There are 10 essential books that I believe provide you with the best foundation you need for starting a new business. These are books I have read, used myself to run my own business and to help run other people’s business. Is it a goal to start your own business this year? Our blog post on setting goals can help give you the steps to goal setting the right way.
When starting a business, many people ask me whether they need:
- An MBA
- A Business Plan
- A minimum of $100,000 for working capital
- A dedicated place of business
- An Accountant
- A Lawyer
- A Business License or Certificate
My answer is always it depends on what kind of business you want to start. More often than not people do not need all those things when starting out. In the wise words of Chris Guillebeau you can start a business with as little as $100. Many people have started business empires without MBAs or even undergraduate degrees. So those are certainly not prerequisites to starting a business.
Three building blocks of business
The three most important things you need when starting a business are:
- A solution that satisfies a need/solves a problem;
- Clients that need and are willing to pay for your solution; and
- A means to provide that solution.
It sounds simple enough, but getting those three things to align perfectly can take months of ideation, testing , delivery and evaluation. You know your business is working when you are providing a solution that customers are paying you for. Once you have happy customers, they then refer other potential customers to you and the cycle continues until you are turning a profit.
These 10 books help answer important questions that every new business owner has and provides a blueprint to go through each stage of setting up a business.
Best books for starting a new business
Best book on business plans and pitches
1. Guy Kawasaki, The Art of the Start 2.0
This book is featured on every best business book list, and it certainly lives up to its name. Every person who is thinking of starting a business needs to read Kawasaki’s Art of the Start. The 2.0 is an expanded version of the original Art of the Start. There truly is an artform to starting a business and putting together a great business plan and pitch deck. Kawasaki delves into the 10/20/30 rule of pitching your business idea to an audience of potential investors, partners and customers. Each chapter of this book is rich with practical steps to structure your business plan and launch your business from scratch.
Best book on starting on a budget
2. Chris Guillebeau, The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, DO What you Love and Create a New Future
The $100 Startup was one of the most inspiring books for me. It removed any barriers I had about starting a business. Though it is geared towards people who are beginning product-based companies, it is still a useful source of creative solutions. Chris takes you through the success stories of 50 entrepreneurs who had limited funds at the start. Each entrepreneur has their own unique story of innovation, perseverance and hard work to grow successful businesses. It is a must-read for all entrepreneurs who have limited funds.
Best book on efficient business operations
3. Eric Ries, The Lean Startup
Though this book is written for tech and software companies, there are still some fantastic lessons for the everyday entrepreneur. In this book, you will learn about how to turn your business into a well-oiled machine. The principles of lean manufacturing and agile development are the foundation for the lessons in this book. Startups should be laser-focused about planning, efficiency and operating on a sustainable business model. The goal of this book is to rapidly develop a minimal viable product to test your idea in the marketplace. Then to build, measure and learn as quickly and as often as possible. This book provides a blueprint for setting up an efficient business model and should be one of the first books you read before starting.
Best book on Branding and Message Clarity
4. Donald Miller, Building a Story Brand
Telling your story so that customers understand exactly how you will serve their needs, is essential to making those conversions. Each customer that reads your value proposition and does not know what you offer and how it can help them is like throwing money away. In this book, you will learn how to clarify your brand message and storytelling. Donald Miller takes you through a step-by-step process of how to get customers curious, enlighten them with your solution and then captivate them to buy.
Best book on business finance
5. Greg Crabtree, Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits!: 4 Keys to Unlock Your Business Potential
A numbers book for those who are either comfortable or uncomfortable with numbers. If you’re going to be a promising entrepreneur numbers must be in your primary focus. Of course, if you can afford an accountant, you should start with one as soon as possible to set up your finances. Nevertheless, this book gives you the foundation you need to be able to have productive conversations with an accountant. The book’s goal is to teach you how to understand and utilize critical financial indicators.
Best books on creating multiple revenue streams
6. Timothy Ferriss, The 4-hour Workweek
So all these books are must-reads, however, this book is a MUST must-read book for all thinking about starting a business. Whenever you are starting something as challenging yet rewarding as starting your own business, you always need a source of inspiration. This is just the book to give you that inspiration you need and can help you paint the picture of what can be possible if your business gets going and can supplement your income.
7. Dorie Clark, Entrepreneurial You: Monetize Your Expertise, Create Multiple Income Streams, and Thrive
This is the book to tell it to you straight, how to succeed as an entrepreneur. Clark tells you her personal story of building her brand from the inside out. She also shares proven tactics from a wide variety of entrepreneurs, consultants, marketers and bloggers on generating multiple streams of income. If you have several ideas for various streams of income, this book is the guide you need to make it happen. This book is centred around three precepts: Build Your Brand, Monetise your Expertise and Extend Your Reach and Impact Online. Having one source of income is a risk, and Dorie Clark builds an excellent case in this book on having multiple sources of revenue.
Best books on ideation and testing
8. Thomas K McKnight Will it Fly
There is a reason this classic book is on every best business books to-read list. When you have a business idea, the tendency is to keep it to yourself to protect your idea. Nevertheless, it would help if you aimed to share and test your idea with as many people as possible. This book by Thomas McKnight is like having your business coach to check your ideas. This book is a useful tool to help you examine and fail-proof your business idea by using 44 proven elements of success
9. Patt Flynn, Will it Fly
I adore Pat Flynn so I could be biased here. Nevertheless, this book is highly recommended and rated wherever business books are sold. This is a more modern twist on Thomas McKnight’s book and gives the same amount of wisdom. Going through the exercises in this book will save you months of work and piles of money on a business idea that is doomed to fail. Will if Fly will take you through five steps to validate your business idea and equip you with the right strategies to choose the best business idea.
Best overall book on starting a business
10. Noam Wasserman, The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That can Sink a Startup
This book dissects the various scenarios and decisions that face entrepreneurs at the start of their business venture. Then offers practical advice on how to avoid the common mistakes that lay promising ventures to waste. There are many decisions about who you choose to work within the beginning, as founders are not able to take this journey alone. In the Trifecta between People, Operations and Technology, People problems have the most severe impact. This book will teach you how to anticipate the most common issues entrepreneurs face.
