Category: Business / Finance

Rating: 7.9/10. Book about behind the scenes of payment systems, written by a senior employee at Marqeta, a payments startup, and it walks through various things that happen during credit card and debit card transactions. Overall, a high-level overview of many parts of the behind-the-scenes of payments. The book is relatively short and high-level and…

Rating: 7.5/10. Memoir by Reggie Fils-Aimé, the chief operating officer and a marketing executive of Nintendo in the Americas during the early 2000s and 2010s, and this journey up to the position as well as what he did for the company. He was raised in New York to a Haitian immigrant family in a crime-ridden…

Rating: 8.5/10. Airline Operations and Management: A Management Textbook by Gerald N. Cook and Bruce G. Billig Textbook on how airlines are managed and operated, including the planning, finances, scheduling, and regulations, is fairly well-written and easily understandable for someone who has not worked in this industry before, and provides many specific details and real-life…

Rating: 7.3/10. The Shopify Story: How a Startup Rocketed to E-commerce Giant by Empowering Millions of Entrepreneurs by Larry MacDonald Book that tells the history of Shopify, from a humble online snowboard store to one of the largest e-commerce companies and the largest tech company based in Canada. It is meticulously researched, offering extensive details…

Rating: 7.9/10. Our Lives in Their Portfolios: Why Asset Managers Own the World by Brett Christophers Book about private equity, how it works on investments in housing and infrastructure, and its effect on society. Private equity has bought lots of housing and capital infrastructure, managing them in an unregulated way: eg, they are not hesitant…

Rating: 7.3/10. The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business in Any Industry by John Warrillow Book about subscription businesses, the advantages of subscriptions over traditional revenue models, and strategies to succeed in this business model. It is fairly generic, offering advice that applies to no specific industry, but useful for any entrepreneurs looking to consider…

Rating: 8.0/10. Roadside MBA: Back Road Lessons for Entrepreneurs, Executives and Small Business Owners by Michael Mazzeo, Paul Oyer, Scott Schaefer Book where a trio of economists go on several road trips around the US to examine small businesses: their business models and strategies. This book showcases a lot of variety and is grouped into…

Rating: 7.2/10. Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone by Satya Nadella Book about the story of Microsoft’s current CEO, Satya Nadella, and was published in 2017, approximately three years after he took the helm; it describes his values, past successes, and future visions for the company….

Rating: 7.8/10. The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America’s Food Business by Christopher Leonard Book about the American meat production industry, focusing on Tyson Foods, a major player in the field. Since the Great Depression, the industry has seen significant consolidation and vertical integration, with Tyson emerging as a dominant yet relatively unknown player….

Rating: 7.7/10. Book covering the history of autonomous driving, starting from the earliest days with the DARPA Challenge in 2003, and continuing up to 2020. The story begins when DARPA, motivated by the 9/11 attacks, decides to invest heavily in autonomous robots for potential military use in conflict zones like Afghanistan. As a result, DARPA…

Rating: 7.2/10. Book on hiring, from screening resumes, interviews, and offer. It mostly focuses mostly on on behavioral interviews, which are the only type that is applicable to any job, so I’m a bit disappointed because it doesn’t offer any specific details on other types of interviews or data to back up its claims, especially…