Business Books for Startups - the Startacus picks
by Startacus Admin
Here at Startacus we really do appreciate the value of business knowledge and experience. We’re all for people who’ve been there and done that, who pass on their knowledge in a way that makes real practical sense.
That knowledge might get passed on through mentoring, through keynote speeches but often it’s simply through the written word. Yep. The ‘business’ books. Love ‘em or loathe ‘em - business books can sometimes make all the difference in moving an idea or project along or even in changing perspective and mindset. With this in mind we thought we would list some of the best such books we’ve come across - some we’ve read, some we’ve been recommended to read - they’re in the ‘to read next’ pile!
They all though have plenty of words of wisdom for those of us who are on the self employment journey. So if that’s you too? Read on...
The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses
Relevant to anyone starting up with a tight budget, the Lean Startup philosophy is an approach which enables startups to launch, design and develop their products and services without spending a small fortune. Read and practiced the world over, the Eric Ries philosophy is a favourite within both the technology sector and startups in general.
The Startup Kit 2013: Everything You Need to Start a Small Business
Emma Jones is the Founder of small business support company, Enterprise Nation and co-founder of StartUp Britain, a UK national campaign to celebrate enterprise. It makes sense therefore that she wrote a book that highlights (as the title suggests!) ‘everything you need to start a small business’. Seeing as Startacus is all about helping provide self starters with the tools, inspiration and motivation to do just that, we thought it only fair to include this one!
The $100 Startup: Fire Your Boss, Do What You Love and Work Better to Live More
Chris Guillebeau is the author of this book and also the famous The Art of Non-Conformity blog and book. Made famous for trekking around the globe, travelling, writing about travelling and never really holding down a full time job, he does however have a real knack for writing and turning a story into a cash cow - something which is proven with this leading and popular startup book. After speaking with around 1,500 entrepreneurs who started their businesses on little to no money (hence the rather catchy $100 Startup title) he spreads the knowledge to us the reader on what they did right and wrong to build ‘that’ business - in essence making money from telling us all how people made money from no money - genius!
Who Moved My Cheese: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
This book is like, an analogy for the options you have in life and business and the decisions you can make (dude). Featuring 2 mice and 2 little human characters it launched back in the late 1990’s and has been a popular and acclaimed business book ever since. N.B - I promised to make no cheesy jokes to describe this book.
Build a Business From Your Kitchen Table
Build a Business from your Kitchen Table is the tale of the notonthehighstreet.com Founders, Sophie Cornish and Holly Tucker who highlight how they started a business from (yep you guessed it) home. A similar tale to many self made self starters, this is a handy book for anyone looking to juggle the enormity of starting a business whilst managing a home and family (and indeed life in general!)
Tribes: We need you to lead us
Anyone looking to build a community (tribe), or create a movement, and collective togetherness, should read this book. Seth Godin is a marketing guru, world famous blogger and author and has done a pretty good job of building ‘tribes’ himself. It stands to sense then that apart from walking the walk, he can talk it too. This book tries to outline how you can create a ‘tribe’ too - it’s invaluable for any business looking to build an on or offline community.
How To Be Free
This book isn't about being an entrepreneur, or innovator or any of that - it is though about doing that thing that you love (whatever that may be.) Since that’s the whole ethos of Startacus, we had to include it on our list. As the Amazon description itself highlights: Read How To Be Free and learn how to throw off the shackles of anxiety, bureaucracy, debt, governments, housework, moaning, pain, poverty, ugliness, war and waste, and much else besides. - Sounds alright eh?
If you think of yourself as a potential 1st class author, you might like our previous article on Self Publishing - the basics
If you like what you see here on Startacus and want to get involved yourself, why not become a member of our growing community by joining for free here!
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
Small Robot Company, a British agritech robotics startup for sustainable farming, has raised £1.2 million via equity crowdfunding.
Cycle.land, the bike sharing marketplace unlocking the assets of unused bikes, raises over £200k thanks to their successful 2nd equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs.
IgniteNI looks to build on legacy with 2nd accelerator programme and San Fran base for 5 selected founders. Applications close asap so be quick to apply.
The startup that's creating technologies to measure and demonstrate sustainability in the food chain.
The lowdown on the London based barbershop and app that will come to you...
UrbanVolt - The Lighting as a Service startup that is on a mission to radically reduce global energy consumption...
From understanding what counts as intellectual property, to what to do if you think IP theft has occurred, we chatted to Andrew Kirke, Director at commercial law firm Tughans to find out more.
The startup that has created the world’s first video-only review and booking platform...
Nottingham based early-stage startups and entrepreneurs take note - here's the lowdown on key startup support and help available where you are...
New app friendrequest aims to connect people, taking 'social' offline and to lead the way in facilitating real-life friendship.
Published on: 16th April 2013
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.
- Cycle.land raises £200k to continue their bike sharing journey 16th Jan 2019 Cycle.land, the bike sharing marketplace unlocking the assets of unused bikes, raises over £200k thanks to their successful 2nd equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs.
- IgniteNI Accelerator to offer startups San Francisco landing pad 14th Dec 2018 Ignite Accelerator is putting investment-ready tech companies on a global stage thanks to their new San Francisco 'landing pad'.
- Falmouth University Launchpad incubates tech legacy 7th Dec 2018 Developed by Falmouth University in Cornwall, Launchpad is an innovative, post-grad incubation and acceleration programme. We take a look at some of the previous Launchpad alumni.
- Ignite Accelerator 2019 opens for North East England startups 16th Nov 2018 North East of England entrepreneurs and startups take note! The Ignite accelerator, a 6 month remote accelerator for MVP stage founders or teams is back.
