Stories for Boys

A motivational story collection aimed at young boys, focused on themes of confidence, courage, and kindness. While inspirational in nature, it is not specifically about startups, entrepreneurship, or founding companies, and therefore falls outside the scope of a directory of must‑read books for startup founders.

How to Get Rich: One of the World's Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets

Felix Dennis offers an unvarnished account of what it actually takes to build significant personal wealth through entrepreneurship. Mixing memoir and practical advice, the book explores motivations, mindset, risk-taking, ownership, and the trade-offs required to create and scale a successful business—highly relevant perspective for startup founders focused on both company-building and wealth creation.

Pasos de gigante

Spanish-language business and self-improvement book by Margarita Pasos focused on practical information to succeed in life and business. It offers mindset, motivation, and basic business guidance that can be useful to aspiring entrepreneurs and early-stage founders seeking foundational personal and professional development, though it is broader than startups specifically.

Psycho-Cybernetics

A classic personal development book by Maxwell Maltz that explores self-image psychology and its impact on performance, confidence, and goal achievement. While not startup-specific, it is widely recommended for founders and entrepreneurs as a must-read for building a resilient mindset, overcoming self-doubt, and improving focus and productivity—key traits for navigating the challenges of starting and scaling a company.

Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader

A leadership development book by INSEAD professor Herminia Ibarra that shows managers and executives how to evolve into stronger leaders by making small but deliberate changes in their jobs, networks, and sense of self—highly relevant for startup founders who must rapidly grow into broader leadership roles as their companies scale.

Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur

A concise, story-driven book by Derek Sivers that distills 40 lessons from building and selling his company CD Baby. It focuses on unconventional yet highly practical guidance for founders, emphasizing simplicity, customer obsession, and designing a business to serve your life—not the other way around. Widely recommended as a must-read for startup founders who want real-world, no‑nonsense insights rather than abstract theory.