From The Greats
Steve Blank
Entrepreneur and customer-development author
28 matching recs across 28 booksStartup books recommended by founders and builders
A compact startup shelf built from existing recommendation rows where the recommender is a founder, operator, investor, or builder and the book topic fits company building.
Startup topicsExisting catalog factsRetail links disclosed
60Matching recs
6Featured people
8Featured books
People in this collection
People are selected by existing catalog categories and shown only when they have matching source-backed recommendation rows.
Sam Altman
CEO, OpenAI; former head, Y Combinator
6 matching recs across 6 books
Drew Houston
Co-founder & CEO, Dropbox
5 matching recs across 5 books
Reid Hoffman
Co-founder, LinkedIn
5 matching recs across 5 books
Bill Gates
Co-founder, Microsoft; philanthropist
4 matching recs across 4 books
Ben Horowitz
Co-founder, Andreessen Horowitz
3 matching recs across 3 booksBooks to inspect first
Book cards link to canonical profiles. Counts and labels still come from the underlying recommendation records.
The Innovator's Dilemma
Recommended by Steve Blank, Drew Houston, Andrew Grove.
The Lean Startup
Recommended by Steve Blank, Ben Horowitz.
Crossing the Chasm
Recommended by Steve Blank, Drew Houston.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Recommended by Steve Blank, Drew Houston.
Biodesign
Recommended by Steve Blank.
Business Model Generation
Recommended by Steve Blank.
Regulatory Hacking
Recommended by Steve Blank.
Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital
Recommended by Steve Blank.
Source-backed recommendation rows
These are direct recommendation-strength rows. Mentions and citation-only signals stay out of the collection count.
The Lean Startup
The Lean Startup is a must have for your shelf.
Exact quote verified
Strong recommendation
official
Books for Startups
Open source
We captured the recommendation language from the source.
Steve Blank · accessed 2026-06-21 · accessed 2026-06-21
Steve Blank's official Books for Startups page names these titles in startup reading sections and includes direct guidance such as must-have, must-read, essential reading, useful read, or listed book guidance.
Steve Blank
AmazonBookshop.orgAudibleAffiliate disclosure: We may earn a commission when you buy through some links. Recommendations are included because of the source, not because of the retailer. Details
Biodesign
Biodesign: The Process of Innovating Medical Technologies is a must have.
Exact quote verified
Strong recommendation
official
Books for Startups
Open source
We captured the recommendation language from the source.
Steve Blank · accessed 2026-06-21 · accessed 2026-06-21
Steve Blank's official Books for Startups page names these titles in startup reading sections and includes direct guidance such as must-have, must-read, essential reading, useful read, or listed book guidance.
Steve Blank
Business Model Generation
Make sure this one is on your shelf.
Exact quote verified
Strong recommendation
official
Books for Startups
Open source
We captured the recommendation language from the source.
Steve Blank · accessed 2026-06-21 · accessed 2026-06-21
Steve Blank's official Books for Startups page names these titles in startup reading sections and includes direct guidance such as must-have, must-read, essential reading, useful read, or listed book guidance.
Steve Blank
Regulatory Hacking
These two books, one by a practitioner, the other by an investor, are must-reads.
Exact quote verified
Strong recommendation
official
Books for Startups
Open source
We captured the recommendation language from the source.
Steve Blank · accessed 2026-06-21 · accessed 2026-06-21
Steve Blank's official Books for Startups page names these titles in startup reading sections and includes direct guidance such as must-have, must-read, essential reading, useful read, or listed book guidance.
Steve Blank
Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital
A must read to understand the long 50-year innovation cycle we're in.
Exact quote verified
Strong recommendation
official
Books for Startups
Open source
We captured the recommendation language from the source.
Steve Blank · accessed 2026-06-21 · accessed 2026-06-21
Steve Blank's official Books for Startups page names these titles in startup reading sections and includes direct guidance such as must-have, must-read, essential reading, useful read, or listed book guidance.
Steve Blank
Testing Business Ideas
Testing Business Ideas is the best summary of how to run Customer Discovery and Validation experiments in print.
Exact quote verified
Strong recommendation
official
Books for Startups
Open source
We captured the recommendation language from the source.
Steve Blank · accessed 2026-06-21 · accessed 2026-06-21
Steve Blank's official Books for Startups page names these titles in startup reading sections and includes direct guidance such as must-have, must-read, essential reading, useful read, or listed book guidance.
Steve Blank
The Fixer
These two books, one by a practitioner, the other by an investor, are must-reads.
Exact quote verified
Strong recommendation
official
Books for Startups
Open source
We captured the recommendation language from the source.
Steve Blank · accessed 2026-06-21 · accessed 2026-06-21
Steve Blank's official Books for Startups page names these titles in startup reading sections and includes direct guidance such as must-have, must-read, essential reading, useful read, or listed book guidance.
Steve Blank
The Founder's Dilemmas
Wasserman's Founders Dilemma is essential reading to building a great startup team.
Exact quote verified
Strong recommendation
official
Books for Startups
Open source
We captured the recommendation language from the source.
Steve Blank · accessed 2026-06-21 · accessed 2026-06-21
Steve Blank's official Books for Startups page names these titles in startup reading sections and includes direct guidance such as must-have, must-read, essential reading, useful read, or listed book guidance.
Steve Blank