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Suggested Reads
There are way too many books to read so I have decided to create a simple resource page of some of top books I have read that have completely changed the way I operate as a founder.
PS: WTF is a completely free resource for founders- if you find any of these reads interesting we ask you to use the below links to purchase the books as it helps us maintain this as a free resource. With that being said, every book is chosen BY our team is NOT a paid advertisement- we believe in providing REAL resources that we have used ourselves to scale our own startups not just which author is paying us the most. So if you love WTF please chose to use the affiliate links to purchase these books so we can continue to offer this resource to founders completely for free
Growth Levers: By Matt Lerner
WTF Take: This book is the #1 book any founder should read while building a new startup. It is a very short read that will inspire you to think different and figure out how to identify the key growth levers in your company to drive repeatable & scalable growth.
Book Overview: Great startups don't waste time on small stuff. If you study the early days of any great startup, you’ll see that 90% of their growth came from 10% of the stuff they tried. But most needed years of experimentation to find their growth levers. This book aims to shortcut that process.
No Bullshit Strategy: by Alex M H Smith
WTF Take: When it comes to building a successful strategy as a startup founder you have to cut the bullshit and this book helps you build a framework for understanding what is useful and what is not. Personally I would read this book and Growth Levers together & probably read this right after reading growth levers.
Book Overview: What if strategy could instead be clear, simple, bold, and even actually useful? That’s what No Bullsh*t Strategy is all about. It sweeps away all the garbled corporate nonsense and dry academic theorising to leave you with pure strategic sauce, which can be actioned right away.
Excellence Wins:
WTF Take: I believe that building a company is very similar to the the age old analogy that if you chase a cat, you’ll never catch it but if you have food the cat will come to you. This book embodies that through the principles of establishing a brand built on excellence in everything you do. Now I will caution startup founders that building excellence is not about building perfection because if you focus on perfection you’ll never start. Excellence is something much different; its a guiding pillar that helps you make the critical decisions you will have to face as a founder and establishes the framework of how little experiences and “extra steps” go a long way so that even if its not perfect it can still be excellent.
Book Overview: For over twenty years, Schulze fearlessly led the company to unprecedented multibillion dollar growth, setting the business vision and people-focused standards that made the Ritz-Carlton brand world renowned. In Excellence Wins, Schulze shares his approach to everything from providing the best customer service to creating a culture of excellence within your organization.