Chris Dixon Recommended Books

"[The author] has written the first true guide for protecting a startup from self-sabotage." - Peter Thiel

"For anyone insterested in building, growing, or leading a great company, this book is an incredibly valuable resource." - Mark Zuckerberg

One of Peter Attia's answers to "any books you feel would make your reading list?"

"Let’s just say, we started out relationship with vigorous disagreement, and we’ve continued that to this day." - Marc Andreessen

"An inspiring story of a business rebirth through sheer willpower." - Larry Page

"Entertaining more than anything. I read [this book], I was like: I would never work for this guy. But entertaining and some good lessons." - Matt Mullenweg

Part of "Jeff's Reading List."

Walter Isaacson said Steve Jobs was deeply influenced by this book.

Mark Cuban's answer to "what's a book you always recommend?"

"We often referenced [this book. A] thought-provoking [book] that validated our crusade." - Marc Benioff

"A great book on strategy." - Ben Horowitz

"About how businesses get disrupted, and a lot of those themes are why startups can succeed and thrive even when there are big competitors who you would think would just wipe ’em out." - Drew Houston

"Gives one specific tactic for innovating quickly." - Andrew Ng

"Great." - Ben Horowitz

"At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from [the author]'s advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business." - Dustin Moskovitz

"You need to read [this book]." - Jason Calacanis

"The principles from [this book], I still apply today." - Kevin Systrom

"[The author] has created a science where previously there was only art. A must read for every serious entrepreneur—and every manager interested in innovation." - Marc Andreessen

"Skin in the game as conflict of interest, or as attaching one's livelihood to one's speech? Who to listen to, and why." - Marc Andreessen

"A book about the dynamics of how large-scale, highly random systems behave." - Ben Horowitz

Peter Mallouk mentioned this book on Twitter.

"Quite powerful, albeit often redundant." - Keith Rabois

"I like his ideas a lot, especially in Antifragile and the first half of this book. I've always complained about pundits relative to doers." - Vinod Khosla

"I see this book as a complement to 'Economics in One Lesson.' And it's an excellent read on its own." - Changpeng Zhao

"If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies." - Reid Hoffman

"A great book." - Keith Rabois

"Jam-packs every useful lesson about building and scaling companies into a single, digestible book." - Aaron Levie

"Truly amazing for founders, especially once you start to scale. Wish I'd had it early days at The Muse." - Kathryn Minshew

"[The author]'s advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A." - Brian Armstrong

"[The author] has no-nonsense, highly applicable advice to any operator transitioning a company from the proverbial garage to the next stage and beyond." - Max Levchin

"For B2B, I recommend [this book]." - Andrew Ng

"It’s [about] how do technology products make their way from early adopters to the mainstream." - Drew Houston

"Helps us understand that it is a myth — an incorrect myth, a false myth — to believe that we can start with an idea for a few people and ride it from early adopter to early majority to late majority to laggard." - Seth Godin

"[One of] four good books that I would highly recommend reading if you're gonna build a B2B software company." - Aaron Levie

On the "books read" section of Ev Williams' GoodReads profile.

"Bestselling guide that created a new game plan for marketing in high-tech industries." - Ron Conway

"Everything here is factual, but it reads like The Da Vinci Code." - Casey Neistat

"Gripping read." - Alexis Ohanian

"One of my favorite books of the past few years." - Andrew Wilkinson

"An incredible tale." - John Collison

"Breathtaking book." - Ankur Warikoo

"I love stuff at the intersection of crime and computers." - Thomas Frank

"About the competition to electrify the nation between Edison, Westinghouse and Tesla." - Mark Zuckerberg

"I don’t read fiction, but this almost historical fiction is fun especially for Silicon Valley types." - Vinod Khosla

This book was on Sam Altman's bookshelf.

Ramit Sethi mentioned this book in the "What to Read Next" newsletter.

"[The author] makes these narrow events -- gives a lot of texture to them and makes them feel very vivid." - Lloyd Blankfein

"[This author] is a journalist who writes non-fiction books that read like novels, real page-turners. This one is no exception." - George R. R. Martin

"About Edison, Tesla and Westinghouse." - Austen Allred

"About the Electricity industry." - Trung Phan

"[One of] two indispensable books of 2018." - Keith Rabois

"Reminds us that the tech era is very new, only really about 10 years old, and only began in earnest with iPhone adoption." - Balaji Srinivasan

"I minored in theoretical physics [...] Yet I learned more physics from [this book] than I did in my courses." - Lewis Cantley

"As good as it gets in describing the development of the nuclear industry." - Trung Phan

"Gives an overview of entrepreneurship and innovation." - Andrew Ng

"I learned a lot reading it." - Ben Horowitz

"A must read." - Bryan Johnson

Dustin Moskovitz recommended this book during a Stanford lecture in 2014.

"[This author] has built multiple breakthrough companies, and [this book] shows how." - Elon Musk

"If you really understand something that the rest of the world is confused about, and it’s an important truth, [this book] says here are all the ways you might want to make that work." - Eric Weinstein