Over the years, entrepreneurship in India has become so big that it has gained the status of being the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world after the US and China.
Now, when young students with even slight leadership skills see these startups go for IPO, they also dream of starting their own company. Entrepreneurship has become a legit career goal for many.
However, entrepreneurship is not like any other career. It doesn’t have rules that are set in stone. To become a successful entrepreneur in India, you need to have leadership skills, an innovative bend of mind, the stamina to take risks, the wisdom to make the right decisions, and a dash of luck by your side.
Almost all successful entrepreneurs have either all or a mix of the above-mentioned characteristics. You can say these are the qualities of a successful entrepreneur.
With so many factors deciding whether you can become a successful entrepreneur or not, it’s advisable to learn what other entrepreneurs went through, what they did to become productive, etc.
There are a bunch of books on productivity and entrepreneurship that almost all famous entrepreneurs have read while building their businesses.
We have created a curated list of five such books to read for entrepreneurs.
5 Books to Read to Become a Productive Entrepreneur
1. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
What is the book about?
Ben Horowitz is one of the most celebrated entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley and is the co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz. This is one of the most essential books to read for budding as well as veteran entrepreneurs. It is packed with practical tips and advice on building a successful startup. You will learn how to manage the toughest business challenges.
Quotable quote
“Ironically, the key to an emotional discussion is to take the emotion out of it. To do that, you must be very clear in your mind about what you’ve decided and what you want to do.”
Interesting Read: Motivational Quotes: 99 Inspirational Quotes to Start Your Day
2. Zero To One by Peter Theil
What is the book about?
Peter Theil is a celebrated entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder of PayPal and was one of the first investors to back Facebook, SpaceX, and LinkedIn.
In his book Zero To One, Theil says as an entrepreneur you should not be copying the ideas of other successful entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Page. The key to going from zero to one is in creating something new – even when it’s easier to copy a model.
He further says that companies should be lean and flexible so that they can take quick decisions. According to Theil, planning is arrogant, and instead, one should experiment, and make changes on the go.
Quotable quote
“Don’t try to create a new market prematurely. The only way to know that you have a real business is to start with an already existing customer, so you should build your company by improving on recognizable products already offered by successful competitors.”
3. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
What is the book about?
This book by Greg McKeown is rooted in the principle that doing less is more. It is one of those books that teach about entrepreneurship without directly touching the topic.
This book on productivity will change how you think about getting things done. As an entrepreneur, you would be expected to take care of a lot of things. However, not all of them are essential for your company. Greg McKeown in his book Essentialism says that once you realise the one thing that’s most important, you should focus on only that and nothing else.
The book teaches you how and when to say no to work because you don’t want to lose sight of the most important work.
If you have the feeling that you have a lot of work to do all the time or you don’t have enough time to get things done, this book is for you. Once you start applying the wisdom from this book to your life, you will become a productive entrepreneur.
Quotable quote
“Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at your highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.”
4. Connect The Dots by Rashmi Bansal
What is the book about?
Connect The Dots is a bit different compared to the others in this list. It is different because it is a collection of stories of 20 different Indian entrepreneurs who have made it big.
Rashmi Bansal has carefully chosen to write the lives of these 20 entrepreneurs who managed to beat the odds and grew their businesses. Someone who is looking to start a business must add Connect The Dots to their list of books to read.
Interesting Read: 90 Best Marketing Quotes to Motivate & Inspire You in 2022
One commonality among all the 20 entrepreneurs mentioned in this book is that none of them have formal training in running a business. In other words, they didn’t do any MBA, but simply grew their business by sheer grit, passion, and ambition.
You will learn how these successful entrepreneurs sailed through all the hardships life threw at them and how they applied innovation or jugaad to ensure they never fail as an entrepreneur.
Quotable Quote
“When you go along the wrong path, it’s like you have eaten something and it’s not agreeing with you; you need to be aware internally, talk to yourself and figure out what the matter is.”
5. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
What is the book about?
The Lean Startup is a must-read book for entrepreneurs as it gives scientific ways to test their vision for the business, and if need be adapt and adjust them. The business model proposed by Riess is based on scientific experiments and teaches readers how to create products that customers really want.
Ries has split his book into three sections. They are:
- Vision: In this section, Ries talks about a new kind of discipline that entrepreneurs need to manage their business
- Steer: This is the middle section of the book, which describes the Lean Startup business model.
- Accelerate: In this section, you will learn how to accelerate the feedback loop and create the perfect product for customers.
Quotable quote
“As you consider building your own minimum viable product, let this simple rule suffice: remove any feature, process, or effort that does not contribute directly to the learning you seek.”
Conclusion
This is not an exhaustive list of all the books entrepreneurs must-read but we have created a list of must read books that is diverse and yet centred around entrepreneurship.
In addition to the books mentioned above, you should also read Atomic Habits by James Clear. It’s a life-changing book that will give you practical ways to build habits that are beneficial for you and get rid of harmful habits.
