Experts > Steve Blank

Steve Blank's Top Book Recommendations

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

1
The bestselling classic on disruptive innovation, renowned author Clayton M. Christensen.

His work is cited by the world’s best-known thought leaders, from Steve Jobs to Malcolm Gladwell. In this classic bestseller—now updated with a fresh new package—innovation expert Clayton Christensen shows how even the most outstanding companies can do everything right—yet still lose market leadership. Read this international bestseller to avoid a similar fate.

Clay Christensen—who authored the award-winning Harvard Business Review article “How Will You Measure Your...
more

Jeff BezosBrad Stone's new book, The Everything Store, describes how Bezos developed this strategy after reading another book called The Innovator's Dilemma by Harvard professor Clayton Christensen. (Source)

Steve JobsIt's important that we make this transformation, because of what Clayton Christensen calls "the innovator's dilemma," where people who invent something are usually the last ones to see past it, and we certainly don't want to be left behind. (Source)

Max Levchin[Max Levchin recommended this book as an answer to "What business books would you advise young entrepreneurs read?"] (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

2
A lot of people talk about how great it is to start a business, but only Ben Horowitz is brutally honest about how hard it is to run one.

In The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, draws on his own story of founding, running, selling, buying, managing, and investing in technology companies to offer essential advice and practical wisdom for navigating the toughest problems business schools don't cover. His blog has garnered a devoted following of millions of...
more

Larry PageBen's book is a great read - with uncomfortable truths about entrepreneurship and how to lead to a company. It's also an inspiring story of a business rebirth through sheer willpower. (Source)

Mark ZuckerbergBen's experience and expertise make him one of the most important leaders not just in Silicon Valley but also in the global knowledge economy. For anyone interested in building, growing or leading a great company, this book is an incredibly valuable resource - and a funny and insightful read. (Source)

Dustin Moskovitz[Dustin Moskovitz recommended this book during a Stanford lecture.] (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

3
The bible for bringing cutting-edge products to larger markets--now revised and updated with new insights into the realities of high-tech marketing

In Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey A. Moore shows that in the Technology Adoption Life Cycle--which begins with innovators and moves to early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards--there is a vast chasm between the early adopters and the early majority. While early adopters are willing to sacrifice for the advantage of being first, the early majority waits until they know that the technology actually offers improvements in...
more

Drew HoustonIt’s [about] how do technology products make their way from early adopters t the mainstream. (Source)

Ron ConwayBestselling guide that created a new game plan for marketing in high-tech industries. (Source)

Seth GodinThis is a key component in my Purple Cow thinking, but with a twist. I'm not as worried about the chasm as I am about the desire of marketers to go for the big middle. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

4
To find the keys to greatness, Collins's 21-person research team read and coded 6,000 articles, generated more than 2,000 pages of interview transcripts and created 384 megabytes of computer data in a five-year project. The findings will surprise many readers and, quite frankly, upset others.

The Challenge
Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning.

But what about the company that is not born...
more

Jeff Bezos"Collins briefed Amazon executives on his seminal management book before its publication. Companies must confront the brutal facts of their business, find out what they are uniquely good at, and master their fly wheel, in which each part of the business reinforces and accelerates the other parts," Stone writes. (Source)

Dave Ramsey[Dave Ramsey recommended this book on his website.] (Source)

Max Levchin[Max Levchin recommended this book as an answer to "What business books would you advise young entrepreneurs read?"] (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

5
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.
more

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)

See more recommendations for this book...

6

Talking to Humans

Success starts with understanding your customers

Ron ConwayExplains how to do the customer development interviews in a way that will get you the most accurate and actionable feedback. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

7

Meltem Demirors@amazon 3/ if we look at bitcoin investing, it follows the cyclical trend outlined by the brilliant @CarlotaPrzPerez in her book "technological revolutions and financial bubbles" bitcoin is a secular investment (if you zoom out, up and to the right) that operates in cycles https://t.co/5e0XRUgzae (Source)

Andrew CurryCarlota Perez comes out of a whole set of arguments which basically go back to Kondratiev. Kondratiev was the Soviet economist who said there seem to be long-wave downturns and upturns in cycles of around fifty years. He got shot by Stalin for his trouble. He first wrote the paper in 1924. There follows seventy years of argument whether it’s true – the price evidence seem to think it’s true: long... (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

8

My Years with General Motors

My Years with General Motors became an instant bestseller when it was first published in 1963. It has since been used as a manual for managers, offering personal glimpses into the practice of the "discipline of management" by the man who perfected it. This is the story no other businessman could tell--a distillation of half a century of intimate leadership experience with a giant industry and an inside look at dramatic events and creative business management.

Only a handful of business books have reached the status of a classic, having withstood the test of over fifty years'...
more

Ben HorowitzMy Years at GM by Alfred Sloan was very interesting particularly on scale issues. (Source)

Bogdan IordacheIf you have to read just one business book to understand the global corporate world we live in today, I think this is it. And I think Bill Gates said this first. Alfred P. Sloan was the CEO of General Motors in its early beginnings, and he went through all the stages of the growth, going bust, growth and then consolidation of the beginning (when some companies were creating mechanical horses - no... (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

9

Built to Last

Successful Habits of Visionary Companies

"This is not a book about charismatic visionary leaders. It is not about visionary product concepts or visionary products or visionary market insights. Nor is it about just having a corporate vision. This is a book about something far more important, enduring, and substantial. This is a book about visionary companies." So write Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in this groundbreaking book that shatters myths, provides new insights, and gives practical guidance to those who would like to build landmark companies that stand the test of time.

Drawing upon a six-year research project at the...
more

Jeff Bezosrecommends this book because it shows how to create a long lasting company. (Source)

Tim O'ReillyBuilt to Last, by James Collins and Jerry Porras. The idea here is that great companies aren't afraid to have strong values. In fact, their cult-like values are what make them stand out from the norm. (Source)

Alden MillsBuilt to Last focused my daydreaming mind into what it takes to build truly great companies. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

10
Winning by not competing! This international best seller upends traditional thinking with principles and tools to make the competition irrelevant.
In an audiobook that challenges everything you thought you knew, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne assert that tomorrow's leading companies will succeed, not by battling their rivals for market share in the bloody "red ocean" of a shrinking profit pool, but by creating "blue oceans" of untapped new market spaces ripe for growth.

Based on a study of 150 strategic moves, spanning more than 100 years and 30 industries, they provide a...
more

Daymond JohnThere are the normal ones that everybody loves. There would be "Rich Dad Poor Dad," "Who Moved My Cheese?;" I love all the Dale Carnegie books; "The One Minute Manager." I love newer ones like "Blue Ocean Strategy" and all the "Freaknomics" books. (Source)

Ryan HolidayI don’t remember who originally told me to read Blue Ocean Strategy but I’m glad they did because this simple recommendation would substantially shape the course of my life and my career. (Source)

Santiago BasultoIt’s hard to pick a favorite business book, they all have a lot of insight spread among different publications. But if I’d need to choose one, it’d be The Blue Ocean Strategy. It completely changed my way of seeing business when I was just getting started. It’s filled with amazing stories and insights. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

Don't have time to read Steve Blank's favorite books? 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.
11
The man Business Week calls "the ultimate entrepreneur for the Information Age" explains "Permission Marketing"—the groundbreaking concept that enables marketers to shape their message so that consumers will willingly accept it.

Whether it is the TV commercial that breaks into our favorite program, or the telemarketing phone call that disrupts a family dinner, traditional advertising is based on the hope of snatching our attention away from whatever we are doing. Seth Godin calls this Interruption Marketing, and, as companies are discovering, it no longer works.

...
more

Noah KaganA few months ago, I was drinking a Noah’s Mill whiskey (cute) with my good buddy Brian Balfour and talking about life... During the conversation, we got on the topic of books that changed our lives. I want to share them with you. I judge a book's success if a year later I'm still using at least 1 thing from the book. (Source)

Foti PanagioHonestly, it’s not really as simple as following a career path, at least not anymore. I’d recommend instead reading books on innovation and leadership because that can give you the confidence you need to blaze your own trail and to take your career as it comes. I’d suggest that a good background reading list would include [...] Permission Marketing by Seth Godin (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

12
Seth Godin’s three essential questions for every marketer:
“What’s your story?”
“Will the people who need to hear this story believe it?”
“Is it true?”

 
All marketers tell stories. And if they do it right, we believe them. We believe that wine tastes better in a $20 glass than a $1 glass. We believe that an $80,000 Porsche is vastly superior to a $36,000 Volkswagen that’s virtually the same car. We believe that $125 sneakers make our feet feel better—and look cooler—than a $25 brand. And believing it makes it true.
 
As Seth Godin...
more

Joe GebbiaI remember something that [the author] says in there which I never forgot, which is to make something people want to talk about. (Source)

Alan WebberIf Seth Godin didn't exist we'd need to invent him. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

13
An alternate cover edition exists here.

The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point...
more

Kevin RoseBunch of really good information in here on how to make ideas go viral. This could be good to apply to any kind of products or ideas you may have. Definitely, check out The Tipping Point, which is one of my favorites. (Source)

Seth GodinMalcolm Gladwell's breakthrough insight was to focus on the micro-relationships between individuals, which helped organizations realize that it's not about the big ads and the huge charity balls... it's about setting the stage for the buzz to start. (Source)

Andy SternI think that when we talk about making change, it is much more about macro change, like in policy. This book reminds you that at times when you're building big movements, or trying to elect significant decision-makers in politics, sometimes it's the little things that make a difference. Ever since the book was written, we've become very used to the idea of things going viral unexpectedly and then... (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

14

The Innovator's Solution

Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth

A seminal work by bestselling author Clayton M. Christensen, now updated with fresh examples.

In the international bestseller The Innovator’s Dilemma, Clayton Christensen exposed the Achilles’ heel of many companies: by ignoring the disruptive technologies that evolve to displace them, they help initiate their own demise. In The Innovator’s Solution, Christensen and Michael Raynor take the idea of disruption one step further—explaining how companies can and should become disruptors themselves.

Now with several new chapters and updated cases,...
more

Ashley HathawayWhen it comes to work books I definitely like to ask my leaders what their favorite books are. There are lots of repeats (Crossing the Chasm, Innovator's Dilemma & Solution, Lean Startup, etc), but every now and then someone will have a really unique one that I’ll read. I always read those right away. I’ve also taken book recommendations & then not read the book for like a year. I’ll go back and... (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

15
"The chasm is where high-tech fortunes are lost... the tornado is where they are made."-- Steve Jobs, Founder & CEO, Next Computer, Inc.



Now, in this fascinating sequel, Moore shows how to capitalize on the profit-rich niches and hyper-growth markets beyond the chasm. Continuing to chart the impact of the Technology Adoption Life Cycle, he explores its effects not just on marketing but on overall business planning, especially strategic partnerships, competitive advantage, positioning and organizational leadership.


Moore's most...
more

See more recommendations for this book...

16
Business Model Generation is a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers striving to defy outmoded business models and design tomorrow's enterprises. If your organization needs to adapt to harsh new realities, but you don't yet have a strategy that will get you out in front of your competitors, you need Business Model Generation. Co-created by 470 -Business Model Canvas- practitioners from 45 countries, the book features a beautiful, highly visual, 4-color design that takes powerful strategic ideas and tools, and makes them easy to implement in your organization.... more

Kaci Lambe KaiThis was a great book, because it opened up the idea of what a business model is supposed to be vs what it can be. It doesn't have to be a stuffy, boring document. (Source)

Alexandra Stroe[I'd recommend] The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur and Zero to One by Peter Thiel when they are in the starting phase of a business that needs to validate its business model. (Source)

Ashley HathawayI could probably name a dozen books here, but I’ll point out The Business Model Generation and Value Prop Design from Strategyzer. I steal from these constantly and are engrained in my work process. These books put into practice really taught me how to think. As soon as I saw that everything should have a foundation of empathy, what good user-testing looks like, how to test and iterate it changed... (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

17

Value Proposition Design

How to Create Products and Services Customers Want

If you liked "Business Model Generation," you'll love "Value Proposition Design." The sequel builds on the same visual format and practical tools that made the first one so useful. It shows you how to use the Value Proposition Canvas, a practical business tool to design, test, create, and manage products and services customers want. It compliments and perfectly integrates with the Business Model Canvasfrom "Business Model Generation" so you can succeed with great value propositions embedded in scalable and profitable business models.

Practical exercises, process illustrations, and...
more

Chandini Jain[One of the five books Chandini would you recommend to young people interested in her career path.] (Source)

Ashley HathawayI could probably name a dozen books here, but I’ll point out The Business Model Generation and Value Prop Design from Strategyzer. I steal from these constantly and are engrained in my work process. These books put into practice really taught me how to think. As soon as I saw that everything should have a foundation of empathy, what good user-testing looks like, how to test and iterate it changed... (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

18

The Book of Five Rings

Written over three centuries ago by a Samurai warrior, the book has been hailed as a limitless source of psychological insight for businessmen-or anyone who relies on strategy and tactics for outwitting the competition. less

Ryan HolidayWidely held as a classic, this book is much more than a manifesto and manual on swordsmanship and martial arts. It’s about the mindset, the discipline, and the perception necessary to win in life or death situations. As a swordsman, Musashi fought mostly by himself, for himself. His wisdom, therefore, is mostly internal. He tells you how to out-think and out-move your enemies. He tells you how to... (Source)

Zach Even EshLove this book & should have re-read long ago. . It only takes a page or 2 to change your life IF YOU FOLLOW THROUGH. . #musashi #samurai #undergroundstrengthgym #undergroundstrengthcoach #undergroundstrengthbook… https://t.co/zL8zxUwCJG (Source)

Stephane GrandI do not believe there are business and non-business books. Business is life, you do business like the man or woman you excavate from the person you are told you are. Hence, the most potent business books are not about business, in my opinion. What makes a great business book is that it is a book that helps you find a better version of yourself. Therefore, I would say that my favorite business... (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

19

The Art of War

For more than two thousand years, The Art of War has stood as a cornerstone of Chinese culture-a lucid epigrammatic text that reveals as much about human psychology, politics, and economics as it does about battlefield strategy. The influence of Sun-tzu's text has grown tremendously in the West in recent years, with military leaders, politicians, and corporate executives alike finding valuable insight in these ancient words. In his crisp, accessible new translation, scholar John Minford brings this seminal work to life for modern readers.

Minford opens with a lively,...
more

Reid HoffmanReid read Carl von Clausewitz and Sun Tzu as a boy, which informed his strategic thinking. (Source)

Neil deGrasse TysonWhich books should be read by every single intelligent person on planet? [...] The Art of War (Sun Tsu) [to learn that the act of killing fellow humans can be raised to an art]. If you read all of the above works you will glean profound insight into most of what has driven the history of the western world. (Source)

Evan SpiegelAfter meeting Mark Zuckerberg, [Evan Spiegel] immediately bought every [Snapchat] employee a copy of 'The Art Of War'. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

20
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...
more

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)

See more recommendations for this book...

Don't have time to read Steve Blank's favorite books? 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.
21

The Innovator's DNA

Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators

A new classic, cited by leaders and media around the globe as a highly recommended read for anyone interested in innovation.

In The Innovator’s DNA, authors Jeffrey Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and bestselling author Clayton Christensen (The Innovator’s Dilemma, The Innovator’s Solution, How Will You Measure Your Life?) build on what we know about disruptive innovation to show how individuals can develop the skills necessary to move progressively from idea to impact.

By identifying behaviors of the world’s best innovators—from leaders at Amazon and...
more
Recommended by Steve Blank, and 1 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

23

Unleashing the Ideavirus

Counter to traditional marketing wisdom which tries to count, measure and manipulate the spread of information, bestselling author Seth Godin argues that the information can spread most effectively from customer to customer, rather than from business to customer. Godin calls this powerful customer-to-customer dialogue the ideavirus and cheerfully eggs markets on to create an environment where their ideas can replicate and spread. In lively detail, Godin looks at ways companies such as Napster, Hotmail, GeoCites and even Volkswagen, have successfully launched ideavirus. Godin provides all the... more
Recommended by Steve Blank, Bogdana Butnar, and 2 others.

Bogdana ButnarI thought I might put my money where my mouth is. I keep whining that young people are not in touch with some essential books on advertising that have helped me shape the way I practise my trade today, but I never did anything about it. So I am starting here the ultimate books to read list. I will add to it as I get suggestions and as more good books get written. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

25

The Future of Management

26
"In this second edition of Extreme Programming Explained, Kent Beck organizes and presents five years' worth of experiences, growth, and change revolving around XP. If you are seriously interested in understanding how you and your team can start down the path of improvement with XP, you must read this book."



--Francesco Cirillo, Chief Executive Officer, XPLabs S.R.L. "The first edition of this book told us what XP was--it changed the way many of us think about software development. This second edition takes it farther and gives us a lot more of the 'why'...
more
Recommended by Steve Blank, and 1 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

27
William C. Durant built General Motors and contributed significantly to the growth of the world-wide automotive industry. This book presents the story of Durant's life and career. From a position of bringing together 25 firms under the GM banner in 1910, Durant subsequently lost his fortune on the Stock Market and died a poor man. less
Recommended by Steve Blank, and 1 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

29
``Solution Selling is the most comprehensive sales and sales management process available today. Mike Bosworth has the best understanding of sales process in corporate America.''Jeffrey M. Fisher, Vice President, Symix Computer Systems. less
Recommended by Steve Blank, and 1 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

Don't have time to read Steve Blank's favorite books? 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.
31
THE MARKET-PROVEN PRINCIPLES OF SOLUTION SELLING FOR TODAY'S HIGH-SPEED, HIGHER-PRESSURE SALES ENVIRONMENT

The long-awaited sequel to Solution Selling, one of history's most popular selling guides

Nearly 10 years ago, the influential bestseller Solution Selling literally rewrote the rules for selling big-ticket, long-cycle products. The New Solution Selling expands the classic text's cases, examples, and situations and sharpens its focus on streamlining the sales process to achieve greater success in fewer steps and a shorter...
more
Recommended by Steve Blank, and 1 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

32
Thinking of starting your own business in high-tech? Do yourself a huge favor by reading this book first. The authors, both veterans of many start-ups, address topics vital to your start-up success, such as:
* Finding start-up opportunities Leaving your current employer but keeping your ideas
* Protecting your intellectual property
* Managing the five critical elements of a successful start-up
* Securing start-up financing
* Dealing successfully with venture capitalists
* Writing a winning business plan
* Creating a management team
* Handling employment...
more
Recommended by Steve Blank, and 1 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

33
The ideas of US Air Force Colonel John Boyd (1927-1997) have transformed American military policy and practice. A first-rate fighter pilot and a self-taught scholar, he wrote the first manual on jet aerial combat; spearheaded the design of both of the Air Force's premier fighters, the F-15 and F-16; and shaped the tactics that saved lives during the Vietnam War and the strategies that won the Gulf War. In addition, Boyd led the Military Reform Movement in the 1970s and 1980s, calling for radical change in Pentagon procurement procedures. A perceptive and original thinker, he synthesized ideas... more
Recommended by Steve Blank, and 1 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

34

High-tech Ventures

The Guide For Entrepreneurial Success

High-Tech Ventures is for those who design, build, and market innovative products—people who are creating the high-tech world of the future. More specifically it is for all engineers, engineering managers, entrepreneurs, and intrapreneurs. Although engineers are responsible for identifying products and businesses that might benefit their company, all too often their suggestions are rejected. The products don't fit within the current business, or they threaten the status quo. Thus, start-up companies are the main arena for innovation.Entrepreneurs who are considering starting up a... more
Recommended by Steve Blank, and 1 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

35
Alfred P. Sloan Jr. became the president of General Motors in 1923 and stepped down as its CEO in 1946. During this time, he led GM past the Ford Motor Company and on to international business triumph by virtue of his brilliant managerial practices and his insights into the new consumer economy he and GM helped to produce. Bill Gates has said that Sloan's 1964 management tome, My Years with General Motors, "is probably the best book to read if you want to read only one book about business." And if you want to read only one book about Sloan, that book should be historian David Farber's... more
Recommended by Steve Blank, and 1 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

36
Growth unleashes benefits beyond the economic. It revitalizes organizations and invigorates the people in them, creating energy, a sense of purpose, and the glow of being on a winning team. Like the alchemy of old, it seeks to transform the everyday into the exalted by means that seem little short of magical. Yet growth is often elusive, achieved at unacceptable costs, or managed in fits and starts. Based on over three years of research and application at high-performing companies around the world, The Alchemy of Growth is a comprehensive, practical approach to initiating, achieving,... more
Recommended by Steve Blank, and 1 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

37

Democratizing Innovation

Innovation is rapidly becoming democratised. Users, aided by improvements in computer and communications technology, increasingly can develop their own new products and services. These innovating users - both individuals and firms - often freely share their innovations with others, creating user-innovation communities and a rich intellectual commons. In Democratizing Innovation, Eric von Hippel looks closely at this emerging user-centred innovation system. He explains why and when users find it profitable to develop new products and services for themselves, and why it often pays users to... more
Recommended by Steve Blank, and 1 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

38
The story of the ghostwriting of Alfred P. Sloan's best-selling memoir, General Motor's attempts to block the book's publication, and the author's eventual triumph over the corporation.

Published in 1964, My Years with General Motors was an immediate best-seller and today is considered one of the few classic books on management. The book is the ghostwritten memoir of Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. (1875-1966), whose business and management strategies enabled General Motors to overtake Ford as the dominant American automobile manufacturer in the 1920s and 1930s.

What...
more
Recommended by Steve Blank, and 1 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

39
You couldn’t find two more different men. Billy Durant was the consummate salesman, a brilliant wheeler-dealer with grand plans, unflappable energy, and a fondness for the high life. Alfred Sloan was the intellectual, an expert in business strategy and management, master of all things organizational. Together, this odd couple built perhaps the most successful enterprise in U.S. history, General Motors, and with it an industry that has come to define modern life throughout the world. Their story is full of timeless lessons, cautionary tales, and inspiration for business leaders and history... more
Recommended by Steve Blank, and 1 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

40
American science was as much the victim as the beneficiary of the Cold War. What science may have gained in funding, prestige, and political clout, it lost in independence and integrity. As one prominent scientist put it, the military bought American science on the installment plan, with fateful consequences for intellectual freedom. Military money and expectations blurred traditional distinctions between theory and practice, civilian and military, and claffified and unclassified, creating a new kind of American science that derived its character as well as its contracts from the Pentagon. less
Recommended by Steve Blank, and 1 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

Don't have time to read Steve Blank's favorite books? 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.