"The best ideas come out of frustration"
— Sir Richard Branson, Virgin
the entrepreneurship Toolkit
MUST-READ BOOKS
A selection of books every innovator should read.
ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET
Start here if you want to grow confidence, resilience, and adaptability.
📘 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - Dr. Carol S. Dweck
The foundational book on growth mindset: learning from failure, embracing challenges.
Great for: Overcoming fear of failure and building personal resilience.
📘 Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance - Angela Duckworth
Explores the science of perseverance and why talent alone isn’t enough.
Great for: Building resilience and long-term motivation.
📘 Creative Confidence - Tom Kelley & David Kelley (IDEO)
Focuses on design thinking and overcoming fear of failure to bring ideas to life.
Great for: Ideation and confidence in trying new things.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
These books guide you through the process of building and launching a real solution.
📘 Disciplined Entrepreneurship - Bill Aulet
Practical and structured 24-step framework.
Great for: First-time and experienced innovators who need to develop entrepreneurial discipline.
📘 The Lean Startup - Eric Ries
A startup classic focused on rapid experimentation, feedback, and pivoting.
Great for: Understanding how to learn fast and adapt.
📘 The Startup of You - Reid Hoffman
Written by the co-founder of LinkedIn, this book reframes your career as a personal startup.
Great for: Students thinking about applying entrepreneurial thinking to career development.
📘 Business Model Generation - Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur
A visual guide to designing, testing, and evolving business models using the Business Model Canvas.
Great for: Structuring ideas, exploring value creation, and communicating how your solution works.
📘 The Four Steps to the Epiphany - Steve Blank
Introduces the customer development process—helping startups find the right market before building the business.
Great for: Learning how to test assumptions, discover real customer needs, and avoid building something no one wants.
COMMUNICATION
Learn how to ask the right questions, listen with purpose, and turn conversations into insight, because great solutions start with real understanding.
📘 Talking to Humans - Giff Constable
A practical guide to doing meaningful customer interviews without leading or biasing people.
Great for: Validating your idea early, improving empathy, and learning how to ask the right questions.
PODCASTS & TALKS
Get inspired by real stories, practical insights, and expert advice from entrepreneurs, thinkers, and builders who’ve been where you are.
🎙️ How I Built This - Guy Raz (NPR)
Interviews with founders of major companies, filled with stories of setbacks, pivots, and persistence.
🎙️ Masters of Scale - Reid Hoffman
Real-world lessons in scaling, team-building, and strategic thinking.
📺  Angela Duckworth’s TED Talk - “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
📺 Carol Dweck’s TED Talk - “The Power of Believing You Can Improve”
BUSINESS TOOLKIT
Practical tools and templates to help you test, validate, and pitch your solution. 
🧰 IDEO Design Kit
Human-centered design tools to prototype and test ideas with users.
🧰 Strategyzer Blog + Tools
Free canvases and guides for value proposition design and lean startup.
🧰 Disciplined Entrepreneurship Toolbox
Worksheets, canvases, and videos to complement Bill Aulet’s 24 steps.

Coming soon!

Business Model Canvas Template 
Value Proposition Design
Pitch Deck Template
Customer Discovery Guide
FREE TOOLS FOR ENTREPRENEURS
Use these tools to prototype, plan, or present your ideas efficiently. 
🛠️ ChatGPT - Access free learning on how to use ChatGPT at OpenAI Academy
🛠️ Miro - An online, collaborative whiteboard platform that provides a visual workspace for teams to brainstorm, design, and collaborate on projects​​​​​​​
🛠️ Notion - All-in-one workspace platform that combines features of note-taking, project management, and database organisation
🛠️ Canva - No code graphic design platform that provides tools for creating social media graphics, presentations, postcards, promotional merchandise and websites.
More resources are on the way! Check back soon for new materials to support your entrepreneurial journey.
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