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40 growth hacking books for marketers (+ our 5 top picks)

Article originally published in February 2022 by Stuart Brameld. Most recent update in August 2023.

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So, you want to know the best books to learn more about growth, growth hacking and growth marketing? Maybe you’ve heard of the stories of how high-growth startups such as AirBnb, Uber, Facebook and others accelerated their growth, and want to apply the same techniques to your business.

We’ve compiled a list of the best books about growth hacking, growth mindset and startup growth. Growing, scaling, growth hacking, growth marketing; no matter what you call it, the methodology and mindset is largely the same.

Please note information is correct as of August 2023. Booklinker links are provided for auto-localised (or universal) Amazon book links that automatically take you to the right Amazon store for your location. None of the links are affiliate links and we make no comission whatsoever from any purchase. We have made every attempt to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information provided.

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Our top 5 recommended growth hacking books

Short on time? Rather than going through the entire list below, if you haven’t yet read one of these, we’d suggest starting here.

Hacking Growth

Hacking Growth: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success

“Written by the method’s pioneers, this book is a comprehensive toolkit or “bible” that any company in any industry can use to implement their own Growth Hacking strategy, from how to set up and run growth teams, to how to identify and test growth levers, and how to evaluate and act on the results. It is designed for any company or leader looking to break out of the ruts of traditional marketing and become more collaborative, less wasteful, and achieve more consistent, replicable, and data-driven results.”

Penguin Publishers

Hacking Growth info & links:

Product-Led Growth

Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself

“Discover the fundamentals of Product-Led Growth and how you can turn your product into a growth engine, widen your funnel, and dominate your market while cutting your customer acquisition costs.” – productled.com

Product-Led Growth info & links:

The Growth Handbook

The Growth Handbook, brought to you by Intercom

“This book will help you and your business understand everything related to growth. It serves up a full package of ideas, suggestions and lessons from across the entire spectrum of growth.” – Chamath Palihapitiya

The Growth Handbook info & links:

The Paper Plane Plan

The Paper Plane Plan: Growth hacking techniques especially for the B2B service industry

This book is a blueprint for how companies in the B2B service industry can apply the growth hacking mentality to their own business. Ross has approached growth hacking from a new angle, testing these marketing experiments on his own business to identify hacks that accelerate growth for service companies. – Amazon

The Paper Plane Plan info & links:

Traction

Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth

“[This book] will teach you the nineteen channels you can use to build a customer base, and offers a three-step framework to figure out which ones will work best for your business. No matter how you apply them, the lessons and examples in Traction will help you create and sustain the growth your business desperately needs.” – Amazon

Traction info & links:

Our complete list of growth hacking books

Looking for more? Here’s a list of all of the books we believe a growth hacker should consider reading.

100 Days of Growth

Proven Ways To Grow Your Business Fast

Info & links:

Crossing the Chasm

Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers

Info & links:

Don’t Make Me Think

Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (Voices That Matter)

Info & links:

Experimentation Works

Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments

Info & links:

Good Strategy Bad Strategy

Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters

Info & links:

Growing Happy Clients

Growing Happy Clients: Our processes & experiences for growing fortune 500 corporates & the fastest growing scaleups

Info & links:

Growth Hacker Marketing

Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing and Advertising

Info & links:

Growth Hacking

Growth Hacking: Silicon Valley’s Best Kept Secret

Info & links:

  • Author: Raymond Fong & Chad Riddersen
  • Published date: 2017
  • Tags: Growth hacking book,Growth marketing book
  • Buy: Booklinker
  • Buy: Amazon UK
  • Buy: Amazon US

Hacking Growth

Hacking Growth: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success

Info & links:

Hacking Marketing

Hacking Marketing: Agile Practices to Make Marketing Smarter, Faster, and More Innovative

Info & links:

High Growth Handbook

High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People

Info & links:

Hooked

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

Info & links:

Influence

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Info & links:

Leaders eat last

Leaders eat last

Info & links:

  • Author: Simon Sinek
  • Tags: Culture / Mindset
  • Buy: Amazon UK

Lean Analytics

Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster

Info & links:

  • Author: Alistair Croll & Benjamin Yoskovitz
  • Buy: Amazon UK

Measure What Matters

Measure What Matters: OKRs: The Simple Idea that Drives 10x Growth

Info & links:

Obviously Awesome

Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It

Info & links:

Predictably Irrational

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

Info & links:

Product-Led Growth

Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself

Info & links:

Purple Cow

Purple Cow : Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

Info & links:

Radical Candor

Radical Candor

Info & links:

  • Author: Kim Scott
  • Tags: Growth team meeting
  • Buy: Amazon UK

Radical Focus

Radical Focus: Achieving Your Most Important Goals with Objectives and Key Results (Empowered Teams)

Info & links:

  • Author: Christina Wodtke
  • Tags: Metrics & KPIs
  • Buy: Amazon UK

Ready, Set, Growth hack

Ready, Set, Growth hack: A beginners guide to growth hacking success

Info & links:

Sense and Respond

Sense and Respond

Info & links:

  • Author: Jeff Gothelf
  • Tags: Agile,Minimum viable test
  • Buy: Amazon UK

Sprint

Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days

Info & links:

  • Author: Braden Kowitz
  • Tags: Agile
  • Buy: Amazon UK

Start With Why

Start With Why: The Inspiring Million-Copy Bestseller That Will Help You Find Your Purpose

Info & links:

Startup Growth Engines

Startup Growth Engines: Case Studies of How Today’s Most Successful Startups Unlock Extraordinary Growth

Info & links:

The BAMF Bible

The BAMF Bible: 30+ case studies of the best growth hacks for 2019

Info & links:

The Fearless Organization

The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth

Info & links:

  • Author: Amy C. Edmondson
  • Tags: Culture / Mindset
  • Buy: Amazon UK

The Growth Handbook

The Growth Handbook, brought to you by Intercom

Info & links:

The Growth Marketer’s Playbook

The Growth Marketer’s Playbook: A Strategic Guide to Growing a Business in Today’s Digital World

Info & links:

The Lean Product Playbook

The Lean Product Playbook: How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products and Rapid Customer Feedback

Info & links:

The Lean Startup

The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses

Info & links:

The Marketing Operations Handbook

The Marketing Operations Handbook: A Complete Guide to Marketing Operations

Info & links:

  • Author: Michael McKinnon
  • Tags: Marketing operations
  • Buy: Amazon UK

The One Thing

The One Thing

Info & links:

  • Author: Gary Keller
  • Tags: Culture / Mindset,Productivity
  • Buy: Amazon UK

The Paper Plane Plan

The Paper Plane Plan: Growth hacking techniques especially for the B2B service industry

Info & links:

The Power of Experiments

The Power of Experiments: Decision Making in a Data-Driven World

Info & links:

  • Author: Michael Luca & Max H. Bazerman
  • Buy: Amazon UK

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

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Thinking in Bets

Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts

Info & links:

  • Author: Annie Duke
  • Tags: Agile
  • Buy: Amazon UK

Traction

Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth

Info & links:

Growth Hacking Books FAQs

Which are the best growth hacking books for begineers?

Traction, by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares, is best suited to beginner growth hackers. The book outlines a simple framework and process to follow, with many real-life examples that help to illustrate how to apply things in the real world.

What are some free books on growth hacking?

The Growth Handbook from Intercom, Startup Growth Engines by Sean Ellis and The Growth Marketing Handbook by Julian Shapiro are the best free books and resources on growth hacking.

What are good growth hacking books for startups?

Good growth hacking books for startups are Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares, One Million Followers by Brendan Kane, and the High Growth Handbook by Elad Gil.

What are the best books on growth mindset?

The best books to help develop a growth mindset include Contagious (Jonah Berger), Pre-suasion (Robert Cialdini), The Psychology of Persuasion (Robert Cialdini), Lean Analytics (Alistair Croll & Benjamin Yoskovitz), This Is Marketing (Seth Godin), Hooked (Nir Eyal), Product-Led SEO (Eli Schwartz) and Moneyball (Michael Lewis).

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