r/smallbusiness · 2019
Most-mentioned books in r/smallbusiness during 2019
This page ranks books by exact tracked mentions in r/smallbusiness within the published source unit for 2019. Counts come from the reconciled subreddit-by-month matrix; a source unit may be a bounded sample.
#1 The E-Myth Revisited
Michael E. Gerber
Michael Gerber's diagnosis: most small business owners don't own a business — they own a job, and they're the worst boss they've ever had.
#2 Never Split the Difference
Chris Voss
A former FBI hostage negotiator teaches the same tactical empathy he used to talk down kidnappers — applied to salary talks, vendor deals, and difficult bosses.
#3 The Lean Startup
Eric Ries
Eric Ries tells founders to ship a broken version on purpose, collect data, and repeat until the market stops ignoring them.
#4 Good to Great
Jim Collins
Jim Collins studied 1,435 companies to find 11 that leapt from average to elite — the book r/Entrepreneur still recommends even after the methodology got shredded.
#5 Company of One
Paul Jarvis
Paul Jarvis's argument that staying small on purpose beats chasing growth, cited on r/startups as the book that reframes what a business is allowed to be.
#6 High Output Management
Andrew S. Grove
Andy Grove's Intel management playbook from 1983 — two r/startups commenters call it the book that forced them to stop playing player-coach and start leading.
#7 Principles
Ray Dalio
Ray Dalio turns his hedge fund's internal operating manual into a 500-page life philosophy—and Reddit isn't sure whether to treat it as scripture or autobiography.
#8 The Goal
Eliyahu M. Goldratt
Eli Goldratt's 1984 novel about a plant manager with 90 days to save his factory before corporate shuts it down.
#9 Atomic Habits
James Clear
James Clear packages habit science into a 2-minute rule and an identity reframe, then 223 Reddit mentions decide whether it worked.
#10 Rework
Jason Fried
The founders of Basecamp argue in 37 short chapters that meetings are toxic, planning is guessing, and growing a company bigger is not the same as building a better one.
#11 Shoe Dog
Phil Knight
Phil Knight recounts selling Japanese running shoes out of a car trunk in 1962 and the 26-year scramble to turn that bet into Nike.
#12 The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Ben Horowitz
Ben Horowitz on the decisions nobody prepares you for: layoffs, firings, and the WFIO moments every real company survives or doesn't.
#13 The Personal MBA
Josh Kaufman
Josh Kaufman argues you can teach yourself everything an MBA covers for the price of a few books, then lists which mental models actually matter.
#14 Zero to One
Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel argues that copying what already works produces competition and thin margins, and that building a monopoly is the only business worth starting.