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.
5 books on Strategy for fundraising
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The wildest corporate takeover battle of the 1980s, told in full.
Barbarians at the Gate is a detailed account of the 1988 leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco, the largest of its era. It follows the egos, bankers, and executives who...
1 founder recommends Get the book ↗ -
Win the deal by controlling the frame, not just the facts.
Klaff presents his STRONG method for pitching, built on the idea that every interaction is a collision of psychological frames and the stronger frame wins. He draws on...
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How values and culture scaled Starbucks one cup at a time.
Howard Schultz tells the story of how he transformed Starbucks from a small Seattle bean roaster into a worldwide brand built on the Italian espresso bar experience....
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The craft of designing slides that actually communicate.
Duarte presents a practical methodology for designing presentation slides, covering everything from data visualization and typography to building a coherent visual...
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Everything is negotiable if you know how power and time work.
Cohen argues that negotiation is a pervasive part of daily life and that almost everything is negotiable. He frames every negotiation around three variables: power,...
Questions, answered
What books do founders recommend?
Founders on the eChai network recommend titles like Barbarians at the Gate, Pitch Anything, and Pour Your Heart Into It. The bookshelf ranks books by how many founders have read them.
Where can I find a startup reading list?
The eChai founder bookshelf is a curated, founder-recommended reading list you can browse by topic (fundraising, product, hiring) and by stage.
How is the bookshelf ordered?
By recommendation: the more founders mark a book read, the higher it ranks. You can also sort by newest or A to Z.