Top 5 Books for Founders

Founders are usually timestrapped. If she/he is not juggling customers, product , new acquisition, strategy , teams and more, there is a sliver of time which is devoted to self. Here’s an interesting infographic from Entrepreneur on time spent by Founders across different countries.???

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A % of my ‘personal time pie’ was spent devouring books. While I must admit the time to complete them probably took longer than expected. Here are my Top 5 picks from my reading list. Hope you like them! ?

?1.??Traction - By Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares?

?????????????????With a treasure trove of anecdotes and experiences from some of the best Founders/ professionals who scaled start ups, Traction is a great reinforcer helping one make mindful choices of activating channels.? ‘Almost every failed startup has a product. What failed startups don’t have is enough customers.’ The book goes on to call out 19 Traction Channels to reach customers, and how to think about and optimize channels that work best for you.??

2. ?Good Strategy Bad Strategy? - Richard Rumlet?

?Being an OKR company, strategy execution is core to our product.? Time and again, we see companies who have a deliberate strategy write OKRs with ease.? So, what is Good Strategy Bad Strategy? In this ‘business classic’,? Richard Rumlet goes on to illustrate the Kernel of good strategy, drawing from examples of different organizations.? You may need to read it twice, just to sink in the core principles and apply to your context. ??

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?3. ?Uncommon Service : By Frances Frei and Anne Morriss?

I cannot but underscore the importance of stupendous Customer experience.? The commitment to serve customers is not a role of Customer Success alone, but? wedges through Product, Engineering, Sales, Marketing , HR, finance and more. ? Uncommon Service is a book on Service Excellence and how to make tough choices as companies cannot be good at everything.? Do check out creating an attribute map for your business, it not only helps Founders get conceptual clarity coupled with what your customers really care about.???

???4. Predictable Revenue : By Aaron Ross & Marylou Tyler?

??Predictable Revenue is by far one of the most widely read books, recommended by pretty much all Founders I have chatted with in the past. ? In a delightful way, the authors explain how to set up a repeatable outbound sales process, to generate high quality leads , build teams, and generate predictable revenue.??Amen!

?5. ?Jane Eyre? : By Charlotte Bronte?

??Errr... Now, where did this come from? Well, this one was to break the monotony of business reads, and soak in the melancholy of one of the best classics ever :) ! The story of Jane Eyre is of an orphaned girl, who is sent away to Lowood Institution, an orphanage with cold rooms, thin clothing and frugal meals. Jane’s escapades from Lowood, to a pursuit of a new life as a governess at Thornfield Hall, and her battle of the heart for the mysterious Mr. Rochester and an unfortunate turn of events, will make one smile through the tears.? So, if you are a connoisseur of classics, this one is not to be missed. ?

???Hope you like my picks for 2021. ? Well, 2022 is going to be a whole new set and I can’t wait to get my hands on more!

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