Gift Guide: The best business books for 2021 recommended by VCs

Welcome to the second installment of our book on venture capital that we recommend as a gifts for 2021!

Yesterday, we discussed books that were not-business books that were recommended by a variety of venture capitalists. This time, we're flipping the script and discussing books with an underlying business theme. There were a handful of titles that crossed the line in the genre, so should any of these seem like a small distance in terms of the extent to which business-oriented they are we're listening to you.

However, remember it's true that It's important to remember that The Exchange is free this time around, since we're big book lovers and wanted to make the site as open as we can. Also, Anna along with Alex have announced that they'll share their personal recommendations for this week's Exchange Newsletter, which many of you receive every Saturday, but you are able to download it from here for a copy if you'd like.

Thank you to the multitude of venture capitalists who offered suggestions to these articles Also, extra scores to anyone who did not have an assistant handling their email! And we only received two books as recommendations by the authors who created them, which was less than we expected. Good job!

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"The Qualified Sales Manager: Practical lessons from a five-time CRO written by John McMahon

Recommendation from Venrock's Brian Ascher, who claimed he's "given this to many of my portfolio CEO and CROs," and from Chase Roberts, the principal of Vertex Ventures, through Tessa Chen: "Most founders who invest in capital are looking to increase and expand the sales team. They need to recruit their first sales managers however, many aren't sure how to begin, particularly when it comes to enterprise SaaS. Chase has sent this book recommendation to some of our founders to get practical advice on how to create an effective sales process from scratch."

This is How They tell Me the World Ends: Cyberweapons Arms Race, by Nicole Perlroth

Highly recommended by Jake Chapman and Zach Coelius This book has the blurbs of Kara Swisher and Nick Bilton So it could be one that bridges the divide between technology and media that is sometimes treated as the DMZ. The idea of the book is that zero day cyber warfare isn't like it was. In the past there was a time when the United States controlled the arsenal. With a lot of expense But nobody cared. Then , it lost control over the world of zero days. What happens next according to the public, is shocking.

Daisy Garcia at JetBlue Ventures recommended it in conjunction with The book of Reeves Wideman " Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork," she described both as "good reminders to invest in what you know and also fun." Alex and Anna each went through "Bad Blood," and from our workstations it is a most sought-after book in the world of business books. You should read it to learn how far you can get off the startup track, and to, honestly you'll learn an awful lot about the business business world.

We'd love to hear your suggestions for what we should be able to

An Unflattering Truth The Inside Story of the Facebook Battle for Domination, written by Sheera Frenkel as well as Cecilia Kang, recommended by Amy Cheetham

In the coming year, we'll be adding an area for books we purchased and are in our bookshelves, but aren't yet ready to begin. "An Ugly Truth" is one of these books. Alex purchased the book as it first came out, and has made a promise to his self since that he'll quit reading fiction and come into the book. So far, it's not a great read yet it's an enjoyable read that's an obligatory read.

Why? Because Facebook does not seem to be giving up on its long-term objectives. The company is changing its growth strategy a bit however it has not made a change in its DNA concerning how it views its political structure (one owner, ruled by blind) or its operational goals (all eyes belongs to us). It is a good idea to take this book off the shelves and read it. You, too.

Radical Candor How to get what you want by Using the Words You Say from Kim Scott, recommended by Tamara Steffens

The book was on Anna's reading list since she was listening to " Radical Candor" podcast that summarizes the book's themes into a conversational style. However, whatever format you decide to use be sure to not end at the book's title, or you could miss the meaning. Being open and candid isn't about being brutal, it is a kind act since honesty is superior to the niceness.

This can be applied to a variety of areas however, this is definitely business-oriented and particularly relevant to startups and the technology world. The author Kim Scott is a former Apple and Google executive, and has something or two regarding leadership. We don't have to be surprised that VCs are studying. "The book provides great guidance on delivering effective feedback -- whether it's positive or negative," Steffens stated. "It has helped me recommit to passing quickly when I'm not convinced of the opportunity -- and to deliver that message clearly, so there's no room for confusion."

Empire of Pain The Hidden History of the Sackler Dynasty, by Patrick Radden Keefe. Recommended by Amy Cheetham.

The maximization of shareholder value can be not always the best idea. This is because doing this in certain circumstances creates so much burdens on society that it's clearly a net negative for the entire human race. Some examples that spring to mind are the oil industry obscuring its knowledge about global warming for a long time while the tobacco industry fought the fact that smoking causes cancer, and recent efforts to lobby alcohol firms to fight legalization of cannabis. The result of these actions resulted in not regulated carbon emissions, a lot of cancer-related deaths and horrible levels in alcoholism.

There are also the Sacklers. Not that we want to diminish the impact of the above shareholder-value-creating actions, but the Sacklers might have them beat. If you're unaware, the Sackler family helped to create an epidemic of addiction to opioids, recycle some bad profits into charitable contributions -the usual billionaire strategy of concealing the origins of their wealth using the use of media-friendly wrapping paper. We'd like to read this book to learn the reasons why things went wrong for so long.

The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocrats Created it to the Modern World by Adrian Wooldridge Recommendation by James Clark

"The Aristocracy of Talent" includes a recommendation from Molten's James Clark, but also with a quote written by Anna's most favored philosophers, Steven Pinker. Here's what he had to say about Adrian Wooldridge's new publication: "This unique and fascinating background explains why the blame that is being placed on meritocracy is not the right place -- and why distributing responsibility to those who are in executing them is superior to the long-standing traditions of patronage, corruption, nepotism and hereditary casting. Wooldridge challenges a lot of common misconceptions and offers a compelling explanation of this controversial and urgent question."

We're all about challenging the assumptions we have made, especially because the subject is often brought up within our small bubbleWe are eager to learn more about it.

The Infinite Machine, by Camila Russo, suggested by Jenny Lefcourt.

It's been suggested that blockchain technology is like a brand new internet. There are some flaws in this notion, most notably that blockchain technology is based via the internet, making it essentially a layer-two effort to connect the web. But the notion that the technology hackers today are developing will destroy the past and write a new future is a strong one.

Then there's "The Infinite Machine," which digs deeper into the Ethereum blockchain that some people compare to an infinity computer or machine. We have a few questions. For instance how did the web3 youngsters manage to construct a computer that will cost an enormous amount of money for access? It's worthwhile to learn the reason why people are so passionately optimistic regarding the cryptocurrency market. It could be that they are right!

You might have heard about the publication on TechCrunch our coworker Connie Loizos interviewed its author just a few months ago. The conversation focused on the main topics of the book-- Silicon Valley, China, Russia and more. It also made us want to know more, but not satisfied. From Connie: "Helberg lays out how China's 'techno-totalitarian' regime may be first impacting the Chinese people (its 'first victims,' he says), but why its efforts to increasingly control the software and the hardware of the internet are a real and present and fast-escalating danger to the U.S. and democracies everywhere." Having written quite a bit about China in 2021, and being aware that it will likely play some part in 2022, this makes a great candidate from our reading list.