Biographies & Case Studies
Stories of founders and companies—their successes and failures
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11 books
Shoe Dog
Phil Knight
A memoir by the creator of Nike. Knight tells the raw, honest story of building Nike from a crazy idea to one of the world's most iconic brands.
The Everything Store
Brad Stone
Jeff Bezos and the age of Amazon. Stone provides an inside look at how Bezos built Amazon from a garage to the everything store through relentless innovation.
Steve Jobs
Walter Isaacson
The definitive biography of Apple's legendary founder. Isaacson captures Jobs' intensity, innovation, and vision through extensive interviews with Jobs himself.
Elon Musk
Ashlee Vance
Tesla, SpaceX, and the quest for a fantastic future. Vance profiles the most daring entrepreneur of our time, revealing how Musk builds impossible companies.
Super Pumped
Mike Isaac
The battle for Uber. Isaac chronicles Uber's dramatic rise and fall, the toxic culture, and the ousting of Travis Kalanick—a cautionary tale for startups.
Bad Blood
John Carreyrou
Secrets and lies in a Silicon Valley startup. Carreyrou exposes the fraud at Theranos, showing how Elizabeth Holmes deceived investors, partners, and patients.
The Ride of a Lifetime
Bob Iger
Lessons learned from 15 years as CEO of The Walt Disney Company. Iger shares the principles that guided Disney through transformative acquisitions and creative renewal.
Measure What Matters
John Doerr
How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation rock the world with OKRs. Doerr introduces Objectives and Key Results, the goal-setting system used by top organizations.
Blitzscaling
Reid Hoffman
The lightning-fast path to building massively valuable companies. Hoffman shares the techniques companies like LinkedIn and Airbnb use to scale at breakneck speed.
Lost and Founder
Rand Fishkin
A painfully honest field guide to the startup world. Moz founder Rand Fishkin shares the unglamorous truth about startups, funding, and building a company.
Founders at Work
Jessica Livingston
Collection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about their earliest days. Jessica Livingston reveals what really happened at Apple, PayPal, Flickr, and more.