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
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  • 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.

High Growth Handbook

High Growth Handbook

Every high-growth company eventually needs to tackle thet same set of challenges around organizational structure, late-stage funding and secondary stock sales, culture, internationalization, hiring executive for roles the founders don’t understand, buying other companies, and more. This is the h…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Lean Startup

The Lean Startup

Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs—in companies of all sizes—a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in a age…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0): Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company

BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0): Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company

What's the roadmap to create a company that not only survives its infancy but thrives, changing the world for decades to come?
Nine years before the publication of his epochal bestseller Good to Great, Jim Collins and his mentor, Bill Lazier, answered this question in their bestselling book, …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Mom Test: How to Talk to Customers and Learn If Your Business is a Good Idea when Everyone is Lying to You

The Mom Test: How to Talk to Customers and Learn If Your Business is a Good Idea when Everyone is Lying to You

The Mom Test' by Rob Fitzpatrick is a guide for entrepreneurs on how to ask questions that actually validate their business ideas without bias or false assumptions. It emphasizes on asking good questions that provide genuine data and prevent the loss of valuable resources.

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The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup

The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup

The Founder's Dilemmas is the first book to examine the early decisions by entrepreneurs that can make or break a startup and its team. Drawing on a decade of research, Noam Wasserman reveals the common pitfalls founders face and how to avoid them.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't is a management book by Jim C. Collins that describes how companies transition from being good companies to great companies, and how most companies fail to make the transition

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.

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.

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.

The 4-Hour Workweek

The 4-Hour Workweek

The 4-Hour Work Week is all about how to change the way readers look at how they live and work and why they should challenge old assumptions. The author writes from a unique vantage point. He created a life and a career he chose out of consistently questioning the traditional assumptions about l…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company

The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company

More than 100,000 entrepreneurs rely on this book for detailed, step-by-step instructions on building successful, scalable, profitable startups. The National Science Foundation pays hundreds of startup teams each year to follow the process outlined in the book, and it's taught at Stanford, Berk…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Startupland: How Three Guys Risked Everything to Turn an Idea into a Global Business

Startupland: How Three Guys Risked Everything to Turn an Idea into a Global Business

Conventional wisdom says most startups need to be in Silicon Valley, started by young engineers around a sexy new idea, and backed by VC funding. But as Mikkel Svane reveals in Startupland, the story of founding Zendesk was anything but conventional. Founded in a Copenhagen loft by three thirty-…

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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