business Model Generation” explains modern business model patterns based on concepts from leading thinkers. Learn how to systematically understand design, customers, distribution channels, partners, revenue streams, costs, and your core value proposition. Discover the rules for your own business model.

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Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow

Built to Sell

“Built to Sell” will help you avoid a common mistake in building a business that relies too heavily on you. Instead, pursue the three criteria to make your business sellable: teachable, valuable, and repeatable. Focus on products and services that employees can deliver, specialize in a niche, and sell products that customers repurchase often.

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Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t by Jim Collins

Good to Great

“Good to Great” is about companies that grew into greatness. Jim Collins and his research team explore a set of elite companies with average-at-best beginnings that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. Learn the types of leadership required for greatness and the necessary culture to foster lasting success.

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Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman

Traction

“Traction” is a book about getting control of your business, presenting the Entrepreneurial Operating System as a practical method for achieving success. Overcome personal conflict and profit woes. Learn to strengthen the components of your business, and discover management techniques to give you and your team more focus, growth, and enjoyment.

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Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big by Bo Burlingham

Small Giants

“Small Giants” explores fourteen companies that have rejected the pressure of endless growth, focusing on more satisfying business goals, such as being great at what they do. Through this examination, author Bo Burlingham shows how we can all benefit by questioning the usual definitions of success.