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Alexis Ohanian's Top Book Recommendations

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Want to know what books Alexis Ohanian recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Alexis Ohanian's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1
Entrepreneur, Chief Product Officer at Adobe, and product advisor to many of today's top start-ups Scott Belsky believes we focus too much on the start and the finish of any project, ignoring the most important part--the messy middle--where success is truly determined.

Creating something from nothing is a volatile journey. The first mile births a new idea into existence, and the final mile is all about letting go. We love talking about starts and finishes, even though the middle stretch is the most important and often the most ignored and misunderstood.
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Joe GebbiaStarting a new venture is like jumping off a cliff and sewing a parachute on the way down. This book is the parachute. (Source)

Seth GodinScott Belsky is a master of generous work worth doing. The Messy Middle will help you see that you have more control than you dare to admit, and the ability to make a difference if you care enough. (Source)

Alexis OhanianThis is required reading for founders. Experienced entrepreneurs all know this period Scott refers to as 'the messy middle' and a few of us have worked our way out of it, but this is the first time I've seen an expert—both as a founder and as an investor—break down in such detail just how to endure, optimize, and make it through. (Source)

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2
An epic true-tale of hubris and greed from two Pulitzer-finalist Wall Street Journal reporters, Billion Dollar Whale reveals how a young social climber pulled off one of the biggest financial heists in history--right under the nose of the global financial industry--exposing the shocking secret nexus of elite wealth, banking, Hollywood, and politics.

The dust had yet to settle on the global financial crisis in 2009 when an unlikely Wharton grad was setting in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude--one that would come to symbolize the next great...
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Bill GatesAs Bad Blood is to biotech, Billion Dollar Whale is to international finance... a wonderful read... Thrilling. (Source)

Alexis OhanianAn incredible story.... If you need some billionaires to despise--look no further than these charlatans. (Source)

Morgan HouselThis book on the 1MDB scandal was great, hard to put down. Low sophistication + huge brazenness is a powerful fraud combo. https://t.co/nYpIJffcb5 (Source)

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3
Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to produce the most notoriously successful game franchises in history—Doom and Quake— until the games they made tore them apart. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry—a powerful and compassionate account of what... more

Alexis OhanianMade [my co-founder and I] think, 'Well, if these guys could do it, why can’t we?' (Source)

Duncan Jones@dannyodwyer I cant wait to see this. The book is fascinating, and I remember watching with bulging fan-boy eyes during those halcyon days! (Source)

Chris OliverMasters of Doom. Many of us started our careers in programming because we wanted to make games. This book covers the story of John Romero and John Carmack as they created ID software making Doom, Quake, and many other games we grew up playing as kids. It's truly inspiring for any software developer. (Source)

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4

Influence

The Psychology of Persuasion

Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say "yes"—and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion. His thirty-five years of rigorous, evidence-based research along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior has resulted in this highly acclaimed book.

You'll learn the six universal principles, how to use them to become a skilled persuader—and how to defend yourself against them. Perfect for people in all walks of life,...
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Charles T. MungerRobert Cialdini has had a greater impact on my thinking on this topic than any other scientist. (Source)

Dan ArielyIt covers a range of ways in which we end up doing things, and how we don’t understand why we’re doing them. (Source)

Max Levchin[Max Levchin recommended this book as an answer to "What business books would you advise young entrepreneurs read?"] (Source)

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5
Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days is a collection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in the very earliest days. These people are celebrities now. What was it like when they were just a couple friends with an idea? Founders like Steve Wozniak (Apple), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Max Levchin (PayPal), and Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail) tell you in their own words about their surprising and often very funny discoveries as they learned how to build a company.

Where did they get the ideas that made them rich?...
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Paul GrahamProbably the single most valuable book a startup founder could read. (Source)

Ron ConwayCollection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in the very earliest days. (Source)

Alexis OhanianA bunch of really great interviews [Jessica] did with a bunch of just OGs of entrepreneurship. (Source)

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6
The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of a multibillion-dollar startup, by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end in the face of pressure and threats from the CEO and her lawyers.

In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup "unicorn" promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood tests significantly faster and easier. Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper,...
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Recommended by Bill Gates, Brad Feld, Andrew Chen, and 15 others.

Bill GatesA bunch of my friends recommended this one to me. Carreyrou gives you the definitive insider’s look at the rise and fall of Theranos. The story is even crazier than I expected, and I found myself unable to put it down once I started. This book has everything: elaborate scams, corporate intrigue, magazine cover stories, ruined family relationships, and the demise of a company once valued at nearly... (Source)

Brad FeldEvery entrepreneur and VC should read this book. John Carreyrou has done something important here. Maybe this book will finally put a nail in the phrase “fake it till you make it”, but I doubt it. The amount of lying, disingenuousness, blatant and unjustified self-promotion, and downright deceit that exists in entrepreneurship right now is at a local maximum. This always happens when... (Source)

Andrew ChenFinished “bad blood” on the Theranos scandal. Wow. Just wow. It’s a must read for everyone in tech and startups. Just 1-click buy it :) Amazing how far charisma and social proof got them. Here’s the NYT review of the book https://t.co/PyMGxfoG2R (Source)

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