business building books

Why I Love Zero to One

Zero to One has been one of the most transformative business books of my career—a true game-changer that I’ve read and re-read, filling the margins with notes and ideas every time. This book fundamentally reshaped how I think about product innovation and market strategy.

One principle that’s stuck with me is the idea that a product must be 10x better than its nearest competitor to convince people to switch from what they’re using today. This single insight has influenced how I evaluate products, go-to-market strategies, and competitive positioning.

What makes Zero to One so impactful is its structure—it’s derived from the notes of one of Peter Thiel’s Stanford students, so every chapter is packed with tangible advice, sharp insights, and real-world case studies. Thiel dives into why some companies succeed in creating monopolies (something every startup should aim for) and why others fail to achieve dominance, providing invaluable lessons from both sides.

Whether you’re building a product, evaluating a market, or crafting a growth strategy, Zero to One offers a blueprint for thinking differently—and winning. It’s a book I return to often, and its lessons continue to shape how I approach business challenges.

Why I Love Sell More Faster

This book is an absolute must-read for any founding leadership team or anyone responsible for scaling a small business, no matter the industry. Sell More Faster taught me the critical groundwork needed when you’ve just launched your product and started landing your first customers. It’s about taking a step back to deeply analyze those early clients: Are they the right fit for your product? Is your product truly solving a need for them?

This insight has been transformative for me, especially after seeing companies repeatedly make the same mistake: landing a few big clients, only to have them never use the product because it wasn’t the right fit. It’s not that the product is wrong—it’s that the entire go-to-market strategy, from marketing materials to sales enablement and client success structure, is built around the wrong segment of the market. For a small, underfunded company, this misstep can be disastrous, as every dollar invested needs to generate a return.

What Sell More Faster emphasizes—and what I’ve learned to love—is the importance of pausing to do the hard, strategic work of identifying your true target customer. This means understanding not just who will buy your product but who will use it, value it, and grow with it. For me, this process is challenging but incredibly rewarding. This book provides the blueprint for scaling with intention and avoiding costly missteps, making it one I recommend to every startup leader or small-business owner.

Why I Love Extreme Ownership

One of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned throughout my career—and one of the core principles of Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin—is the importance of simplicity. This book drives home the idea that complexity leads to confusion and failure, while simplicity creates clarity, decisive action, and ultimately, success.

I’ve seen this play out firsthand across organizations of all sizes. In successful product rollouts and system implementations, simplicity empowered teams to align and act effectively. On the flip side, overly complex plans—no matter how promising—often faltered under the weight of miscommunication and missteps.

This principle is just as vital in sales and marketing. I’ve learned that when presenting solutions, breaking things down into a clear, three-step story resonates most:

Here’s the challenge.
Here’s the solution.
Here’s the outcome.

Focusing on the essentials makes it easier for clients to understand, connect with, and act on the information.

For me, Extreme Ownership reinforced that simplicity isn’t just a strategy—it’s a force multiplier. The simpler the approach, the greater the chances for meaningful impact and lasting success.

My personal take-aways coming in the next few days...

Lisa Steele