Top 12 Books Every Young Entrepreneur Should Read

If you’re a young entrepreneur, it’s easy to get lured by the drive to execute your ambitions as soon as possible. However, before jumping in, it’s crucial to amass the proper knowledge to ensure you have all the tools you need to succeed.

The following books were conceptualized, written, and published by successful entrepreneurs who have walked down the road you intend to follow. Their challenges, wisdom, and tips are exceptional tools that can help you pave your path to success with minimal risk, making these a fantastic read for anyone aspiring to become the next business powerhouse.

1. Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game – Walker Deibel

If you’re an entrepreneur building your business from scratch, you often have to come to terms with the very real possibility that your startup will succumb before reaching its true potential. In Buy Then Build, Deibel proposes you avoid the early death often found within the startup phase by skipping it altogether through acquisition entrepreneurship—buying existing small companies and improving upon them.

2. Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action – Simon Sinek

Like many more before him, Sinek wondered what differentiates the world’s great leaders from the common folk.

His study of significant leadership figures across the decades led to his development of The Golden Circle, a principle he believes is the foundational stone of great organizations, movements, and projects. And it all starts with one question: why?

Why do organizations do what they do? Why do they exist? Why do customers prefer them? These and many other questions may be the key to success for young entrepreneurs like you.

3. The Entrepreneur Mind: 100 Essential Beliefs, Characteristics, and Habits of Elite Entrepreneurs – Kevin D. Johnson

With not enough experience but eagerness for knowledge, you can easily be led astray by the plethora of advice found on the marketplace. At times, it’s quite hard to figure out the essentials.

Enter The Entrepreneur Mind, a guide that promises to help you develop a way of thinking similar to that of the world’s most outstanding entrepreneurs. Johnson’s approach is to simplify the complex by delivering 100 lessons covering the basics to build skills in all the fields required to succeed in your business.

4. The Fortune Cookie Principle: The 20 Keys to a Great Brand Story and Why Your Business Needs One – Bernadette Jiwa

While many books give you advice on finances, business, and the complexities of your specialty, few remember one of the most important aspects worth considering: presentation.

The Fortune Cookie Principle suggests that companies are like fortune cookies: they are valued for the story they have to tell. To help you build your brand story, Jiwa offers a system of 20 elements worth considering to create your brand, share it, and connect with customers in unforeseen ways.

5. She Means Business: Turn Your Ideas into Reality and Become a Wildly Successful Entrepreneur – Carrie Green

As a young 20-year-old woman, Carrie Green began her online business. Within a few years, it became a global brand, and she began to understand the importance of empowering women to do the same. She Means Business is yet another step in that direction.

Equal parts knowledgeable and motivational, She Means Business is a grounded yet hopeful look at the road ahead and a quintessential read for you, especially if you’re a young woman beginning your entrepreneurship journey.

6. The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life – Steven Bartlett

Even if you aren’t a podcast enthusiast but you’re a young entrepreneur, you might be familiar with Steven Bartlett and his famous business podcast, The Diary of a CEO. Considered one of the most listened-to worldwide, the show has featured numerous guests from many fields as Bartlett tries to decode the secrets inside the mind of a CEO.

In this book, Bartlett reflects on the knowledge he acquired throughout the podcast. At its heart, he concludes there are 33 laws that he and all his guests follow to the core. These laws are divided into four categories: self, business, money, and life. The book was a great success, and you may find it equally instructive and inspiring, so don’t ignore it.

7. Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy – Patrick Bet-David 

Published in 2020, Your Next Five Moves became an instant The Wall Street Journal bestseller, and with good reason. Rather than offering general advice for young entrepreneurs to begin their projects, the book focuses on strategic decision-making. And he’s right, don’t you agree?

In the pages, Bet-David proposes that, as an entrepreneur, you must think like a chess player—five moves ahead—and balance swift action and careful consideration to select the best course of action.

8. The Minimalist Entrepreneur: How Great Founders Do More with Less – Sahil Lavingia

Young entrepreneurs everywhere have grand ambitions and a desire to begin their journey at once. Does this sound familiar? However, you should decide your identity as a business owner first.

To that, Lavingia has a proposal: become a minimalist entrepreneur.

In The Minimalist Entrepreneur, Lavingia encourages you to change your growth mindset for a profitable one: a business that brings profits is better than one that grows, as it provides sustainability for long-term success.

9. The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, and Stand out From the Crowd – Allan Dib

Marketing your business is a pivotal step, yet it’s also one of the most misunderstood. If you do it incorrectly, this step can entirely make or break your project. Luckily, a marketing plan can be simple, fast, yet incredibly efficient—all within just one page.

The 1-Page Marketing Plan offers you an easy-to-follow explanation of the critical aspects of marketing, a few tips on understanding the perfect marketing strategy for your business, and the one-page template that can change your entrepreneurship forever.

10. The Introvert Entrepreneur: Amplify Your Strengths and Create Success on Your Own Terms – Beth Buelow

A misconception in entrepreneurship circles can make you believe that introversion isn’t welcomed. Such beliefs tie success to stereotypical extroverted traits, such as loud and outspoken behavior or brash and bold attitudes.

Beth Buelow thinks otherwise. In The Introvert Entrepreneur, she argues that the average introvert has a skill set that lends itself wonderfully to entrepreneurship. For example, if you are an introvert, you may not excel at networking and self-promotion, but you definitely can make up for it with independence and curiosity, which this book encourages you to explore and hone.

11. Harvard Business Review Entrepreneur’s Handbook: Everything You Need to Launch and Grow Your New Business – Harvard Business Review

Newcomers to the world of entrepreneurship should always begin with reliable institutions, and fewer are more prominent than the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Business Review.

In that regard, the Harvard Business Review Entrepreneur’s resource is a quintessential guide to the fundamentals that every up-and-coming business should have. It covers most everyday issues you may face as a business owner and offers intricate theoretical knowledge alongside.

12. The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months – Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington

What if you could fulfill your yearly goals within three months? That is the basic premise of The 12 Week Year, a guide that explains how continuous 12-week cycles are more efficient in achieving incredible results within a short timeframe.

According to the authors, instilling a sense of urgency forces you to focus on the most critical aspects of building your business without getting lost in the meaningless fluff. It also further improves your execution effectiveness and encourages growth.

Build Your Empire With The Right Tools

Entrepreneurship is always challenging, but if you have the proper knowledge, you can avoid common pitfalls and maximize opportunities for yourself and your business. 

The above books provide comprehensive skills, knowledge, and strategies worth reading. However, don’t limit yourself to just these; countless business books could hold the key to your success.