Top Startup books curated by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we have connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favouriteStartup books – and here are the answers.

  • Curated by industry experts
  • Proven learning resources
  • Updated annually
Top Startup books recommended by experts
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Fundamentals of Startup

Understanding the concepts of Startup starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

Dotcom Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online with Sales Funnels

Dotcom Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online with Sales Funnels

Written by ClickFunnels founder Russell Brunson, Dotcom Secrets delves into the concept of marketing from A to Z and teaches marketers worldwide how to build effective campaigns, grab the user's attention and deliver relevant results for them in the buying process, all through the sales funnel a…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Who: The A Method for Hiring

Who: The A Method for Hiring

The four steps of the WHO method are 1) Scorecard, 2) Source/Search, 3) Interview, and 4) Grade/Select. A hiring scorecard is also called an interview scorecard. By creating a scorecard, the hiring team standardizes the hiring process so that each qualified candidate is given the same treatment.…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist

Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist

Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist is a must-have resource for any entrepreneur, venture capitalist, or lawyer involved in VC deals as well as students and instructors in related areas of study. “It's a textbook on venture capital deals.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Contagious: How to Build Word of Mouth in the Digital Age

Contagious: How to Build Word of Mouth in the Digital Age

“Contagious: How to Build Word of Mouth in the Digital Age” offers a deep dive into the mechanics of virality. Jonah Berger's STEPPS framework (Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, Stories) provides a clear roadmap for anyone looking to boost their product or idea's word-…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services

What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services

In a book that challenges everything you have learned about being customer driven, internationally acclaimed innovation leader Anthony Ulwick reveals the secret weapon behind some of the most successful companies of recent years. Known as "outcome-driven" innovation, this revolutionary approach …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Zero to One

Zero to One

Doing what someone else already knows how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. But when you do something new, you go from 0 to 1. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. Tomorrow’s cha…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Additional Startup Reading

These books are not required for you to learn Startup, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days

Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days

Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days is a collection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in the very earliest days. These people are celebrities now. What was it like when they were just a couple friends with an idea?

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Never Enough: From Barista to Billionaire

Never Enough: From Barista to Billionaire

Once a barista in a small cafe making $6.50 an hour, Andrew Wilkinson built a business valued at over a billion dollars by the time he was 36—and yet, his path to success was anything but a straight line.
In Never Enough, Wilkinson pulls back the curtain on the lives of the ultra-rich, sharin…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

"The Hard Thing About Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz is a guide for entrepreneurs and leaders that offers practical advice on managing difficult situations in business, including laying off employees, handling investor relationships, and making tough decisions.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, Or How to Build the Future

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, Or How to Build the Future

The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things. Thiel begins with the contrarian premise that we live …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Thinking, Fast and Slow is a 2011 popular science book by psychologist Daniel Kahneman. The book's main thesis is a differentiation between two modes of thought: "System 1" is fast, instinctive and emotional; "System 2" is slower, more deliberative, and more logical.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win

The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win

"The Four Steps to the Epiphany" by Steve Blank is an entrepreneurial guidebook that outlines a practical approach to launching successful products by emphasizing customer discovery, validation, creation, and development.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Specializations and Deeper Startup Knowledge

You've got your basics in order – time to move on to some advanced and specialized concepts. Startup is evolving every day, these books can help you master it.

Unlock AI Mastery: Secrets to Accelerate Business Growth and Dominate Competitors with Proven AI Strategies

Unlock AI Mastery: Secrets to Accelerate Business Growth and Dominate Competitors with Proven AI Strategies

In today's fast-paced digital landscape, artificial intelligence (AI) is not just a tool—it's a game-changer. Unlock AI Mastery demystifies AI and reveals practical strategies for leveraging its transformative power to revolutionize your business. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just s…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Mastering the VC Game: A Venture Capital Insider Reveals How to Get from Start-up to IPO on Your Terms

Mastering the VC Game: A Venture Capital Insider Reveals How to Get from Start-up to IPO on Your Terms

Jeffrey Bussgang is one of a very few people who have played on both sides of this high-stakes game. Now he draws on his unique perspective to offer high-level insights, colorful stories, and practical advice gathered from his own experience as well as from interviews with dozens of the most suc…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Mastering the VC Game

Mastering the VC Game

Jeffrey Bussgang is one of a very few people who have played on both sides of this high-stakes game. Now he draws on his unique perspective to offer high-level insights, colorful stories, and practical advice gathered from his own experience as well as from interviews with dozens of the most suc…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

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