Learn the path Tony Hsieh took at Zappos, which he joined and became CEO after selling LinkExchange to Microsoft, to grow the company to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales in less than ten years. A great book on creating the a strong and customer-oriented company culture.
Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, describes the challenges he had to overcome to keeping creativity alive as Pixar grew and integrated within Disney. Read this book to learn about the approach and processes to maintain and foster creativity in corporate cultures.
Rob Fitzpatrick has written the most essential book on validating your business ideas correctly and in a way that is practical and will save you time, money, and heartbreak. It's a short book that basically says that you shouldn't ask anyone if your business is a good idea, because it's a bad question and everyone is bound to lie in varying degrees. It's not their responsibility to tell you the truth, but yours to extract it correctly. And this book can teach you how.
A step-by-step, encyclopedic reference manual by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf on how to build and scale a successful startup. Best to read this book in parts and reference it whenever you need help with a particular section.
Ryan Holiday's book explains the concept of growth hacking and the mindset one needs to think of marketing in the modern world. His advice is applicable to businesses of all kinds, but especially if you're trying to reach a consumer base with your ecommerce store.
Seth Goden's book talks about how all marketers tell stories, and good stories are what people believe in. Learn authentic storytelling that helps you form a strong bond with your customers and set your product and company apart from the competition.
