…then I cannot stress these books enough. Taken from a Harvard Business School course on Entrepreneurship, these books provide a solid background and insight into the world of startups, new businesses and VC mindset.

You can order the whole set directly from Harvard press by clicking here.

The book set is as follows:

Description:
Surviving and thriving in your own venture requires more than guts and a great idea. You need to understand both the opportunities and the pitfalls along the path to success. This collection is essential reading for anyone involved in a startup.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset: Strategies for Continuously Creating Opportunity in an Age of Uncertainty by Rita Gunther McGrath and Ian MacMillan

“Using lessons drawn from leading entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial companies, The Entrepreneurial Mindset presents a set of practices for capitalizing on uncertainty and rapid change. Like McGrath and MacMillan’s bestselling Harvard Business Review articles, such as “Discovery-Driven Planning,” the book provides simple but powerful ways to stop acting by the old rules and start thinking with the discipline of habitual entrepreneurs.”

Harvard Business Review on Entrepreneurship by Various Authors

“From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series delivers the fundamental information today’s professionals need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world.”

Done Deals: Venture Capitalists Tell Their Stories by Udayan Gupta

“Until a few years ago,” notes journalist-consultant Udayan Gupta, “venture capitalists were hardly on anyone’s radar screen.” That’s not the case these days, as financiers who used to work behind the scenes now regularly set markets afire with their public support of high-profile technology and Internet stocks. In Done Deals, Gupta allows 35 of the brightest stars in what has become a $30-billion-a-year business to tell their own stories in their own words.”

The Monk & The Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Living  by Randy Komisar

“Prospective entrepreneurs may think they know everything there is to know about starting a business in Silicon Valley. They can draw up business plans, have meetings with venture capitalists, maybe even get funded and actually launch a start-up. However, in The Monk and the Riddle, Silicon Valley sage Randy Komisar reasons that’s only half the equation for success. To illustrate, Komisar takes the reader through a hypothetical Silicon Valley start-up, with an eager entrepreneur named Lenny trying to get funding for an online casket-selling business. As Komisar helps Lenny find the real purpose of the business, the passion behind the revenue projections, he reflects back on his life as an entrepreneur. Komisar emerges as a master storyteller, the kind of guy you’d feel honored to share a bottle of wine with. And you believe his conclusion: “When all is said and done, the journey is the reward.”

Read them all.

When you are done, read them all again.

You’re welcome.