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.
6 books on Mindset & Resilience
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A compact field guide for new managers in tech.
Lara Hogan offers a short, practical handbook for first-time and growing managers, especially in technology. She covers building trust, running effective one-on-ones,...
1 founder recommends Get the book ↗
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What really happened in the earliest days of famous tech startups.
A collection of candid interviews with founders of companies like Apple, PayPal, Hotmail, Flickr, and Adobe about the chaotic beginnings of their startups. Rather than...
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A short primer on marketing as product-driven, testable growth.
A concise introduction to the growth hacker mindset, arguing that the line between product and marketing has blurred. Holiday walks through a simple sequence: achieve...
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Timeless economics for the businesses built on information.
Shapiro and Varian argue that the digital economy follows durable economic laws, not entirely new rules. They explain how to price information goods, manage switching...
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Make the whole customer experience visible so teams can fix it.
A comprehensive reference for diagramming the experiences people have with an organization, covering customer journey maps, service blueprints, mental model diagrams,...
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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...
Questions, answered
What books do founders recommend?
Founders on the eChai network recommend titles like Resilient Management, Founders at Work, and Growth Hacker Marketing. 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.
