Thank you for sharing the books, blogs, podcasts and videos that have inspired you and impacted the way you’ve set up and run your business.
Here’s what some of our members and partners have shared and we hope it will inspire you and help you grow your business. We’ll be adding more so make sure you bookmark the page and let us know what’s inspired you and we’ll add it to the list.
Featured
The Startup Lexicone
By Ken Valledy & Eamonn Carey
Recommended by Liz Boadi, Ecosystem Manager, Cranfield Eagle Lab.
"This book helps to demystify the language of the startup world with it’s simple explanation of some of the most used terms within the tech ecosystem. It’s a great resource for anyone looking to build a business or who has an interest in entrepreneurship."
Our Latest Recommended Reads and Listens
Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist
By Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson
"Venture Deals is the definitive and best guide to negotiating raising money for your start-up from VCs and Angel Investors. Brad and Jason are former lawyers and now VCs with decades of experience on drafting and negotiating Term Sheets. As a healthtech start-up founder of Medsii myself, the book shines a light on opaque and scary terms such as Liquidation Preferences that every start-up founders needs to know and much, much more besides!
"For our business we have used this book to help ensure we are as prepared as possible for investor conversation, whilst also protecting the company, co-founders and existing shareholders from an ownership and control point of view."
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Simon and Schuster
The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People
By Stephen R. Covey
Recommended by Paulina Piotrowski from Southampton City Council and partner of the Network Eagle Lab in Southampton
"It gives a perspective of wider understanding of how we, humans, can steer our brain to achieve unachievable. Being dependant on others knowledge and expertise means you need others to get what you need…cognitive attitude, we need to learn to ‘ask’ for help and support, we cannot deliver results and achieve our goals without other people… this is so true and it made me realised that asking for help is not a sign of failure or weakness but it shows courage, engagement and leadership!"
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The Economist
The Economist Espresso Daily Briefing
Also recommended by Paulina.
"It’s easy to listen to and simple explanation of some difficult topics and give a clear prospective and helps you keep up with important news and professional opinions."
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Amazon
The Broken CEO: How to Be the Leader You Always Wanted to Be
By Chris Pearse
Recommended by Chris Lamb, Finance Director at Fastnet.
“It approaches leadership from a number of new angles, some of which may be familiar to some in terms of the headings.
"The book follows a similar format to the full leadership development coaching experience I had over the course of six months with Chris himself. It's separated into three sections, the self, relationships, and leadership. Chris explains very well how are all these dynamics work on their own and together, with real life examples and has a knack for approaching sensitive topics which one may find triggers certain thoughts feelings and emotions in a comfortable way, and in order to prompt oneself become more aware of what leadership really is.
"I can honestly say it has not only helped me in so many ways running my business, with colleagues teams suppliers and customers, as well as my co-directors. It has also had a profound effect on my personal and family life."
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Twitter.com
The Marie Forleo Podcast
Recommended by Vic Turnbull, Founder of MIC Media and Eagle Labs Manchester ecosystem member.
“The Marie Forleo Podcast because often bite-size nuggets of personal and professional development joy. Delivered in a fun, easy-on-the-ear way. Originally she simply pulled the audio from her YouTube series. I love that she's an absolute goofball and doesn't take herself so seriously. Also a good listen to inspire you if you're looking to create a similar business advice-based podcast. I love how podcasts let you sneak a bit of learning into your everyday life, whether that's whilst you're doing the hoovering or cooking your tea. I used Marie to top-up my learning.”
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penguin.com Australia
The Richest Man in Babylon
By George S Clason
Recommended by Robyn Townsend, Eagle Labs Head of Engineers.
“The Richest Man in Babylon is a 1926 book by George S. Clason that dispenses financial advice through a collection of parables set 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon. The book remains in print almost a century after the parables were originally published, and is regarded as a classic of personal financial advice.
"I really enjoyed reading through the golden rules of personal finance through the lens of ancient history. It just goes to show some things never change.”
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Harper Collins Business
Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets
By Dave Peterson, Al Ramadan, Christopher Lochhead and Kevin Maney
Recommended by Hannah Dawson, CEO and Founder of Futrli.
“The aha moment when you understand the process of category design and how to get there is like a lightning strike. Then the fun starts as you try to plan world domination of the sector you are creating. Dream big and you might just get there.”
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goodbadstrategy.com
Good Strategy / Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters
By Richard Rumelt
Recommended by Richard Wood, Co-Founder of Cheddar Creative and member of Eagle Labs Cambridge.
“If you only read one book on business strategy, make it this one. You'll soon realise that most of the experts out there who bleat on about strategy don't actually understand what strategy is. In fact, the book is as much about what strategy isn't so you'll be able to easily spot the charlatans and poor misguided fools!
"We've not only used Rumelt's insights to craft our own strategy, but we regularly pass his teachings on to the clients we work with. Many of whom had been labouring under the misconception that they already had a robust strategy in place. Very well written and easy to understand.”
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Simon & Schuster
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
By Phil Knight
Recommended by Alastair Swindlehurst from Swindlehurst Consulting Ltd and member of Eagle Labs Manchester.
“Because it makes you realise that the rise of any brand/business is fraught with danger, pitfall and despite how glossy the end product we all started in the weeds and it’s just given me reassurance that if some plucky 20 year old can do it, I can do it.”
Also recommended by Alastair:
Shut Up, Move On - by Phil McGee
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Penguin Random House
No Rules Rules, Netflix and the Culture of Reinventing
By Reed Hastings & Erin Meyers
Recommended by Adam Mitcheson from My2Be and member of Eagle Labs Manchester ecosystem.
“It opens your mind to different ways of thinking that deliver proven results. As a company building something that didn't exist before, especially one that can have a significant impact on Company Culture, there are some incredible lessons from this story.”
Also recommended by Adam:
Shoe Dog - by Phil Knight
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thefounderhandbook.com
The Founder Handbook: How to get your first ten enterprise customers
By Andrius Sutas, Siobhan Clarke
Recommended by Steven Drost, CSO of CodeBase.
"There is very little reading available about how to get your first unaffiliated sales over the line. Most books focus on how to build a product, etc. but not how to sell it. This book is about sales and how to structure sales.
"Building a robust sales ops team. Having a much better understanding of how to understand and judge how well they are performing."
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ai16z.com
What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture
By Ben Horowitz
Recommended by Jon Hope, Eagle Labs Director.
"I read the following book last week following listening to the a16z podcast on the topic.
"As you’d expect, thought provoking, but also pretty practical with plenty of examples of why cultures vary across companies, why it is rarely perfect and opportunities to learn from the failures and successes of others."
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NPR.org
How I Built This podcast
Recommended by Marty Orton, a member of the Eagle Labs Southampton ecosystem.
"Here's a great podcast, these are my two favorite episodes..."
Sara Blakely - Spanx Joe Gebbia - AirBnB
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ted.com
A Ted Talk by Mark Rober
Recommended by Kyle Wilks from Smugglers, a member of the Eagle Labs Southampton ecosystem, who says, "Here are some interesting links I think are worth sharing with your members."
Also recommended by Kyle:
Good Timver - a poem by Douglas Malloch
The Winning Formula - David Coulthard
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Penguin Random House
High Output Management
by Andy Grove
Recommended by John Connelly, Managing Director of C4DI.
"Just a really solid book about the basics of management. If you’re starting out with no formal training and few peers around you to help - it’s a really cracking read. It’s pretty old now, but really rated - Andy was CEO of Intel.
"Try and re-read it every couple of years and check what we’re doing against it!"
Andy's book is also recommended by Mark Kingsley-Williams, Founder of Lawpanel and member of the Eagle Labs LawTech ecosystem.
"It's all about maximising productivity, with practical advice for navigating real life scenarios. Talking is not doing, and doing is what builds businesses. Still much to work for us to work on!"
Also recommended by John:
Let My People Go Surfing - Yvonne Chouinard
Love Is The Killer App - Tim Sanders
Snakes In Suits: When Phsychopaths Go To Work - Paul Babiak and Robert Hare
15 Lession In Leadership - James Kerr
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Bloomsbury.com
Sway
by Pragya Agarwal
Recommended by Mo Kanjilal, Co-Creator of Watch This Space.
"It unravels unconscious bias and how embedded it is in our brains in a really eye opening way and we use examples from this book all the time as there are so many practical and non-judgemental ideas."
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Running Press
Wisdom from Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!
by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Recommended by Balraj Singh, Eagle Labs LawTech Lab Manager.
"In short... it’s all about how to make money work for you, and the importance of being financially educated 'building assets'."