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The 33 Best Growth & Startups Books
Growth frameworks, offers, funnels and go to market for new businesses.
Ranked by our editors. Updated November 2026. How we rank
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The ranking
#1
Obviously Awesome
The most practical positioning book available. Dunford walks through a step by step process for defining competitive alternatives, unique value and the market category that makes your strengths obvious.
- Start positioning from competitive alternatives, not features
- The right market frame makes your value obvious
- Positioning is a team exercise you should revisit often
Best for: Founders and product marketers launching or repositioning a product
#2
By our founder
Marketing So Easy It’s Fun Again
Marketing does not have to be difficult, expensive or time consuming to work. Chris Burns gives small businesses and busy marketers a practical, no hype playbook covering strategy, social media, content, copywriting and AI, so marketing feels doable again, and maybe even fun.
- A simple strategy that keeps the big picture in view while you handle daily tasks
- Practical approaches to social media, content and copywriting that do not need a big budget
- How to use AI to save time without losing your voice
Best for: Small business owners, solopreneurs and busy marketers who want marketing that works without the overwhelm
#3
Crossing the Chasm
Moore explains the gap between visionary early adopters and pragmatic mainstream buyers, and why so many promising products die in it. His beachhead strategy is still the standard playbook.
- Early adopters and the early majority buy for different reasons
- Win one narrow beachhead segment first
- Pragmatists need references and a whole product
Best for: Tech and B2B teams moving from early adopters to the mainstream
#4
$100M Offers
Hormozi's value equation and "Grand Slam Offer" framework show how to package your product so that price stops being the main objection.
- Value equals dream outcome times likelihood, divided by time and effort
- Stack bonuses, guarantees and scarcity
- Charge more by increasing perceived value
Best for: Business owners who want to sell more without lowering price
#5
$100M Leads
A clear system for lead generation built on four core methods: warm outreach, content, cold outreach and paid ads, plus ways to get others to do them for you.
- Four core ways to get leads
- Lead magnets should solve a narrow problem
- Volume is the answer to most lead problems
Best for: Business owners who need more leads from ads, content and outreach
#6
Blue Ocean Strategy
Rather than fighting rivals in a bloody "red ocean," create new demand by redefining what buyers value. The strategy canvas and four actions framework are practical tools for doing it.
- Compete by making competition irrelevant
- Eliminate, reduce, raise and create to redraw a market
- Look at noncustomers for new demand
Best for: Businesses stuck competing on price in crowded markets
#7
Hacking Growth
The person who coined "growth hacking" explains the cross functional growth process: rapid experimentation across the funnel driven by data.
- Find product market fit before scaling
- Run high tempo experiments
- Growth is a team sport across product and marketing
Best for: Teams building a growth process
#8
Lean Analytics
A practical guide to picking the one metric that matters for your stage and business model, with benchmarks and case studies.
- Focus on one metric that matters right now
- Metrics differ by business model and stage
- Vanity metrics hide the truth
Best for: Startups and growth teams choosing what to measure
#9
The Mom Test
A short, brilliant guide to customer conversations that produce honest answers. Ask about their life and past behavior, not your idea, and people stop politely lying to you.
- Ask about their life, not your idea
- Talk about specifics in the past, not hypotheticals
- Compliments are not data
Best for: Founders and marketers doing customer research
#10
The 1-Page Marketing Plan
A practical, jargon free guide that fits a complete marketing plan onto a single page divided into nine boxes, covering before, during and after the sale.
- Plan the before, during and after phases of the customer journey
- Choose a specific target market and message
- Build systems that nurture leads over time
Best for: Small business owners who need a plan this week
#11
Traction
Introduces 19 traction channels and the Bullseye framework for testing them to find the one or two that will drive growth.
- Consider every channel, not just the obvious ones
- Use the Bullseye framework to prioritize
- Spend half your time on traction
Best for: Startups choosing which channels to try
#12
Competing Against Luck
The definitive book on Jobs to Be Done. Customers "hire" products to make progress in specific circumstances, and understanding that job is the key to products and messages that win.
- Customers hire products to get a job done
- Understand the circumstances, not just demographics
- Design the whole experience around the job
Best for: Marketers and product teams who want to understand why customers buy
#13
Content Inc.
Pulizzi lays out a model for building an audience before a product, then monetizing it. A blueprint for many creator and media businesses.
- Find your content tilt
- Build an audience before you sell
- Own your platform
Best for: Founders building audience first businesses
#14
Product-Led SEO
Schwartz argues that SEO should start with users and products, not keywords, and shows how companies build scalable organic growth.
- Build for users, not keyword lists
- SEO is a product, not a campaign
- Prioritize by business impact
Best for: Growth leaders building SEO into product strategy
#15
The Lean Startup
The build, measure, learn loop and the minimum viable product changed how companies launch. Essential context for any marketer working on new products.
- Build, measure, learn
- Launch a minimum viable product
- Pivot or persevere based on validated learning
Best for: Founders and product teams launching new offers
#16
Trustworthy Online Controlled Experiments
Written by experimentation leaders from Microsoft, Google and LinkedIn, this is the go to guide for running reliable online experiments.
- Most ideas do not improve metrics
- Choose an overall evaluation criterion
- Guard against common testing pitfalls
Best for: Teams running serious A/B testing programs
#17
Unreasonable Hospitality
The former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park shares how small, personalized moments of hospitality created a world famous experience. A brilliant book on customer experience as marketing.
- Hospitality is how people feel, not just service
- Small personal gestures create big loyalty
- Give people more than they expect
Best for: Anyone who wants customers to love and talk about their brand
#18
Hooked
Eyal's Hook Model explains how successful products create habits through triggers, actions, variable rewards and investment, with a section on ethical use.
- Trigger, action, variable reward, investment
- Internal triggers create lasting habits
- Use habit design ethically
Best for: Product and growth teams building engagement
#19
Lean Marketing
The follow up to The 1-Page Marketing Plan applies lean thinking to marketing: cut waste, focus on what works and build systems that scale without more effort.
- Cut marketing activities that do not drive results
- Build systems before adding channels
- Measure, learn and improve in small cycles
Best for: Small business owners who want fewer, better marketing activities
#20
The Catalyst
Instead of pushing harder, Berger shows how to remove the barriers that stop people from changing, such as reactance, uncertainty and distance from the new idea.
- Remove barriers instead of adding pressure
- Let people persuade themselves
- Lower the cost of trying something new
Best for: Marketers trying to get customers to switch or try something new
#21
$100M Money Models
The third book in Hormozi's $100M series focuses on money models: the sequence of offers that turns customers into cash, so you can afford to acquire more customers.
- Design the sequence of offers, not just one offer
- Get paid back quickly on acquisition costs
- Upsells and continuity can fund growth
Best for: Business owners who want more revenue from every customer
#22
Launch
Walker explains his Product Launch Formula: a sequence of prelaunch content that builds anticipation before you open the cart.
- Build anticipation before you sell
- Use a sequence of high value prelaunch content
- Your email list is your biggest asset
Best for: Course creators and authors planning a launch
#23
Marketing Made Simple
The practical sequel to Building a StoryBrand: a checklist for building a one liner, website, lead generator and nurture emails.
- Write a one liner that explains what you do
- Use a lead generator to collect emails
- Nurture and sales email sequences close the loop
Best for: Small businesses that need a simple sales funnel
#24
Traffic Secrets
Brunson explains how to find where your dream customers already gather online and pull them into your funnel with paid ads, content and partnerships.
- Know exactly who your dream customer is
- Traffic you own beats traffic you rent
- Work your way into existing audiences
Best for: Funnel builders running paid and organic traffic
#25
Million Dollar Weekend
The founder of AppSumo shows how to validate a business idea fast by asking for money before building anything, with practical scripts and challenges.
- Validate with real sales, not opinions
- Start before you feel ready
- Asking is a skill you can practice
Best for: Founders and side hustlers testing a new idea
#26
Play Bigger
The case for category design: the companies that define and name a new category tend to capture most of its value. Includes a practical approach to a category "lightning strike" launch.
- Category kings take most of the market value
- Design the category, the company and the product together
- Name the problem before you sell the solution
Best for: Startups trying to define a new category
#27
Lost and Founder
The founder of Moz shares what actually happened while building one of the best known SEO companies, including the mistakes. Full of hard won lessons on search, marketing and startup growth.
- Most startup advice hides the messy reality
- Content and SEO compound slowly but powerfully
- Choose your growth channel before you raise money
Best for: Founders and marketers who want the unvarnished truth about growth
#28
Product-Led Growth
A practical guide to product led growth strategy, including when it fits, how to choose between free trial and freemium, and how to optimize onboarding.
- Let the product drive acquisition and conversion
- Choose between free trial and freemium carefully
- Shorten time to value
Best for: SaaS teams considering free trials or freemium
#29
DotCom Secrets
Brunson's funnel playbook covers the value ladder, funnel types and scripts for turning traffic into customers.
- Build a value ladder of offers
- Use the right funnel for the offer
- Follow up with email to increase lifetime value
Best for: Online businesses building sales funnels
#30
Never Lose a Customer Again
Coleman maps the eight phases of the customer journey and shows how to make the first 100 days remarkable, so new customers stay and refer others.
- The first 100 days decide loyalty
- Remove buyer's remorse right after the sale
- Surprise and delight at key moments
Best for: Businesses that want to keep the customers they win
#31
Sell Like Crazy
A digital agency founder lays out his direct response sales system, from targeting the right audience to lead magnets, follow up and conversion.
- Target the people most ready to buy, then nurture the rest
- Lead with value before the pitch
- Follow up systematically
Best for: Small businesses running direct response marketing
#32
Ask
Levesque's survey funnel method uses questions to segment prospects and deliver more relevant offers, leading to higher conversions.
- Ask customers what they want before selling
- Segment by needs, then personalize offers
- Quizzes can be powerful lead magnets
Best for: Marketers using surveys and quizzes to segment buyers
#33
Expert Secrets
How to build a movement around your expertise, tell stories that sell and structure presentations that convert.
- Position yourself as the attractive character
- Use stories to break false beliefs
- A new opportunity beats an improvement offer
Best for: Experts and coaches building a following and offer