Careers Reading Lists: Entrepreneurship

There's no shortage of advice on topics such as writing a business plan, recruiting, raising capital, and branding. In fact, there are so many books, articles and websites that many startups get bogged down to the point of paralysis. Or they focus on the wrong priorities and face bankruptcy before they discover their mistakes. 'The Art of the Start' solves that problem by distilling Guy Kawasaki's two decades of experience as one of the most original and irreverent strategists in the business world.

Practical advice from some of today's top early stage investors and entrepreneurs TechStars is a mentorship-driven startup accelerator with operations in three U.S. cities. Once a year in each city, it funds about ten Internet startups with a small amount of capital and surrounds them with around fifty top Internet entrepreneurs and investors. Historically, about seventy-five percent of the companies that go through TechStars raise a meaningful amount of angel or venture capital. Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup is a collection of advice that comes from individuals who have passed through, or are part of, this proven program. Each vignette is an exploration of information often heard during the TechStars program and provides practical insights into early stage entrepreneurship. Contains seven sections, each focusing on a major theme within the TechStars program, including idea and vision, fundraising, legal and structure, and work/life balance Created by two highly regarded experts in the world of early stage investing Essays in each section come from the experienced author team as well as TechStar mentors, entrepreneurs, and founders of companies While you'll ultimately have to make your own decisions about what's right for your business, Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup can get your entrepreneurial endeavor headed in the right direction.

Award-winning entrepreneur, Celia Gates, shows you how to build a profitable business from your idea, from patenting and prototyping and marketing to sales. This book offers advice about business start-ups based on products as well as services. It takes you through prototyping and protecting your idea, in addition to covering all the areas you would usually find in a business start-up book, including raising finance, business planning, sales and marketing etc. Based on the authors own experience, it gives a realistic and honest understanding of the perils of setting up a business, combining practical advice with stories from the front line. If you are an Artist, Designer or Ideas Person looking to understand how a good idea can become a profitable business then this book will help you get off to a great start.Doug Richard, Dragon Investor, Founder of School for Start-ups Compelling insight and fantastic advice from someone who has been there and done it. Id suggest this book as a must read for all would-be inventors.Jamie Oliver, freelance journalist (Financial Times, Daily Telegraph)

Most new businesses fail. But most of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach to business that's being adopted around the world. It is changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. The Lean Startup is about learning what your customers really want. It's about testing your vision continuously, adapting and adjusting before it's too late. Now is the time to think Lean.

A unique guide for the crucial start-up phase of a business So much attention goes to business practice and operation, yet the majority of ventures still fail. One area often overlooked is preparation. Too few entrepreneurs ask themselves, what are you supposed to do before you start your start-up? The Most Successful Small Business in The World gives you Michael E. Gerber's unique approach to thinking about the meaning of your company by applying his ten critical steps; a process you must go through long before you ever open your door. With these simple principles, based on expert Michael Gerber's years spent helping countless entrepreneurs, you'll take the essential first steps to lay the groundwork for building what Michael E. Gerber calls The Most Successful Small Business In the World! Author Michael Gerber has coached, taught, or trained more than 60,000 small businesses in 145 countries Free Webinar with Gerber for book purchasers Gerber's Ten Principles cover everything from defining the meaning of your company, teaching you how to think about systems, the importance of differentiation, perfecting the people within your business, acquiring clients, and more If you're ready to make your business dream more than just a reality, and resolve to do something bigger than you ever imagined, The Most Successful Small Business In The World will provide you with a stunningly original process for thinking yourself through it. Yes, you too can create The Most Successful Small Business In The World...Michael E. Gerber will show you exactly how to do it.