(Part 2) Best corporate finance books according to redditors
We found 670 Reddit comments discussing the best corporate finance books. We ranked the 195 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
I learn a ton from reading books by people much smarter than I am. There are some stellar books I start with.
Starting a business
Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
Start a business
Lean Startup
Investing and Stock Market
Gone Fishing Portfolio
Life Hacks and Lifestyle Business
4 Hour Work Week
this podcast talks about exactly the topic you mentioned. Interview with two Harvard Business School profs, who even wrote a book on the topic.
REALLY Private Equity, with Royce Yudkoff and Rick Ruback – Invest Like the Best, EP.33
HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business
VC here. Finally created an account to answer your question. Before doing anything, read these two books:
The first book provides a high level overview of angel investing while the second goes into some of the nitty gritty details.
From there, if you’re still interested, I’d recommend looking up your regional angel investor network. Pretty easily found on google. Most cities have them (Baltimore Angels, New Dominion Angels, etc...)Ask to come sit in on one or two of their pitch events. Get coffee with the other angels in the room and hear about their experiences.
If you’re still interested, I’d join the group (all have some nominal fee) but you’ll get practice reps at analyzing companies, access to dealflow, and a good platform to start building a network. Other key takeaways:
Good reading/listening suggestions:
Listen to Chapo Ep 42: Uber for Ubermenshen
Then read or listen to Bad Blood
Then listen to The Dropout podcast
If Holmes was Russian I think the ladies would be positive about her and say she did nothing wrong. But if she was Russian she'd be in jail for life right now lol
Holmes also had a Pakistani daddy 20 years older than her
I sort of am on the fence of recommending these books but have you read?
Learning how businesses work definitely improves your tech skills. It helps build logic based around what is best for the business, not what is best for IT, or what is best for you. Learning how IT becomes a finely tuned oiled machine for your business is even better.
I have read some of the books on start ups and business so I can understand where they come from, what they are trying to accomplish as a business.
The soft skills will come as you work with more and more people. Just always try to walk into a situation as a neutral part, listen, observe, learn and don't be a jerk. The soft skills will develop pretty easily that way
Obvious answers for engineers are tech infrastructure --
Web App: AWS/Heroku
iOS: Developer Account
Have you guys run a company/startup before? The best thing you can do is invest in mentorship and advice. Generally accelerators seem to be heavy on pitch building and raising money but light on actual 'how to run a business' advice.
How about 10 hours of legal consultation from a firm in town and basic incorporation fees? Supplement with your local Small Business Administration office for more general business advice.
Some great startup textbooks:
Startup CEO - Matt Blumberg
The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz
Venture Deals - Brad Feld
Do More Faster - David Cohen
How deep down the rabbit hole do you want to go? Buffett himself would recommend you index. But, if you must, start with Ben Graham and move on to learning accounting and then start with Buffett's annual letters.
John Carreyrou, the reporter who did the leg work to actually expose the fact that Holmes was a fraud and Theranos was a dangerous lie, has a book coming out in October about his whole investigation.
I'm really looking forward to it.
CryptoCurrencies by Julian Hosp https://www.amazon.com/Cryptocurrencies-simply-explained-Co-Founder-Decentralization/dp/9881485088/
Monetizing Innovation.
The Art of Startup Fundraising.
Starting a Tech Business.
The Startup Checklist.
I think you know where I'm going with this now.
Check out the book Restaurant success by the numbers. It’s no holy grail but I’ve found some valuable info there. Especially what metrics you should be tracking and estimating success.
Make sure the POS you select doesn’t slow down the service and has numbers/reports readily available.
I second having a relationship with an industry bookkeeper. They can often provide more services beyond bookkeeping and know a lot about the business. If you feel this might be pricy I’d still suggest it to begin with while you and your in laws get up to speed. Then scale down as you become more comfortable.
Finally, don’t be afraid to ask around for advice of other owners. If there are local networking events for owners/managers, attend. Use any excuse to meet people in the industry and make connections.
Good luck!
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Off the top of my mind, specific books they've mentioned that I've enjoyed:
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-Hitch 22 by Christopher Hitchens
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-Open Letters by Vaclav Havel
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-The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1926-1939 by Antony Beevor
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-So You've Been Publically Shamed by Jon Ronson
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-Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
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I'll try to remember more and add to it as I can recall them.
EDIT
-Ghost Wars by Steve Coll
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-Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick
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-Both Ian Kershaw and Richard Evans' accounts of HItler, Germany, and the Third Reich in WWII
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-Moynihan did a long interview in Vice about Karl Ove Knausgaard, so I would imagine maybe he's a fan
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-Bad Blood by John Carryrou
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-The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
In general, when it comes to things like SEO, SEM, etc you are better off sticking with blogs and content sites like SEOMoz, Marketing Sherpa, and Danny Sullivan/Search Engine World. By the time a book is written it's usually out of date in these fields.
Check out these two books: The Startup Checklist and Venture Deals . These books should put you on a path towards success. Remember, investors are always looking for the “next best thing.” It seems as though you don’t have an offering yet. Create an MVP (minimum viable product.)
Here it is on Amazon for those interested
For investing, my standard suggestion is Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need. Clear, concise, entertaining, lives up to its name.
The Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki
Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur - Dermot Berkery
Mastering the VC Game: A Venture Capital Insider Reveals How to Get from Start-up to IPO on Your Terms - Jeffrey Bussgang
And not specifically about the "money part," but an absolutely invaluable book:
Four Steps to the Epiphany- Steve Blank
And don't neglect reading Paul Graham's Essays, Fred Wilson's Blog, Ask The VC, and Feld Thoughts.
Here's a book you might find interesting.
It seems that most of the disagreement stems from this: Libertarians see the government and big business as natural allies, while pro-government people see government and business as natural enemies.
It might be worth considering why libertarians think this way. Also, try and consider the economics of politics: Do politicians have more to gain by supporting big business or by opposing it?
Read this by one of my old professors. Why? Because maybe 1% of the time a great idea will sell itself. The other 99% of the time YOU will need to sell it. Learn how.
The Art of the Pitch
> 1) I've seen the 50K early stage startup funding number before. What about 50k makes it ideal as an investment for VCs and amount of money for founders?
 
This amount should be enough to build an MVP and show some traction to justify continued funding. Other angels investors would come in with an investment ranging from $100k and above. So you either have a track record as a founder, an incredible "no-brainer" product or you can secure funding through alternative channels such as grants, accelerators and so on.
 
B1: Venture deals is a fantastic book. However, there are other books that I found helpful. For example,
 
 
 
Other resources:
 
 
You can find detailed and longitudinal data on angel investing. They also have a rich library of books to read and things to consider before getting started.
 
B2: How do you define success?
 
A) It can help and is the most common approach to achieve financial stability. The upward potential is hugely dependent on what you make out of your education (corporate and safe vs. startup and "potentially" very rewarding).
 
B) Sure. We could all benefit from a powerful mentor or teacher who takes you under his wings. But you need to have a plan B.
 
C) I really like this approach. Make your own luck. 💪🙏
biy this book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/9881485088/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1565801583&sr=8-1
pretty easily explained, but its a good base to start with.
I think it is a self-serving myth that US companies are required to only care about the $$. A very convincing and nearly entirely believed myth, but I think it's been debunked. Now don't get me wrong, that's probably all the shareholders care about and in the end the companies are setup to care about what they want...
This book covers it way better than I can:
https://www.amazon.com/Shareholder-Value-Myth-Shareholders-Corporations-ebook/dp/B007PIZ8IO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534453504&sr=8-1&keywords=lynn+stout
"So long as a board can claim its members honestly believe that what they're doing is best for `the corporation in the long run,' courts will not interfere with a disinterested board's decisions -- even decisions that reduce share price today."
This review of the book summarizes it well:
https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2012/06/26/the-shareholder-value-myth/
Read HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business
It's very thorough and covers everything from valuation, to raising equity, how to split profits, etc.
In general, investors want to see a 25% return on their money for this kind of deal, maybe a little more in your case due to the turnaround nature of the deal.
Also, I echo the advice to draft pro formas-- what do the financials look like after your improvements and assuming everything goes as planned. Do the improvements yield a meaningful enough change?
Finally, the owner should be willing to finance a significant portion of the deal. It's very common in small business, but especially since you're looking at a much higher risk situation.
https://www.amazon.com/HBR-Guide-Buying-Small-Business/dp/1633692507/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487885144&sr=8-1&keywords=buying+a+small+business
Wazzup!
I am a huge fan of the Lean Startup methodology.
Basically, create the most basic version of your idea possible and then try to sell it to people. If they buy it, then iterate and make your product better.
That's how I started Fringe.
I thought- "I bet I could sell CrossFit equipment to people over the internet."
Then I thought, "What is the cheapest way I could test if people would buy gear from me online?"
Answer: throw up a Shopify store with one product and see if people buy.
So I bought some gymnastics rings, started a store on Shopify, and sold them.
Then I thought, "These people bought rings from me, would they buy kettlebells too?"
So I sourced kettlebells and sure enough, people bought.
In other words, I think your heart is in the right place, but I would advise a different approach.
I always tell people to be real hard nosed about whether they want to start a business or they just need an expensive hobby.
But, to answer your specific questions.
As for communities that can help, check out the Tropical MBA podcast- that can be a great jumping off point into the world of crazy ass entrepreneurs.
If you're looking to understand everything at a super high level, I'm currently reading The Personal MBA. There's nothing new about any of the concepts but it's a good foundation for anything you would want to read afterwards.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046ECJ8M/
Also, this guy posted on reddit a while back with his website featuring business book summaries; I thought they were pretty useful:
http://www.blockshelf.com/
Luckily, that isn't going to happen.
Here's a quick primer in startup boards: The board of directors for a company's role is mainly to act as a protection from that sort of thing happening. Typically (with caveats that could fill a book [if you're interested, I recommend this one]) board seats are assigned by the shareholders of the company in proportion to the amount that they hold.
Most CEOs don't even bother creating a board in the earliest days of the company. They get to choose who's on it at will, so who will fight them?
Once they go through their first round of funding, most angel investors worth their salt will demand one or two seats on the board as a part of the deal. But even then, since the CEO still controls all the rest of the seats, and most experienced angels know that companies at this stage have like a 70% fatality rate, they're not all that committed, and it can take a while for them to act.
This is the stage of the company in the Jed days. Eventually they still managed to push him out though, with Chris firmly taking control of the company.
Typically, these struggles are always very murky if you're not in the room where it happens. Though, in this case, it's pretty much a given that's how it went down, from statements by people who were involved.
At this stage, though, Ripple's gone through a number of investment rounds since then, giving up more board seats to the new investors. Now they have 9 board members. I couldn't tell you which of those guys was assigned by which investor (outside the obvious ones), but I can tell you, they won't let a similar event happen, not with the forward momentum Chris and Brad brought to the table.
In addition actually getting to know how to use your camera and finding your niche, read these:
Best Business Practices for Photographers by John Harrington
The Personal MBA by Josh Kauffman
One thing I'll grant you, kid: You're not a good photographer yet, but at least you seem to recognize that taking sellable photos and running a photo business require two sets of skills, and that you should be developing those skills in parallel if you are serious about creative work as a career. Those two books should get you on the right path for the latter.
Also, don't print a portfolio. You're not good enough yet and you'd be wasting money by doing so. Get a few photos you're proud of (and that have been critiqued well) before dropping real money on marketing materials. The money is better invested in the two books I linked above.
You might want to check out this book, Mastering the VC Game. http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-VC-Game-Venture-Start-up/dp/1591843251
It talks about Angels and VC's. It is also pretty timely. There is a bit in there about term sheets, what to watch out for, how to valuate, what angels and vc's are looking for, etc.
Git gud. Learn to speak his language. Read a couple books to learn financial concepts and then you might be able to find some common ground and interact with each other effectively. Personally I found this book to be useful when I was in this exact scenario a couple years back,
https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Intelligence-Revised-Managers-Knowing/dp/1422144119/ref=pd_cp_14_1?pd_rd_w=eSxOL&pf_rd_p=ef4dc990-a9ca-4945-ae0b-f8d549198ed6&pf_rd_r=PJSRYREQ9ZE7C3328JP8&pd_rd_r=55b1bad0-e574-4bce-ac21-917b7ebdcc72&pd_rd_wg=5JvDM&pd_rd_i=1422144119&psc=1&refRID=PJSRYREQ9ZE7C3328JP8
There are some good books about restaurant finances. Two I found very useful are Restaurant Financial Basics and Restaurant Success by the Numbers.
If you have time I would highly recommend you to read ["Traction" by Gabriel Weinberg & James Mares.] (https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Startup-Achieve-Explosive-Customer-ebook/dp/B00TY3ZOMS)
Mastering the VC Game by Jeff Bussgang. It's a really fast read; his perspective is well balanced among successes and failures in the startup world.
*Edit - I should add that this is geared towards the VC thought process, but it is valuable because Bussgang was also a founder.
I'm going to give you the pathway that I read that has me where I am today, its mostly going to steer you towards dollar cost averaging and passive management, but the easing of exposure to alternative strategies was invaluable and eventually brought me to value investing. Dollar cost averaging in low cost index funds is the training wheels of investing and should be the way every novice investor starts IMO.
At this point if you've taken a year or two or more to invest using what you learned in the above books you'll have a better idea of what you really want to start doing with you're money. Perhaps its value investing, and now it starts to get more technical.
By this point you'll no longer be an investment padawan and be well on your way to a master of the force. Do not be tempted by the dark side of day trading and penny stocks. Much fear there. There is no need for level 2 quotes with value investing because you're relying on your due dilligence from the previous years and quarters to take your portfolio higher, without worrying about the road bumps in the market today. You'll be able to happily live your life until the next quarter or two when its time to reevaluate and rebalance your portfolio.
Good luck.
In my experience, the only way this would work if you're still in the idea stage is if you have a pre-existing personal relationship with the lawyer in question who is willing to do some pro-bono legwork for you or work on contingency.
Lawyers cost money. Like investors, it is very unlikely that they want to invest their limited time on you unless they can see a clear benefit to themselves. If you have the money, it is better spent elsewhere during the idea phase.
Echoing what I said earlier, and what jashs103 said below, at the very minimum you are going to need a well thought-out business plan, preferably with financial projections... and your first investors will likely be angel investors (family, friends, etc) who are willing to pony up some money while you refine your idea and strategy.
Go to the library and check out some books on writing business plans and raising money. One book that is pretty helpful is Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur.
Read this book, Art of the Pitch. It's amazing when it comes to this stuff.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Pitch-Persuasion-Presentation/dp/0230120512/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371748354&sr=8-1&keywords=art+of+the+pitch
This should do the trick: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Book-Valuation-Company-Profits/dp/1118004779/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1478977766&sr=8-2&keywords=damodaran
You value the company and then you compare your value to the price.
Yes, the PEG ratio is useless as are P/E, P/B, etc. if one does not know the implicit assumptions these quick-and-dirty valuation methods make. I recommend reading chapter four of this book by Damodaran.
Note: if you build a DCF model, it will imply a specific P/E, PEG, etc.
Valuation:Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies
The Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki (http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Start-2-0-Battle-Hardened/dp/1591847842)
I like how candid he is. He covers so many aspects of startups and entrepreneurship. Examples include top 10 lies entrepreneurs tell investors, how to set up your pitch deck, and how to attract team members early on.
Thanks for the book recommendation! I'm guessing you meant the Author is Andrew Tobias, if so here is the link to the book on Amazon:
The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011H55NBM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_NrS8AbS7AG81Z
If this is not the book, then please let me know. Thanks.
Id give this a read first: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046ECJ8M/
Then take a crack at making a business model canvas yourself: https://strategyzer.com/canvas/business-model-canvas
Then maybe make an honest financial forecast, or if not; make some kind of SMART goals (http://www.hr.virginia.edu/uploads/documents/media/Writing_SMART_Goals.pdf). I need to make a total of X at Y profit in three months, or I need to stop. Something like that.
Always find ways to limit your risk, and talk to an experienced CPA in your country to know how to handle the tax-risk. I know with AUS you need to keep your GST/VATS reporting up to date and very clean. Plus your own super-annuation/tax stuff.
I'm not from AUS, but I do a lot of work for people in that country from the states, and I know a little.
This is all good advice. In terms of structuring the deal, I'd agree that a 5 year buy-out makes sense.
Take a look at the HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business (http://amzn.to/2qoPMhn) for some good ideas on how to do this. It spends a lot of time talking about the sourcing process, but the second half of the book covers your situation nicely.
Entrepreneur Reading List
Computer Science Grad School Reading List
Video Game Development Reading List
Have your read Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups ?
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https://www.amazon.com/Valuation-Measuring-Managing-Companies-Finance-ebook/dp/B0138M3B3O
I did. I started with Traction (https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Startup-Achieve-Explosive-Customer-ebook/dp/B00TY3ZOMS/), been listening to podcasts on e-commerce marketing as of late since I've been commuting a lot.
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Really, I was just looking to explore the Reddit Ads platform. Making sales would have been great but ultimately I just wanted to learn. Pretty cheap lessons IMO.
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I haven't read any Robert Greene but I'll take a look. Thanks for the book recommendations!
Hijacking this for a humble plug for the best book I've ever read on presenting / took 4 months of courses with this guy. He's insanely talented and led some of the best presentations the advertising world has ever seen. Five stars on Amazon.
Restaurant Success by the Numbers
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1607745585/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_1607745585
Running a Restaurant for Dummies
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118027922/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_szX-BbB2D5461
Front of the House
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1941868029/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_qDX-BbSZ4HSJZ
The "For Dummies" series is pretty good if you can look past the title. Every owner wants to run their business better, whether they've been at it for one year or twenty.
The following comment by Trev_Holland was openly removed.
The original comment can be found(in censored form) at this link:
np.reddit.com/r/ CryptoCurrency/comments/83pgy2/-/dvk7eav?context=4
The original comment's content was as follows:
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> https://www.amazon.com/Cryptocurrencies-simply-explained-Co-Founder-Decentralization/dp/9881485088/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1520828515&sr=1-7&keywords=crypto+currencies
That's today's normal, but it wasn't always that way. And it probably shouldn't be now. Good book here.
Hi Jawilson2, here's a few books I've read in the past that helped prime me. I guess at the minimum these books helped me understand who was a bullshitter and who wasn't when they claimed they "knew the business side."
Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur - Fund raising basics. Key if you ever plan to raise money. You'd be stupid to try without reading this first.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071496025/
Business Model Generation - This book helps you think through the business model issues most "hacker" type entrepreneurs skip. Makes you think more holistically.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470876417/
The Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Law - Basics about legal issues you should be aware exist. I haven't read through it all at once, but it's a good guide when I run up against areas I'm murky on.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Entrepreneurs-Guide-Business-Law/dp/0324204930/
Some of the work I do is related to educating entrepreneurs and managers on the financial side of business - many never learn this material and get by relying on others, which is in my opinion a big mistake. Here's what I think is the best book to get started for this purpose: https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Intelligence-Revised-Managers-Knowing/dp/1422144119/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TR2X0K5RC6Q9J5FWZEHG
There is a version for entrepreneurs and managers, both are good.
Also available as an audiobook on Audible - which is what I recommend to people who "don't have time" to read books.
I highly recommend this book called Traction. It outlines every possible approach to acquiring users.
Do More Faster
The startup bible. Written by the founders of TechStars, one of the biggest startup incubators. Has a great section all about finance, and everything else under the startup sun.
As for monopolies, the government is the greatest boon to monopolistic behavior, see the economic concept of rent-seeking and the lobby industry in Washington and state capitols.
Consumers vote with their pocket books which is impossible with government.
See Timothy Carney's book The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal your Money:
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Ripoff-Business-Government-Steal/dp/0471789070/
There is plenty of rent seeking regulation that helps big business that libertarians, liberals, and conservatives can all oppose. IP laws, ethanol mandates, the sugar tarriff, drug prohibition, occupational licensing laws, coal scrubber mandates, historic preservation laws, laws that separate commercial from residential buildings, and other zoning laws come to mind.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Ripoff-Business-Government/dp/0471789070
http://www.amazon.com/Unwarranted-Intrusions-Government-Intervention-Marketplace/dp/0471687138/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395588852&sr=1-1&keywords=unwarranted+intrusions
http://www.amazon.com/Conservative-Nanny-State-Wealthy-Government/dp/1411693957/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395588883&sr=1-1&keywords=the+conservative+nanny+state
Good books on how the government redistributes income upward.