# Recommended Readings > The books Regenerate Capital recommends to founders: founder health, mindset, habits, focus, wisdom, meaning, energy, leadership and building a company. URL: https://regenerate.capital/readings/ Language: en · Other language: https://regenerate.capital/fr/lectures/index.md Publisher: Regenerate Capital (https://regenerate.capital) · Updated: 2026-09-25 --- [Home](https://regenerate.capital/) / Growth / Recommended Readings Recommended readings · 43 books # Read like a *founder*. The books that shape how we build companies, and how we try to live while doing it. One line on each about why it matters. - Founder health - Mind and resilience - Habits and discipline - Focus and mastery - Stoic and timeless wisdom - Meaning and purpose - Energy and health - Leadership and relationships - Building a company 01 ## Founder health Great companies need founders who last. Start here: craft, focus and a purpose big enough for the decade. Founder health ### So Good They Can’t Ignore You Cal Newport Skill before passion. Build rare, valuable abilities and the love for the work tends to follow. Founder health ### Deep Work Cal Newport The value of focused, undistracted work, and how to protect time for it. Founder health ### The Second Mountain David Brooks From a life of achievement to a life of commitment. It is the idea behind “build and grow together”. Founder health ### Areté Brian Johnson Heroic’s founder on activating your potential through wisdom, discipline and love. 02 ## Mind and resilience How to think under pressure, recover from setbacks and keep growing. Mind and resilience ### Mindset Carol S. Dweck The difference between a fixed and a growth mindset, and why it decides how founders handle failure. Mind and resilience ### Grit Angela Duckworth Passion plus perseverance beats talent over the long run. That is the founder’s equation. Mind and resilience ### Think Again Adam Grant The discipline of changing your mind, essential in customer discovery and every pivot. Mind and resilience ### Learned Optimism Martin E. P. Seligman How the way you explain setbacks to yourself shapes whether you keep going. Mind and resilience ### Can’t Hurt Me David Goggins An extreme case study in mental toughness and the limits we set for ourselves. Mind and resilience ### The Happiness Advantage Shawn Achor Why well-being drives performance, not the other way round. Mind and resilience ### Think and Grow Rich Napoleon Hill The classic on definiteness of purpose, persistence and the mindset behind building wealth. 03 ## Habits and discipline The small systems that decide what you actually do every day. Habits and discipline ### Atomic Habits James Clear Systems over goals: how small, consistent changes add up to remarkable results. Habits and discipline ### The 5AM Club Robin Sharma Owning the first hours of the day before the company claims them. Habits and discipline ### The War of Art Steven Pressfield Naming the resistance that stops creators, and turning professional about the work. Habits and discipline ### Getting Things Done David Allen A trusted system for everything on your plate, so your mind can focus. Habits and discipline ### The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen R. Covey Principles of personal and interpersonal effectiveness that still hold up. 04 ## Focus and mastery Doing deep, excellent work in a world built for distraction. Focus and mastery ### Digital Minimalism Cal Newport Taking back attention from the tools that were meant to serve it. Focus and mastery ### Essentialism Greg McKeown The disciplined pursuit of less, the core skill of an early-stage founder. Focus and mastery ### Flow Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi The psychology of optimal experience and how to create the conditions for it. Focus and mastery ### Peak Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool Deliberate practice: how expertise is actually built. Focus and mastery ### Mastery George Leonard Loving the plateau: the long, patient path to being excellent at anything. 05 ## Stoic and timeless wisdom Ancient guidance that reads like it was written for founders. Stoic and timeless wisdom ### Meditations Marcus Aurelius An emperor’s personal notebook on duty, calm and doing the work in front of you. Stoic and timeless wisdom ### Letters from a Stoic Seneca Practical letters on time, fear, wealth and friendship. Two thousand years old and still current. Stoic and timeless wisdom ### The Obstacle Is the Way Ryan Holiday Turning setbacks into material. Stoicism for people who have to act. Stoic and timeless wisdom ### Ego Is the Enemy Ryan Holiday How ego sabotages founders in aspiration, success and failure alike. Stoic and timeless wisdom ### The Power of Now Eckhart Tolle Presence as an antidote to the constant future-tripping of building a company. Stoic and timeless wisdom ### The Four Agreements Don Miguel Ruiz Four simple commitments for clearer relationships and less self-inflicted suffering. Stoic and timeless wisdom ### Siddhartha Hermann Hesse A short novel about a seeker who learns that wisdom can’t be taught, only lived. 06 ## Meaning and purpose Why you are building, and what a good life looks like along the way. Meaning and purpose ### Man’s Search for Meaning Viktor E. Frankl Why meaning, not pleasure or power, is what carries people through hardship. Meaning and purpose ### The Alchemist Paulo Coelho A short fable about following your personal legend and noticing the signs along the way. Meaning and purpose ### The Waking Michael Davidson A Canadian entrepreneur’s manual for designing every area of life: mind, body, family, relationships, work, money and spirit. 07 ## Energy and health Sleep, movement and strength: the physical infrastructure of performance. Energy and health ### Why We Sleep Matthew Walker The science of sleep, the performance tool founders sacrifice first. Energy and health ### Spark John J. Ratey How exercise transforms the brain: mood, focus and learning. Energy and health ### Forever Strong Gabrielle Lyon Muscle as the organ of longevity. Strength for the decades a company takes. 08 ## Leadership and relationships Leading people, earning trust and owning outcomes. Leadership and relationships ### Daring Greatly Brené Brown Vulnerability as the root of courage, trust and real leadership. Leadership and relationships ### Extreme Ownership Jocko Willink & Leif Babin Leaders own everything in their world. No excuses, no blame. Leadership and relationships ### How to Win Friends and Influence People Dale Carnegie The timeless fundamentals of relationships, persuasion and selling. Leadership and relationships ### Never Split the Difference Chris Voss & Tahl Raz A former FBI hostage negotiator on tactical empathy. Invaluable in fundraising, sales and hiring. 09 ## Building a company Our own shelf: the practical books on starting and scaling. Building a company ### Zero to One Peter Thiel Building something genuinely new, and why monopoly-level focus matters. Building a company ### The Lean Startup Eric Ries Build, measure, learn: validated learning as the engine of a startup. Building a company ### The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick How to talk to customers so they tell you the truth. The best short book on discovery. Building a company ### The Hard Thing About Hard Things Ben Horowitz The honest, unglamorous reality of running a company when nothing is easy. Building a company ### Tools of Titans Tim Ferriss Routines, tactics and habits from hundreds of top performers, to borrow selectively. On the shoulders of Heroic ## Want the ideas faster? The personal-growth shelves draw on the canon distilled by Heroic, whose Philosopher’s Notes summarize more than 750 of the best books on psychology, philosophy and performance. [Explore Heroic](https://www.heroic.us) Work with the studio ## Building something worth growing? Tell us what you’re building and what you need. We read every application, and every founder gets an answer. [Apply to work together](https://regenerate.capital/apply/)