8 books like Shoe Dog
Shoe Dog is Phil Knight's own story of Nike's early years: selling Japanese running shoes from his car, years close to bankruptcy, and the bank and supplier crises that almost ended it. These eight are for readers who liked the founder's view of the messy middle of building a company.
- The Everything StoreBrad Stone#1
The Everything Store
by Brad Stone
The closest match. Brad Stone's history of Amazon from Jeff Bezos's early days has the same mix of big bets and near misses.
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#2The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
by Ben Horowitz
Horowitz on what Knight lived through: running low on money, layoffs and choices with no good option, from a CEO who nearly lost his own company.
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Affiliate links — as an Amazon Associate, Read Stacks earns from qualifying purchases and Audible trials at no extra cost to you.- The Wright BrothersDavid McCullough#3
The Wright Brothers
by David McCullough
Two bicycle-shop owners from Dayton who kept going on their own money and stubbornness. McCullough tells it as a founder story, decades before Nike.
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Affiliate links — as an Amazon Associate, Read Stacks earns from qualifying purchases and Audible trials at no extra cost to you. - Good to GreatJim Collins#4
Good to Great
by Jim Collins
Collins asks what lifted a few ordinary companies to lasting results. A useful frame for what Nike got right once the chaos settled.
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Affiliate links — as an Amazon Associate, Read Stacks earns from qualifying purchases and Audible trials at no extra cost to you. - Built to LastJim Collins#5
Built to Last
by Jim Collins
Collins's earlier study of companies that lasted for decades, and the habits that kept them going after the founders left.
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Affiliate links — as an Amazon Associate, Read Stacks earns from qualifying purchases and Audible trials at no extra cost to you. - The E-Myth RevisitedMichael Gerber#6
The E-Myth Revisited
by Michael Gerber
Knight kept an accounting job while running the company at night. Gerber explains why small businesses stall when the owner does every job himself.
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Affiliate links — as an Amazon Associate, Read Stacks earns from qualifying purchases and Audible trials at no extra cost to you. - The Innovator's DilemmaClayton Christensen#7
The Innovator's Dilemma
by Clayton Christensen
Nike grew in a market the established shoe brands treated as small. Christensen explains why big, well-run companies keep missing markets like that.
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Affiliate links — as an Amazon Associate, Read Stacks earns from qualifying purchases and Audible trials at no extra cost to you. - ReworkJason Fried#8
Rework
by Jason Fried
The opposite style to Nike's rush to grow: the Basecamp founders on staying small, keeping costs low and shipping early.
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