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.
The New York Times bestselling author and social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk, founder of WineLibrary and Vayner Media, shells out hard-won advice on how to connect with customers and beat the competition in an increasingly noisy word. Read this book if mastering social media marketing is your goal.
Coming up with great product or brand names is hard. Alexandra Watkins shows you the SMILE and SCRATCH methodology to create memorable and effective brand names, even if you're a noncreative.
Ryan Holiday's book explains the concept of growth hacking and the mindset one needs to think of marketing in the modern world. His advice is applicable to businesses of all kinds, but especially if you're trying to reach a consumer base with your ecommerce store.
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.
Rob Fitzpatrick has written the most essential book on validating your business ideas correctly and in a way that is practical and will save you time, money, and heartbreak. It's a short book that basically says that you shouldn't ask anyone if your business is a good idea, because it's a bad question and everyone is bound to lie in varying degrees. It's not their responsibility to tell you the truth, but yours to extract it correctly. And this book can teach you how.
