Startup Booksby Fe/male Switch

6 books in this topic

Founder Stories: Memoirs and Startup Histories Worth Reading

Founder stories show the parts of startup life that method books leave out: the doubt, the near-misses, the fights with co-founders and investors, and the lucky breaks. Reading how others survived their worst months makes your own feel less unusual.

Treat each story as one data point. The founders in these books succeeded in specific markets at specific times, so take the habits and the honesty, and test the tactics before you copy them.

The oldest book here is Let My People Go Surfing (2005); the newest is Burn Rate (2022).

Burn Rate

Andy Dunn

Bonobos co-founder Andy Dunn tells how he built a menswear brand while hiding a bipolar diagnosis. It is a frank memoir about mental illness, founder pressure and the cost of keeping quiet.

First published 2022

Founders at Work

Jessica Livingston

Y Combinator co-founder Jessica Livingston interviews the founders of well-known tech companies about their earliest days. The stories show how messy, accidental and stubborn real startups are.

First published 2007

Let My People Go Surfing

Yvon Chouinard

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard tells how a climber who distrusted business built an outdoor clothing company on his own terms. He sets out the principles behind its products, people and environmental commitments.

First published 2005

Lost and Founder

Rand Fishkin

Moz co-founder Rand Fishkin takes apart popular startup myths using his own wins and mistakes. He covers venture funding, hiring, growth tactics, depression and why being CEO is not the only path.

First published 2018

Shoe Dog

Phil Knight

Nike founder Phil Knight tells how he turned a business school idea into a shoe company, one cash crisis at a time. It is an honest memoir about risk, partners, debt and stubborn belief.

First published 2016

The Upstarts

Brad Stone

Journalist Brad Stone tells the parallel stories of Uber and Airbnb, from shaky beginnings to global giants. He shows how their founders bent rules, outran rivals and clashed with cities along the way.

First published 2017

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Other startup book topics

Startup methodsLean Startup, customer development, design sprints and business model tools.Customer validationCustomer interviews, experiments and proof that people will pay.StrategyWhere to compete, how to win and how platforms and monopolies work.Disruption and technologyDisruption theory, AI-era companies, DevOps and creative confidence.Leadership and managementHiring, goals, culture and leading a team through hard calls.Mindset and habitsHabits, decision-making, resilience and designing a working life.Money and fundingCash flow, term sheets, investors and selling your company.Marketing and salesPositioning, messaging, word of mouth and building a sales process.Product and growthProduct discovery, habit-forming products, traction channels and scaling.Women and inclusive foundersAdvice, stories and money talk for women and underrepresented founders.Business skillsHow a business works, negotiation, persuasion and startup ecosystems.

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