According to Brex spend data, founders are reading books about building and leading companies. The top 25 books purchased by startups and founders in the first half of 2026 include biographies of successful entrepreneurs and books on technical skills like systems engineering.
Founder Mode
The data shows that founders are focused on learning the skills they need to build and lead their companies. They are reading books about founders who have come before them and learning from their experiences. The top book on the list is a biography of Alex Karp, the cofounder and CEO of Palantir.
Other popular books on the list include "The Scaling Era" and "Designing Data-Intensive Applications." These books provide founders with the technical knowledge they need to build and scale their companies.
The data also shows that founders are interested in learning from the experiences of other founders. Biographies of successful entrepreneurs are popular, and books on leadership and management are also in high demand.
Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.
