VC + Startup Booklist

The books every founder and VC investor should have on their shelves

I like to read a lot. When I was younger I’d read in the car on the way to school, during class (which my teachers preferred to my ADHD rebellious & contrarian disruptions), and even walking between classes.

So naturally, as an entrepreneur and someone wanting to be in VC, I started reading all the books I could find for founders and investors.

I know I’m missing some books. I’m hoping to get book recommendations (Tools of Titans, Why Startups Fail, and Blitzscaling are on the list), and to tell those who have taken from my library (Rework and Build) to please return them at your convenience. Books not on the shelf that I’m aware of are The Mom Test which I have on PDF (I’m sorry).

Okay okay… why am I sharing that I’m a wannabe polymath and spend all my money on books?

I send a bunch of reading (and viewing) materials to founders I invest in or advise. So I wanted to build something more scalable: a compilation of the ultimate list of startup + VC books (videos, newsletters, podcasts to come) + who should read them (pre-founder, early stage entrepreneur, VC investor) + a brief summary of the book and author + a deeper dive and summary of key points for future reference. Thankfully I connected with All Things VC - an online compilation of all the resources a VC or founder could use.

Rambling over, here’s the beginning workings of the list.
I welcome any comments, feedback, and recommendations 🙏

We invest to build a better world,
platforms to connect society, empower people, and help the underserved. 

We fund technologies that redefine the things we own,
And applications that revolutionize how we work, play, and live at home,
As radical as Kadinsky is to the monochrome.
 
We back technologies that transform mental health and access to healthcare,
And marketplaces to order services or products, anytime anywhere,
An on-demand life for everything, for taxi or food, graphic design or electronics repair.  

We invest in the dreams of dreamers,
And although investors may appear critical, inside we are believers:
    Believers in genius.
        Believers in creativity.
   Believers in thesis.
       Believers in the crazy who think differently.

Entrepreneurship has legacy, 
    a beautiful yet complicated history,
    present in all cultures as a fabric of society.
Though not all founders received support nor were they treated equally.
Nature’s course has destined conditions to better speedily,
    Today investors have responsibility,
    Looking at ability, not just nobility.
Fostering new ideas, from new people, in new places, ceaselessly.

To all my fellow contrarians and unreasonable minds,
please share with us your ideas and visions, the wildly infeasible, to better humankind.