Enterprise Lab essentials

“When in doubt, go to the library”, wrote J.K. Rowling, which is great advice if you’re studying at Hogwarts. But if she was writing it for us muggles, rather than the wizarding world, it would probably have said: “When in doubt, go to the library, download a podcast or watch that great documentary on Netflix.”

Here are the inspirational essentials recommended by the Enterprise Lab team:

BEN Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense A highly readable and brilliant introduction to the power of psycho-logical thinking by chief contrarian and Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, Rory Sutherland. I recommend you also check out some of his TED Talks!

CAMILLE Love the Problem, blog.leanstack.com Written by the author of Running Lean, Ash Maurya, this blog has loads of great articles on the Lean Canvas and general entrepreneurship tips based on Maurya’s experiences building businesses.

LIZ Sifted newsletter This Financial Times-backed newsletter is a great way of keeping up-to-date with the latest European tech news and opportunities.

VICTORIA Masters of Scale Great for those looking to build a massively scalable business, this podcast brings together entrepreneurs and innovators from around the world to talk about their journeys. It’s hosted by Reid Hoffman, Co-Founder of LinkedIn and investor at Greylock.

HERNANI Knowledge is Beautiful We all know that data is important, but making it look good can be really hard. This book by David McCandless demonstrates how data can be turned into beautiful, impactful infographics. Great inspiration for your pitch deck!

HEENA Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think If you’re worried about the political climate, global warming and wealth inequality, then this is the book for you. Written by Swedish statistician Hans Rosling with his son Ola Rosling and daughter-inlaw Anna Rosling Rönnlund, this book explains that humans often have a pessimistic view of the world, which is unjustified, as the world is actually getting better… so that’s good news!

EUAN Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup If you haven’t heard about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, then you need to read this book. It follows the rise of the company to a valuation of over £9 billion, and its huge fall from grace as it was uncovered that the ‘revolutionary’ bloodtesting technology had never existed. A great example of the power of storytelling – just make sure you have the tech to back it up!

OLIVIA Femstreet newsletter Collating the latest exciting news, tips and networking opportunities for women in tech, entrepreneurship and venture capital. Fantastic roundup and my new go-to for finding events!

FERDINAND Talking to Humans Looking to find out more about your customers? Then you should definitely check out Talking to Humans by Frank Rimalovski and Giff Constable. With this and Rob Fitzpatrick’s The Mom Test (see page 28), you’ll have your customer development covered.

JEN TED Talks Daily podcast Get your daily dose of inspirational talks on topics ranging from tech to business and politics to society. Lasting just 15 minutes, these are easy to squeeze into your day, and if a particular talk really takes your fancy, you can listen to the longform interview.

You can borrow these and many more from our Enterprise Lab Library. Just head down to the Lab and check out our bookshelf.