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.
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.
The essential read on understanding the principles of intuitive navigation and information design, read by over 400,000 people. Steve Krug's book helps you undersand the core principles of UX, and how to apply them to create a better shopping experience on your online store that converts more visitors into sales.
Joe Pulizzi explains the science behind how to attract prospects and customers, by creating content and sharing information that they care about. The book highlights the process of developing stories that can be used to inform, entertain and your compel customers to take action, without you actually telling them to.
Running a business is all about solving problems, but business leaders often don't know what's their biggest problem. Instead of going in endless circles putting out urgent fires or prioritizing the wrong things, Mike Michalowicz provides a framework for identifying the most important problems based on a business' heirarchy of needs, and prioritizing to fix them first.
Ben Horowitz knows how hard it is to run a business, and he is brutally honest about it. The cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz draws on his experiences in founding, running, selling, and investing in companies. The book offers essential advice and practical wisdom for navigating the toughest problems in running your venture that business schools don't cover.
