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Stephen Jeske's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Stephen Jeske recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Stephen Jeske's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1
Beyond The E-Myth embraces the fundamental premise of that first book--that a small business only succeeds to the degree its owner goes to work ON the business rather than just IN it, creating the systemic Operating System that makes that business unique in the marketplace.

Beyond The E-Myth expands that conversation with the entrepreneurial small business owner, in a clear, precise, and compelling overview that addresses their main job--inventing, building, and launching a company with the power to -scale---to grow beyond the -Company of One- in a straightforward, eight-step...
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Recommended by Stephen Jeske, and 1 others.

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2
Now a decade after the Four Steps to the Epiphany
sparked the Lean Startup revolution, comes its sequel…
The Startup Owner's Manual

The Manual incorporates 10 years of learning and best practices
that have swept the startup world. It:

Incorporates the "Business Model Canvas" as the organizing principle for
startup hypotheses
Provides separate paths and advice for web/mobile products versus
physical products
Offers a wealth of detailed instruction on how to get, keep, and grow
customers recognizing the different techniques...
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Bill EarnerThe Startup Owner's Manual by Steve Blank is a more full on version of the Lean Startup and is a real how to manual for customer development (Source)

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3
Two successful startup founders offer a comprehensive overview of the various ways startups can achieve strong, sustainable growth, and a guide to choosing the ones that will make the differencce.

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...
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Recommended by Nir Eyal, Cory Zue, Pat Walls, and 16 others.

Pat WallsI love this book because of the problems it solved at the time that I read it. I think my favorite business book changes over time, and this book is very new and "with the times". (Source)

Cory ZueThe business book I find myself recommending the most often is Traction, which is an excellent practical and high-level take on strategies for getting traction for your products. I found it particularly helpful because it prevents a framework and strategies you can actually execute and follow yourself instead of just pontificating about ideas. (Source)

Kevan LeeThe bullseye framework for finding the best traction channels: Get it here. (Source)

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4
Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.

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.
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Sheryl SandbergProvides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. (Source)

Dustin MoskovitzAt Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from [the author]'s advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. (Source)

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5

Hooked

How to Build Habit-Forming Products

How do successful companies create products people can’t put down?

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...
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Recommended by Nir Eyal, Andrew Chen, Ryan Hoover, and 44 others.

Matt MullenwegHooked gives you the blueprint for the next generation of products. Read Hooked or the company that replaces you will. (Source)

Tee-Ming ChewHooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal. It changed the way I think about product and helps you to be hyper focused on what matters rather than what is cool for your users. (Source)

Irina MarinescuAlready a classic about how to build successful products. Also, retention is a priority goal for any Product Manager, but you can't have retention if you are not setting a good engagement rate. It was a great starting point for me as part of my first startup and continues to help me today as acquired knowledge about user behavior. (Source)

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