My new hire reading list from Square

I’m often asked by friends or startups I advise for a practical reading list that provides context, expected skills, and common vocabulary for the new job. Below is the reading list I gave to my new hires at Square when I led the risk, data science, and Square Capital teams. For each section the list is deliberately short—because I’m picky about signal-to-noise when requiring others to read. Hope you find this helpful:

General Business

• Business Adventures: the ubiquitous moral failings of executives when given improper incentives
• Understanding Michael Porter: cogent summary of Porter’s famous five forces

Making Good Investments

• The Intelligent Investor: see sections on Mr. Market and intrinsic value
• The Essays of Warren Buffett: Warren Buffett’s business philosophy and case studies in autobiographical format
• How The Economic Machine Works: Ray Dalio’s economic model of credit cycles and asset prices

Startups

• Zero to One: Notes on Startups: the best of Peter Thiel
• Marc Andreessen’s Blog Archive: the best of Marc Andreessen (free!)

Product Management

• Crossing the Chasm: defines a market as a group of similar customers, and other fundamentals of startup understanding customers and selling
• The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development: optimization method product-market fit
• Predictably Irrational: memorable examples of irrational human behavior

Data Science

• Cartoon Guide to Statistics: intuitive guide to fundamentals in statistics
• Data Science for Business: helpful non-technical business overview; essential for data scientists who communicate to non-technical partners
• An Introduction to Statistical Learning: like ESL but more pragmatic, written by the the same authors

Successful Interactions With People

• How to Win Friends and Influence People: the 1936 Dale Carnegie classic still applies today
• Winning Body Language: helpful modern theory on body language
• Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre: see the chapter on Status

People Management

• High Output Management: the definitive guide on effective people management techniques; comes across as a bit dry / unempathetic so make sure to balance with HTWFAIP
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: the best of Ben Horowitz; practical advise from a startup manager who learned on the job
• The Checklist Manifesto: create, refine, and adhere to checklists to improve performance (link is to a free summary rather than the actual book)