The Founder Bookshelf

Books founders recommend to each other. Browse by topic or by where you are as you grow, mark what you've read, and add what's next.

  1. Backstage: The Story Behind India's High Growth Years cover

    Montek Singh Ahluwalia

    An insider's account of the reforms that powered India's growth.

    Backstage is part memoir and part economic history, recounting Ahluwalia's role in India's liberalization and high-growth years. He offers a behind-the-scenes view of...

  2. Connect the Dots cover

    Rashmi Bansal

    Twenty Indian entrepreneurs who built ventures without an MBA.

    Connect the Dots profiles 20 entrepreneurs who succeeded without an MBA, organized into three sections the author calls Jugaad, Junoon, and Zubaan. The book argues...

  3. Dhandha: How Gujaratis Do Business cover

    Shobha Bondre

    The instinct, grit, and trading sense behind Gujarati business success.

    Dhandha profiles several successful Gujarati entrepreneurs, including a diamond merchant, a New York Life insurance agent, a motel owner, and hotel and manufacturing...

  4. Kushal Sangoi

    A purported account of the Patanjali consumer brand's rise.

    This title could not be verified as a published book through available sources. The details provided suggest a business narrative about Patanjali, the Indian FMCG and...

  5. Nawabs, Nudes, Noodles cover

    Ambi Parameswaran

    Indian society read through fifty years of its advertising.

    Ambi Parameswaran analyzes over a hundred Indian advertisements to trace how the country's culture, politics, and economy evolved over fifty years. He shows how...

  6. Stay Hungry Stay Foolish cover

    Rashmi Bansal

    Twenty-five IIM graduates who chose the hard road of building businesses.

    Stay Hungry Stay Foolish tells the stories of 25 MBAs from IIM Ahmedabad who left secure, lucrative jobs to become entrepreneurs. Through their journeys, the book...

  7. Tatalog cover

    Harish Bhat

    Eight inside stories of how Tata built bold businesses on values.

    Harish Bhat narrates eight first-hand stories of strategic and operational challenges across Tata Group companies over two decades. The cases span the Tata Nano,...

  8. The Z Factor cover

    Subhash Chandra with Pranjal Sharma

    How a small-town outsider built India's first private TV empire.

    The Z Factor is the autobiography of Subhash Chandra, founder of Zee TV and the Essel Group. He recounts his rise from a family grain-trading business in Haryana to...

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