Founders

9 books recommended by founders, for founders

Jan 6 2021

2-min read

If you’re a founder or entrepreneur, you know that learning and expanding your mind is one of the most important things you can ever do for yourself, and for the people around you. So it’s only natural that during our recording sessions for the podcast, one of the questions asked at the end of the session is usually ‘What are you currently reading?’.

We’ve compiled all the recommended reads from our guests in 2020, so you can get a peek into the bookshelves of some of the most influential minds in our generation.

1. The Wisdom of Finance: Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return by Mihir A. Desai – Recommended by Son Tran of Tiki

“This book helped me to understand Wall Street vs Main Street.”

2. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni – Recommended by Mark Luo of Huohua Siwei

“I’d recommend everyone to read this book. The book talks about all the different ways a team can fail. For example, the absence of trust, the lack of commitment…”

3. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear – Recommended by Michael Jensen of Labster

“I found this book very practical. It talks about the idea that building strong habits is not about repetitive physical action, rather it is about an identity that you need to build up around the habit.”

4. The Aims of Education by Alfred North Whitehead – Recommended by Jianbin of Zuoyebang

“In this book, Alfred believes that the aim of education is to develop oneself. I found this very meaningful and something I believe in deeply.”

5. The Third Space: Using Life’s Little Transitions to Find Balance and Happiness by Adam Fraser – Recommended by Peter De Caluwe of Thunes

“This book teaches you how to switch your gears between a private life and the work life, and how to get rid of the stress that you bring home. It’s a very interesting and funny book!”

6. Mindset: New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck – Recommended by Garry Tan of Initialized Capital.

“You can reprogram your mind. And then if you can do that, then you can actually reprogram the outcomes of your life. Reading this book, I believe that it has to do with your mindset.”

7. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins – Recommended by Tony Zhao of Agora.io.

“This book talks about how selfish genes actually help people to evolve and naturally build a better society.”

8. The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone – Recommended by Vamsi Krishna of Vedantu

“One of the things I learned in this book was about customer obsession, tailoring everything around a customer and not freaking out about your competition. It’s about having the best interest of the customer in mind which can really help you navigate very tough corners.”

9. Kahlil Gibran’s Little Book of Life – Recommended by RK of Yulu

“I’m reading this to extract the meaning of what I do everyday.”