52 Best Growth Hacking Books of All Time
We've researched and ranked the best growth hacking books in the world, based on recommendations from world experts, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. Learn more
Featuring recommendations from Eric Schmidt, Charles T. Munger, Reid Hoffman, and 560 other experts. 
Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business. more
Sheryl SandbergProvides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. (Source)
Tim O'ReillyThe Lean Startup isn't just about how to create a more successful entrepreneurial business, it's about what we can learn from those businesses to improve virtually everything we do. I imagine Lean Startup principles applied to government programs, to healthcare, and to solving the world's great problems. It's ultimately an answer to the question 'How can we learn more quickly what works, and... (Source)
Jeffery ImmeltI make all our managers read The Lean Startup. (Source)
Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?
Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without... more
Matt MullenwegHooked gives you the blueprint for the next generation of products. Read Hooked or the company that replaces you will. (Source)
Raluca RaduIn terms of business, some of the must-read books I would mention are Hooked by Nir Eyal, Web Analytics: An Hour A Day by Avinash Kaushik, Call To Action and Always Be Testing by Bryan Eisenberg, Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi, How To Build Websites That Sell by Peep Laja, Content Chemistry by Andy Crestodina. (Source)
Marc GoodmanRecommended by in "Tools of Titans". (Source)
You'll learn the six universal principles, how to use them to become a skilled persuader—and how to defend yourself against them. Perfect for people in all walks of life,... more
Charles T. MungerRobert Cialdini has had a greater impact on my thinking on this topic than any other scientist. (Source)
Scott AdamsGreat video summary of Influence | The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini ► Book Summary https://t.co/KqUJ0YohPk via @YouTube (Source)
Dan ArielyIt covers a range of ways in which we end up doing things, and how we don’t understand why we’re doing them. (Source)
The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.
Thiel begins with the contrarian premise that we live in an age of technological stagnation, even if we’re too distracted by shiny mobile devices to notice. Information technology has improved rapidly, but there is no reason why progress should be limited to... more
Mark ZuckerbergThis book delivers completely new and refreshing ideas on how to create value in the world. (Source)
Nassim Nicholas TalebWhen a risk taker writes a book, read it. In the case of Peter Thiel, read it twice. Or, to be safe, three times. This is a classic. (Source)
A new generation of megabrands like Facebook, Dropbox, Airbnb, and Twitter haven’t spent a dime on traditional marketing. No press releases, no TV commercials, no billboards. Instead, they rely on a new strategy—growth hacking—to reach many more people despite modest marketing budgets. Growth hackers have thrown out the old playbook and replaced it with tools that are testable, trackable, and scalable. They believe that products and businesses should be modified repeatedly until they’re primed to generate explosive... more
Timothy FerrissHoliday is part Machiavelli, part Ogilvy, and all results... This whiz kid is the secret weapon you've never heard of. (Source)
Andrew ChenGrowth hackers are the new VPs of marketing, and this book tells you how to make the transformation. (Source)
Sean EllisRyan captures the power of the growth hacker mindset and makes it accessible to marketers at companies of all types and sizes. If you don't see a boost in results after reading this book, something is wrong with your product. (Source)
Charlamagne Tha GodThese are the books I recommend people to listen to on @applebooks. (Source)
Marvin LiaoMy list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make... (Source)
Ryan HolidayThere is no living writer (or person) who has been more influential to me than Robert Greene. I met him when I was 19 years old and he’s shaped me as a person, as a writer, as a thinker. You MUST read his books. His work on power and strategy are critical for anyone trying to accomplish anything. In life, power is force we are constantly bumping up against. People have power of over us, we seek... (Source)
It seems hard to believe today, but there was a time when Airbnb was the best-kept secret of travel hackers and couch surfers, Pinterest was a niche web site frequented only by bakers and crafters, LinkedIn was an exclusive network for C-suite executives and top-level recruiters, Facebook was MySpace's sorry step-brother, and Uber was a scrappy upstart that didn't stand a chance against the Goliath that was New York City Yellow Cabs.
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Nir EyalIt used to be that designers and engineers were responsible for developing new products, data teams were responsible for number-crunching reports, and marketers were responsible for acquiring and monetizing as many customers as possible. But today’s companies can’t afford to be slowed down by organizational silos. Here, growth-hacking pioneers Ellis and Brown show how to break down those... (Source)
Eric RiesIn an increasingly erratic business landscape where new competition can emerge overnight, customers’ loyalties can shift unexpectedly, and markets are constantly being disrupted, finding growth solutions fast is crucial for survival. Hacking Growth provides a compelling answer to this urgent need for speed, offering companies a methodology for finding and optimizing new strategies to increase... (Source)
Kyrylo TaranenkoThe book is new (2017) and growthhacking is a real trend right now. (Source)
In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people.
For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth... more
Ryan HolidayI loved Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck. There’s a reason this book is blowing up. It’s that good. (Source)
Alex Blackwell@whitbywonder Great book (Source)
Chris GowardHere are some of the books that have been very impactful for me, or taught me a new way of thinking: [...] The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. (Source)
In Growth Hacking: Silicon Valley's Best Kept Secret, growth consultants Raymond Fong and Chad Riddersen deconstruct the phenomenon used by Silicon Valley's fast growing tech elite, growth hacking. Raymond and Chad's framework, the ASP(TM), is an easy to understand blueprint that empowers any business to apply growth hacking. The ASP(TM) was developed through their work in the tech community and used to produce... more
Marketers at Procter & Gamble study videos of people making their beds. They are desperately trying to figure out how to sell a new product called Febreze, on track to be one of the biggest flops in company history. Suddenly, one of them detects a nearly imperceptible pattern—and with a slight shift in advertising,... more
Naval RavikantI also recently finished The Power of Habit, or close to finish as I get. That one was interesting, not because of its content necessarily, but because it’s good for me to always keep on top of mind how powerful my habits are. [...] I think learning how to break habits is a very important meta-skill that can serve you better in life than almost anything else. Although you can read tons of books... (Source)
Blake IrvingYou know, there's a book called The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Simple read book about just how to build positive habits that can be I think I what I'd call you know whether in your personal life or whether in your business life to help you build you know, have a loop that can build your success and that's one I mean there are so many great books out there. (Source)
Cynthia ClevelandQ: What is one must-read book for business leaders? A: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Business and Life by Charles Duhigg. (Source)
Don't have time to read the top Growth Hacking books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
Why do so many startups fail? According to entrepreneurs Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares, most failed startups don’t get off the ground not because of a bad product, but because they don’t have enough customers. They make the fatal mistake of putting all their effort into perfecting their product at the cost of reaching out to potential users. Instead, they should be putting half... more
Ola OlusogaI've read Influence by Robert Cialdini 3 times, and Traction by Gabriel Weinberg twice, so if number of times read indicates favor, then those are it. (Source)
Joel GascoigneTraction has been a somewhat recent read for me. The key take-away I had from the book was to try to spend as much time on traction as on product development. The other realization the book triggered for me was that in the early days of Buffer, we focused our content marketing efforts around traction, and we found that guest blogging helped us a lot with spreading the word and triggering new... (Source)
Gunhee ParkThis book lays out a framework to help any startup brainstorm ways to gain more customer traction. (Source)
What makes things popular? Why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what makes online content go viral?
If you said advertising, think again. People don't listen to advertisements, they listen to their peers. But why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what makes online content go viral?
... more
Vladimer Botsvadze@j1berger @simonsinek @tferriss @ThisIsSethsBlog @garyvee @GuyKawasaki Contagious is a fantastic book! (Source)
Nicolas JouvenceauOne book that actually helped me a great deal in the way I was communicating with my products and marketing, is Contagious by Jonah Berger, in which he describes “why things catch on” or “how to create viral content”. I did apply lots of his ideas and even inspired my team to work on those principles both online and offline. I remember reading it and taking notes (things I actually rarely do when... (Source)
Andrew MedalThe world is #CONTAGIOUS ☢️☢️☢️ • • My dog and I love this book. I read to him when he wants to learn about marketing techniques. The last time I read this book was in 2013. If you want a read that dissects how and… https://t.co/6v0ckSnSQe (Source)
*Awarded 'Best Startup Book Of All Time' by Benzinga.com
*Awarded 'Top 5 Growth Hacking Book' by Entrepreneur Magazine
This compelling and inspiring narrative gives entrepreneurs a rare behind-the-scenes look inside a fast-growing startup that created the first online dating app and grew to 100 million users.
Explosive Growth combines lively and often hilarious storytelling, revealing genius growth tactics, numerous case-studies, and its step-by-step playbook to help your startup grow...
For many entrepreneurs, the most confounding aspect of business is growth. How do you generate enough business to get started? And, later, how do you manage the many complex changes that accompany growth? How do you keep innovating to expand your business in new directions? Fast Company’s The Small Business Guide to Growth Hacking, presented by OPEN Forum from American Express OPEN, explores these questions and more. This exclusive collection is drawn from articles in Fast Company and openforum.com and focuses on what it takes to build a thriving business that... more
Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Read it and you'll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don't need outside investors, and why you're better off ignoring the competition. The truth is, you need less than you think. You don't need to be a workaholic. You don't need to staff up. You don't need to waste time on paperwork or meetings. You... more
Mark CubanIf given a choice between investing in someone who has read Rework or has an MBA, I'm investing in Rework every time. This is a must read for every entrepreneur. (Source)
Jeff BezosUnperturbed by conventional wisdom, [the authors] start fresh and rewrite the rules of business. Their approach turns out to be as successful as it is counter-intuitive. (Source)
Tony HsiehThe wisdom in these pages is edgy yet simple, straightforward, and proven. Read this book multiple times to help give you the courage you need to get out there and make something great. (Source)
In this 3rd edition, Steve returns with fresh perspective to reexamine the principles that made Don’t Make Me Think a classic-–with updated examples and a new chapter on mobile usability. And it’s still short, profusely illustrated…and best of all–fun to read.
If you’ve read it before, you’ll rediscover what made Don’t Make Me Think so essential to Web... more
Raluca RaduI work in digital marketing so I would [recommend]: [...] Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug. (Source)
Kaci Lambe KaiThese three books are about how people actually use design in their lives. They helped me understand this very basic idea: There are no dumb users, only bad designers. Take the time to create based on how your design will be interacted with. Test it. Iterate. That's how you become a good designer. (Source)
Tracy OsbornIn terms of web design, Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug — so important for anyone learning how to build websites. (Source)
--THE DALAI LAMA
For the first time ever in a book, TalentSmart's revolutionary program helps people identify their EQ skills, build these skills into strengths, and enjoy consistent performance in the pursuit of important life objectives. The book contains proven strategies from a decade-long effort to accurately measure and increase emotional intelligence. Trusted by upper-echelon leaders inside companies worldwide, these strategies will... more
Stephen R. CoveyGives abundant, practical findings and insights with emphasis on how to develop EQ. Research shows convincingly that EQ is more important than IQ. (Source)
Patrick LencioniThis book can drastically change the way you think about success...read it twice. (Source)
Deke BridgesCurrent read... fascinating IQ vs EQ. Worthy book. #books #education #growth #LifeLessons @LeadersBest https://t.co/j0fjFstOWb (Source)
How do some startups go from zero to billions in mere months? How did Alexander the Great, YouTube tycoon Michelle Phan, and Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon climb to the top in less time than it takes most of us to get a promotion? What do high-growth businesses, world-class heart surgeons, and underdog marketers do in common to beat the norm? more
Marvin LiaoMy list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make... (Source)
Bogdan LucaciuA light & entertaining read, the anecdotes illustrating each concept are super inspiring. (Source)
This book shows you how to validate your initial idea, find the right customers, decide what to build, how to monetize your business, and how to spread the word. Packed with more than thirty case studies and insights from over a hundred business experts, Lean Analytics provides you with hard-won, real-world information no entrepreneur... more
Ola OlusogaLike Charlie Munger once said: “I’ve long believed that a certain system - which almost any intelligent person can learn - works way better than the systems most people use [to understand the world]. What you need is a latticework of mental models in your head. And, with that system, things gradually fit together in a way that enhances cognition. Just as multiple factors shape every system,... (Source)
Christopher LochheadQuestion: What five books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path & why? Answer: I know this is sounds self-serving but I’d recommended both of my books, the soon to be released, “Niche Down: How to Become Legendary by Being Different” and Harper Collins’ “instant classic,” “Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets” In... (Source)
Chase JarvisA classic. (Source)
Aaron WatsonQuestion: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path? Answer: Purple Cow by Seth Godin End of Jobs by Taylor Pearson Rework by Jason Fried & DHH Trust Me I’m Lying by Ryan Holiday The Complacent Class by Tyler Cowen The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson (Source)
Don't have time to read the top Growth Hacking books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
Cracking the Coding Interview, 6th Edition is here to help you through this process, teaching you what you need to know and enabling you to perform at your very best. I've coached and interviewed hundreds of software engineers. The result is this book.
Learn how to uncover the hints and hidden details in a question,... more
But only if you know how to get it into the hands of the people whose lives you have been called to change. Expert Secrets will put your message into the hands of people who need it. more
Carolina MillanIf this book is not yet in your arsenal, you’re making a big mistake. I always carry it with me when I travel , it’s filled with amazing knowledge for anyone wanting to turn their knowledge into a business. Get a free copy at https://t.co/VV4Syx66Cn 🔥🔥 https://t.co/RTWgKhCiXl (Source)
What we need is a systematic process for quickly vetting product ideas and raising our odds of success. That’s the promise of Running Lean.
In this inspiring book, Ash Maurya takes you through an exacting strategy for achieving a "product/market fit" for your fledgling venture, based on his own experience in... more
Garrett MoonRunning Lean by Ash Maurya: Learn to build products the lean way! (Source)
Ola OlusogaFor business, I've read Influence by Robert Cialdini 3 times, and Traction by Gabriel Weinberg twice, so if number of times read indicates favor, then those are it. There are a whole bunch of others, like The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman, Confession of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy, The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, and Running Lean by Ash Maurya, that I've also enjoyed and recommend to... (Source)
So how have companies like Uber, Square, Snapchat, Evernote, Hubspot, Github and Yelp grown? See for yourself in this ebook packed with the most in-depth case studies on exactly what strategies these companies used to unlock massive growth.
Case studies included are:
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Joining the ranks of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, You Are a Badas*, and F*ck Feelings comes this refreshing, BS-free, self-empowerment guide that offers an honest, no-nonsense, tough-love approach to help you move past self-imposed limitations.
Are you tired of feeling fu*ked up? If you are, Gary John Bishop has the answer. In this straightforward handbook, he gives you the tools and advice you need to demolish the slag weighing you down and become... more
Recommended by Barnacules Nerdgasm, and 1 others. Barnacules NerdgasmThis book was recommended to me by @RealJennJ originally and she has recommended some other amazing books also I'll share with you later. I never thought a book could have as positive of an impact on me as this one did. But it's like medicine, you need to revisit it over and over (Source)
Recommended by Ryan Hoover, and 2 others. Ryan HooverInteresting stories about today's biggest viral web businesses but lacking insights, imho. (Source)
In Super Attractor, Gabrielle Bernstein lays out the essential steps for living in alignment with the Universe--more fully than you've ever done before.
"I've always known that there is a nonphysical presence beyond my visible sight," Gabby writes. "All my life I've intuitively tuned in to it and used it as a source for good. . . . What we call it is irrelevant. Connecting to it is... more
In The Wisdom of the Shamans: What the Ancient Masters Can Teach Us About Love and Life, Toltec shaman and master storyteller don Jose Ruiz shares some of the most popular stories from his family's oral tradition and offers corresponding lessons that illustrate the larger ideas within each story.
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Vincenzo RuggieroQuestion: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path? Answer: Rework, Getting real and Remote - The combo from Fried and DHH. Girlboss by Sophia Amoruso From Impossible To Inevitable by Aaron Ross & Jason Lemkin How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross Content Machine by Dan Norris Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and... (Source)
Neal O'GormanIf you're going into sales I highly recommend Predictable Revenue. It's another easy read but will help you put the right processes in place and ensure you have replaced 'cold calls' with 'warm' ones! (Source)
Yuriy ZarembaMost straightforward and actionable book on building a sales process in a company. (Source)
Don't have time to read the top Growth Hacking books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
Hailed by the creator of IDA Pro as the "long-awaited" and "information-packed" guide to IDA, The IDA Pro Book covers everything from the very first steps to advanced automation techniques. While other... more
The New York Times-bestselling author of Fat Chance reveals the corporate scheme to sell pleasure, driving the international epidemic of addiction, depression, and chronic disease.
While researching the toxic and addictive properties of sugar for his New York Times bestseller Fat Chance, Robert Lustig made an alarming discovery--our pursuit... more
There is a revolution taking place in the world of startup growth, and we wanted to help people understand this new phenomenon. Those who understand growth hacking will have a competitive advantage that is hard to overstate, and we wanted to provide a robust framework for thinking about it.
WHO IS THIS GUIDE FOR?
This guide is for entrepreneurs, founders, growth leads, or anyone else who is trying to grow a startup. If acquiring new customers (and retaining existing ones) is important to your business then you should read this guide. If... more
In this book, Joe pulls from over 20 psychologists, neurologists, and behaviorists to describe exactly what it takes to create the habits and structure necessary to have a regular and dependable time with God.
YOU WILL LEARN:
• How to create a successful habit—and how to build it into your already busy schedule.
• Why relying on willpower alone isn’t enough to make and keep... more
After founding companies from start-to exit, Sabry has raised $120 Million mastering growth hacking over the past 25 years. Ready, Set, Growth hack is a powerful practical guide to help anyone with little or no knowledge 10x the growth of their organizations.
This book helps startups become unicorns, corporations become fortune 500s, and government become world leaders. Sabry walks through a step-by-step handheld approach from what is growth hacking, why growth hacking is vital, how it... more
Don't have time to read the top Growth Hacking books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
A seasoned author, comedian, and entrepreneur, Sir John Hargrave once suffered from unhealthy addictions, anxiety, and poor mental health. After cracking the code to... more
Recommended by Roxana Bitoleanu, and 1 others. Roxana BitoleanuJust a few days ago when I finished reading Mind Hacking, an open source book, which made me think of me thinking. As funny as it sounds, the questions are profound and the mind games are quite challenging. The book helped me understand more about focus (why our mind wanders around). (Source)
In this revolutionary book, Dr. Alicia Clark recognizes anxiety as the unsung hero in the path to success and happiness. It can become the motivating force that will lead to a better you, and The Anxiety Advantage aims to restore anxiety to its rightful place as a positive resource.
Weaving together modern neuroscience, case studies, interviews, and personal anecdotes, The Anxiety Advantage demonstrates how anxiety can be reclaimed as a powerful energy source, bringing you growth, success, and... more
You have problems, but you don't have time for a 5-year plan. You're tired of philosophy, research and piles of data. You want practical solutions that you can implement immediately. You don't need a committee or another meeting. You need Hackers-experienced educators who understand your school's problems and see quick fixes that may be so simple that they've been overlooked. Hacking Education is the book that every teacher, principal, parent, and education stakeholder has been waiting for--the one that actually solves problems. more
Readers will get insights on:
• What to expect when growing your company — expectedly or not
• How Dollar Shave Club’s founder changed an industry and... more
Are You Ready to Skyrocket Your Company's growth?
What You Will Learn
1. The Most Effective Tools, Software, and Technology in the Galaxy for Digital and Startup Marketers
2. 100 Must-Know Growth Hacks to... more
Don't have time to read the top Growth Hacking books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
Don't have time to read the top Growth Hacking books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.