Books like Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

01

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business

Gino Wickman · Business

Traction introduces the Entrepreneurial Operating System, a practical framework for running a small to mid-sized business with more clarity, accountability, and traction.

Shares growth and entrepreneurship with Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't.

02

The E-Myth Revisited

Michael E. Gerber · Business

The E-Myth Revisited is Michael Gerber's diagnosis of why most small businesses fail — not because their owners lack technical skill, but because they confuse being good at a craft with knowing how to run a business.

Shares entrepreneurship and operations with Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't.

03

Good to Great

Jim Collins · Business

Good to Great is Jim Collins's attempt to answer a deceptively simple question: why do some good companies make the leap to sustained greatness while most don't?

Both dig into strategy.

04

Rework

Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson · Business

Rework is Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson's deliberately provocative argument against most conventional wisdom about building a business.

Shares entrepreneurship and operations with Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't.

05

Measure What Matters

John Doerr · Business

Measure What Matters is John Doerr's account of Objectives and Key Results — the goal-setting framework he learned from Andy Grove at Intel, carried to Google in 1999, and has since deployed across hundreds of companies and nonprofits.

A kindred business read.

06

The E-Myth Enterprise

Michael E. Gerber · Business

The E-Myth Enterprise is Michael Gerber's follow-up to The E-Myth Revisited, and it extends his argument about why small businesses fail into the broader question of what it takes to build what he calls a "World Class Company." Where The E-Myth Revisited focused on the technician-manager-entrepreneur split and the importance of working on the business rather than in it, The E-Myth Enterprise focuses on the enterprise as an idea — as a system for creating value that transcends the founder's personal involvement.

Shares growth and entrepreneurship with Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't.

07

The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

Brad Stone · Business

The Everything Store is Brad Stone's account of Amazon's founding and growth from a book retailer to one of the most powerful companies in the world.

Shares entrepreneurship and operations with Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't.

08

Beyond Entrepreneurship

Jim Collins & William Lazier · Business

Beyond Entrepreneurship is Jim Collins's first major book, co-written with William Lazier and published in 1992, before the research that produced Built to Last and Good to Great.

Shares entrepreneurship and strategy with Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't.

09

Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies

Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh · Business

Blitzscaling is Reid Hoffman's argument that certain markets — primarily those with strong network effects and winner-take-most dynamics — reward companies that prioritize speed of growth over efficiency, even at the cost of significant operational risk.

Shares growth and strategy with Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't.

10

Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You

John Warrillow · Business

Built to Sell is John Warrillow's argument that every business owner — regardless of whether they ever intend to sell — should build their company as if they were going to.

Shares entrepreneurship and operations with Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't.

11

Escaping the Build Trap

Melissa Perri · Business

Escaping the Build Trap is Melissa Perri's diagnosis of why product organizations ship constantly but rarely deliver real value, and her prescription for how to change that pattern.

Shares strategy and organizational design with Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't.

12

Good Strategy Bad Strategy

Richard Rumelt · Business

Good Strategy Bad Strategy is Richard Rumelt's indictment of the strategic planning process as it is practiced in most organizations, and his articulation of what genuine strategy actually requires.

Shares strategy and organizational design with Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't.