


Ben Horowitz knows how hard it is to run a business, and he is brutally honest about it. The cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz draws on his experiences in founding, running, selling, and investing in companies. The book offers essential advice and practical wisdom for navigating the toughest problems in running your venture that business schools don't cover.

Perhaps the best book on positioning to come out in recent times, learn from April Dunford on how you can understand your customers and use it to position your product to success. Learn her five components of positioning, how to instantly connect your offering's value proposition to an audience, choosing the best markets for your product, and more.

Great marketers don't use consumers to solve their company's problem; they use marketing to solve other people's problems. Seth Godin's book is a culmination of decades of experience to help people understand marketing and apply its core ideas to their own businesses. A must read book on marketing.

Most companies think they deliver great customer service, but only 8 percent consumers agree. With smartphones and social media, haters can now express displeasure faster and more publicly than ever. Jay Baer talks about how to deal with the two kinds haters through hilarious examples of haters gone wild, and companies gone crazy, as well as inspirational stories of companies responding with speed, compassion, and humanity.

Robert Cialdini's critically acclaimed book on persuasion is a must-read for any marketer or business owner selling to consumers. The book explains the psychology of why people say "yes"—and how to apply these understandings in your life, work, marketing, and more in six actionable principles.

Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, describes the challenges he had to overcome to keeping creativity alive as Pixar grew and integrated within Disney. Read this book to learn about the approach and processes to maintain and foster creativity in corporate cultures.