Growth Times

I have just added a reading list on Growthroute’s website, to help clients, prospects and would-be entrepreneurs quickly identify some key reference frameworks that drive our actions. If you exclude the all-time classic of Peter Drucker, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which deserves its own section, this list is divided in 6 parts, inspired by the Develop/Market/Fund/Scale framework Growthroute uses to classify the type of actions and projects we work on with entrepreneurs:

• Broad guides on entrepreneurship: those books attempt to cover the whole entrepreneurial process, from generating ideas to building them to marketing them and financing them. Some of those books, such as Richard C. Dorf’s Technology Ventures: From Idea to Enterprise, are used at MBA and commerce programs, while others are established general references.
• Develop: books in this category primarily help readers figure out where to start, what market to target, what product to launch, and what go-to-market to pursue. This category includes thesis books such as Crossing the Chasm (my personal favorite), Blue Ocean Strategy, or the Innovator’s Solution, and other strategy pamphlets.
• Fund: this contains guides to raising money from VCs and Angels. There are generally less references in this category, I think primarily due to the more limited consumer appeal of the topic, and the general focus on learning by doing rather than by reading in that field. This said, I think the books listed here are excellent introductions to the topic.
• Market: it’s one thing to build a great product and another to get it spoken about. Or is it? In my opinion, an integrated promotional strategy using the product at its very engine and a select channel mix works best. Those books focus on that, i.e. making your product as “word-of-mouthable” as possible and effectively leveraging the right delivery mechanisms to amplify the buzz. If you read only one, then I recommend Chip Heath’s Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. By all criteria, this is the bible of buzz.
• Scale: so you have a great product and some market traction? What next? These books help you structure the organization for exponential growth, keep the momentum going and reap the dividends. Blueprint to a Billion: 7 Essentials to Achieve Exponential Growth, by David G. Thomson, is probably the most straightforward and useful reference on this topic.
• Lead: this really is a sub-chapter of the “scaling” section, but the importance of good leadership cannot be underestimated once your organization starts to grow and founders have to rely on others to get stuff done. Those books make excellent points on management practices and are designed to make you think about your own approach and style. Chris Bradford was my professor at Stanford and his book Power Up: Transforming Organizations Through Shared Leadership, is the one that made me the most about leadership styles.

Lastly, I also listed a must-read for anyone planning to rely on business book theories to drive their companies: the Halo Effect, which argues that business book authors often confuse the causes and consequences of the business “best practices” they advocate. In our reading list, I have tried to avoid authors who do that, although even some of the books I listed fall for the halo effect at times. But one thing is certain, you won’t find Good to Great here!

Let us know what you think of those books and please do ping me if you feel like I missed any that should figure here.

Develop, Fund, Market, Scale business classics, business reading list, Entrepreneur, entrepreneurship books, Publications, start-up books, top business books, venture reading