EKMH Innovators Interview Series
An interview series spotlighting global tech influencers, disruptors, visionaries, and of course, innovators.
Dear Innovators, this week please find some excellent summer reading and listening recommendations, perfect for long weekends social distancing, stay-cations in the backyard and hopefully, hopefully, hopefully on vacations away from home. Thank you to those Fintech, Crypto, Blockchain, Startup innovators and entrepreneurs who shared their recommendations these past months for your enjoyment.
*NB: A lifelong fan of marginalia, I’ve left the recommenders’ descriptions and individual list notation styles intact as a sort of digital marginalia.
Olive + Goose President Ankur Kothari:
Happy to share a few recent books I’ve read, but I’ll warn you that I read to take my mind off of work versus to dive deeper (I use blogs/webcast/tech journals for that).
Keene Advisors Founder and President Travis Borden:
I read for inspiration in life and in business. Here is my list of must reads:
The Life You Can Save, by Peter Singer
Let My People Go Surfing, by Yvon Chouinard
Influence, by Robert Cialdini
Presence, by Amy Cuddy
Singer/ Songwriter Lindsay Kay:
I read Ottessa Moshefegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation and absolutely loved it. I bought her collection of short stories and will check that out next. I’m currently reading Eve’s Hollywood which is a biography of sorts about one of my favorite writers, Eve Babitz. I’m really enjoying it, she was a fascinating woman.
BlockRelations and CryptoLiveLeak Founder/ CEO Kenneth Garofalo:
The Internet of Money, Crypto Assets, and The Book of Satoshi are some essential books to read if you are just learning about blockchain and cryptocurrency – some of my favorites. More recently I picked up The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking and How to Win Friends and Influence People that I hope to finish by the end of lockdowns.
Finch Capital Co-Founder / Partner Radboud Vlaar:
I am reading the book about the Spanish Flu, called Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World by Laura Spinney. After that book, I would recommend some forward-looking books include those about holiday destinations.
DeFiner Founder and CEO Jason Wu:
The book I want to recommend to everyone is Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson. I was given this book by our Techstars MD Vijay Tirathrai with the message of “Pitch Well. Raise Fast. Close Well.” The Venture Deals was recommended to all Techstars founders and I understand why it was widely recommended after finishing reading it. This book equips an entrepreneur with every piece of knowledge they ever need for fundraising. One of the most valuable lessons for entrepreneurs is to learn from others and trust experts and this book gives you a taste of both.
The John Hay Library.
Blockchain Valley Ventures Founder and General Partner Heinrich Zetlmayer:
I recently picked up Michael Porter’s Competitive Strategy again, as it offers a grounding in some of the basics. It is extremely helpful as I think through all the various blockchain sectors, and wonder how they will evolve, and which of them will be able to carve out leadership positions. That combined with Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffmann and Chris Yeh, which I recently read, offers a great understanding of our current market situation.
Fintual CEO and Co-Founder Pedro Pineda:
A Little History of the World (Little Histories), E. H. Gombrich. You learn a lot with this, and you don’t even notice it. It’s a jewel!
Decisive Moments in History, Stefan Zweig. Any book by him is highly recommended.
Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman. It helps you to understand human behaviour with hard and replicable data.
The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair, Joel Dicker. To be amused.
I also recommend anything written by Christopher Hitchens, one of the best argumentative thinkers ever born. Lastly, I have a blog where I summarize what I read. I started writing summaries because my friends always asked me for book recommendations and I often forget what I read.
The Rock. Still daydream about my study carrel & the stacks. Don’t miss the mirrored windows at night!
Securrency Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Campos:
Patrick Campos: Well, I imagine I’m supposed to name a few business or technology titles here that will be helpful to your readers, but I confess that I’m not an avid professional reader. If I were to recommend one book in this category, it would be Peter Thiel’s Zero to One, which I find to a be a counterintuitively practical book with great insights. A colleague of mine at a previous start-up gave me that book several years ago and I thank him for it.
My reading list generally consists of books on history, philosophy, and metaphysics. I love fiction, but I’m a harsh critic, so I tend to choose carefully . . . and even then my favorites tend to be books like Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude or Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh, which turn out to be beautiful, poetic musings on, well, history, philosophy, and metaphysics.
CREBACO Founder/ Block Next Solutions CEO Sidharth Sogani:
Execution by Ramcharan
One Minute Manager, by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
Abundance, by Peter Diamandis
The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, by Joseph Murphy
Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki
Zero to One, by Peter Thiel
and of course, The Art of War, by Sun Tzu
Climb Credit CEO Angela Galardi Ceresnie:
Getting Things Done by David Allen - it’s a great guide to improving your productivity and organization which then frees up your mind to do the “real” work!
EDWINS Founder and CEO Brandon Chrostowski:
I recently read Resistance Behind Bars by Victoria Law, a chilling book about the struggles that women face in prison. There are heartbreaking first-person accounts of what life is like on the inside. I’d recommend that book for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the shortfalls of our criminal justice system. I’m not up on my podcast game at the moment. Time simply will not allow it.
Finnovista Co-Founder / Managing Partner and Rainmaking Partner Fermín Bueno:
The Corporate Startup: How established companies can develop successful innovation ecosystems by Dr. Tendayi Viki. This is key reading for those who need a playbook by which they can start transforming organizations into innovation engines. This is one of the proven methodologies that Rainmaking and Finnovista use for building a culture of innovation internally and when we collaborate with the big players in several industries around the globe.
1irstcoin LLC Senior Advisor Sean Brizendine:
Anything by Andreas Antonopoulos, Don Tapscott or Bitcoin/Blockchain for Dummies.
CoinSwitch.co and CRUXPay Co-Founder and CEO Ashish Singhal:
For entrepreneurs, I would highly recommend, Zero to One, The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Hard Thing About Hard Things. Recently I read The Messy Middle, which is also an amazing book about how to build and grow products.
Kadena Founder and CEO Will Martino:
I listen to a lot of Audible books, mostly science fiction and some non-fiction. I just finished listening to The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and The Nexus Trilogy series by Ramez Naam, both of which I highly recommend.
Tech Entrepreneur and Geeq Founder and CDO Stephanie So:
Well - my bookshelf is eclectic:
1. The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997) Clayton M. Christensen, business classic
2. The Agony and the Ecstasy (1961) Irving Stone, biography of Michelangelo
3. A Mind at a Time (2002) Mel Levine, child development - I love his work.
Memories… a Brown University card catalogue!
And from the EKMH Innovators Interview Archives...
Startupbootcamp Scale Fintech MD and Finnovista Partnerships Director Christine Chang:
I am currently re-reading The Best Place to Work by Ron Friedman, which I have recommended to several people recently. Next on my reading list is What you do is who you are, by Ben Horowitz on creating your culture. I recommend Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh for anyone who thinks they might be a high-growth startup (you might not be a billion-dollar business and that is ok!), and for corporates who think they are moving fast (you’re not).
I love and adamantly recommend reading anything by Brené Brown, who has really amazing, data-backed insights on being more authentic and more human, as well as how this translates to leadership and the corporate world. As the saying goes, investors invest in teams, not ideas so make sure you have all the tools with which to build and be the winning team, and that starts with each of us as individuals.
Vouch Insurance CEO and Founder Sam Hodges (and fellow Brown Alum):
I read more non-fiction than fiction, but am trying to re-balance that a bit. Right now I’m excited to read How Money Became Dangerous, which was written by a good friend, Chris Varelas, and am a big fan of Murakami, David Mitchell, and the full swath of magical realist fiction writers, so I’ll always have at least one book from one of them with me as well.
PeopleKeep CEO Victoria Hodgkins:
I just finished and loved She Has Her Mother’s Laugh by Carl Zimmer about heredity and genetics -- it’s fascinating -- and enjoyed Michelle Obama’s Becoming autobiography as an audiobook since she’s the narrator. I am not a podcast regular but, depending on the topic, I listen to “Exchanges” by Goldman Sachs and I just discovered Mo Rocca’s “Mobituaries.” I love him on NPR’s “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” show.
ImagineBC CEO Erik Rind:
I read quite extensively, and I alternate my reading among three broad categories. I read classic fiction, non-fiction and non-fiction that I believe is directly related to my business. The following are currently at the top of my list for each category:
Fiction: Hard Times by Charles Dickens. I made it a mission of mine a while back to read through all of Dickens’ work and this is the last one on my list! Saving this one for a warm tropical island.
Non-Fiction: How Change and Stupidity Have Changed History by Erik Durschmied. I’m spending New Year’s in NYC, so I will probably devour this one during that trip.
Non-Fiction Business Related: The Four, The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google by Scott Galloway. I’ll try to fit this one in whenever I can, during lunch or maybe on a sleepy Sunday afternoon.
OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved:
I enjoyed Ben Mezrich’s Bitcoin Billionaires, it was fun and full of great scenes from the trenches of the blockchain. I really get a kick out of Daniel Silva’s spy novels featuring Gabriel Alon, the Israeli superspy who everyone hopes actually exists, and I am quite big on reading the weekly section of the Torah (bible portion) with my growing tribe of grandchildren so we can discuss and learn from the ancient but still relevant wisdom of the Book of Books.
OKEx Head of Operations Andy Cheung:
Normally you will see me working from my phone, but taking a long flight offers a moment of silence. If I bring a book with me on my next trip, Zero To One will be it. Written by Peter Thiel, it shares his experience with Paypal, and his way of thinking of entrepreneurship inspired me in how I would like to shape OKEx. This also represents my personality; I’m fascinated by revolutionary technology and innovation, which gives me the passion to lead businesses to success.
Drum Co-Founder Troy Deus:
Ah, so many great books. Hard to choose. Some of my favs are:
Good to Great by Jim Collins. Amazing example stories of businesses who have built great companies when others failed.
The Power of Moments by Dan Heath and Chip Heath. Opportunities and rewards of delighting your customers with memorable experiences.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. Great practical experience for dealing with tough issues facing a business.
Idea Financial Co-Founder and CEO Justin Leto:
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra. I have read this book at least 20 times. It is intuitive, thoughtful, and simple. I have given this book as a gift to many people. Whenever my wife thinks I seem unbalanced, she says “Read your book!” My book is the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and it always brings me back to center.
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight is inspiring for any entrepreneur. The challenges that he overcame to make Nike the behemoth it is today will inspire anyone.
Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale was originally published in 1968 and is a book that provides advice for success. After 50 years, the message remains relevant and it is a must-read for anyone who is interested in being a leader in business.
NVoicepay CEO and Co-Founder Karla Friede:
Some of my all time favorites are The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, The Brothers K by David James Duncan and Lamb by Christopher Moore. As for summer reading, I’ve got Bridge of Clay by Marcus Zusak next up. As for podcasts, I’ve gotten plenty of recommendations, but I haven’t delved into that medium yet.
DiversiTech Hub Founder Gemma Young:
If you saw the size of my bookshelves you would not have asked this as we could be here a while! Haha! I love reading and I am currently reading a lot of books to understand different points of views at the moment to aid my D&I knowledge. I recently read Somebody I Used to Know by Wendy Mitchell who talks about her career and abilities with early onset dementia, which was inspiring in terms of seeing the world through somebody else’s eyes. I also read The Source: Open Your Mind and Change Your Life by Dr. Tara Swart, when I was starting to think about setting up DiversiTech. We are so conditioned not to make big changes when it comes to career, particularly when we have a family to support, so this book was very inspiring about understanding the psychology of why we sometimes hold ourselves back and how to overcome those challenges, it inspired me enough to set up DiversiTech, so it must be good!
DM Communications Head of Global PR Adir Alon:
I’m fascinated by the interrelationship between marketing and politics, which is why I’m reading Netanyahu, Master of Political Marketing by Baruch Leshem, Ph.D. Regardless of how you feel about Netanyahu’s politics, the book offers a marketing perspective of Israel’s longest-running prime minister, with professional analysis from leading communications consultants on how Netanyahu has successfully conveyed his messages while building trust with the voters.
Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange Interdax CTO Charles Phan:
Books: Bitcoin whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto; Mastering Bitcoin by Andreas Antonopolous; and Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor’s Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond by Chris Burniske & Jack Tatar
Podcasts: “Unchained” with Laura Shin; “Off the Chain” with Anthony Pompliano; and “Bitcoin Uncensored” with Chris Derose
Capital Cell Director Daniel Oliver:
Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut, For Two Thousand Years by Mihail Sebastian and Ur of the Chaldees by Leonard Woolley.
Utrust Co-Founder and CIO Filipe Castro:
Podcasts: “Unchained” with Laura Shin and “The ECB Podcast”
Book: Cryptoassets: The innovative Investor’s Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond by Chris Burniske & Jack Tatar
*These particular library photos, courtesy of Brown University Libraries, were selected to virtually celebrate the Class of 2020! Ever true!