High Growth Handbook
by Elad Gil
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More Recommenders
“@eladgil Love this book | A great book. | Founder book recs: Founder's Dilemmas by @noamwass (founder issues) High Growth Handbook by @eladgil (general) Monetizing Innovation by @madhavansf (pricing) Traction by @yegg/@jwmares (growth) Understanding Michael Porter by Magretta (strategy) | I learned so much about growing a startup from reading High Growth Handbook by @eladgil which launched today. I'm planning on giving a copy of the book to all of my portfolio companies | If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies. | The author has nononsense, highly applicable advice to any operator transitioning a company from the proverbial garage to the next stage and beyond. | The author's advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A.”
Source →“@eladgil Love this book | A great book. | Founder book recs: Founder's Dilemmas by @noamwass (founder issues) High Growth Handbook by @eladgil (general) Monetizing Innovation by @madhavansf (pricing) Traction by @yegg/@jwmares (growth) Understanding Michael Porter by Magretta (strategy) | I learned so much about growing a startup from reading High Growth Handbook by @eladgil which launched today. I'm planning on giving a copy of the book to all of my portfolio companies | If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies. | The author has nononsense, highly applicable advice to any operator transitioning a company from the proverbial garage to the next stage and beyond. | The author's advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A.”
Source →“@eladgil Love this book | A great book. | Founder book recs: Founder's Dilemmas by @noamwass (founder issues) High Growth Handbook by @eladgil (general) Monetizing Innovation by @madhavansf (pricing) Traction by @yegg/@jwmares (growth) Understanding Michael Porter by Magretta (strategy) | I learned so much about growing a startup from reading High Growth Handbook by @eladgil which launched today. I'm planning on giving a copy of the book to all of my portfolio companies | If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies. | The author has nononsense, highly applicable advice to any operator transitioning a company from the proverbial garage to the next stage and beyond. | The author's advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A.”
Source →“@eladgil Love this book | A great book. | Founder book recs: Founder's Dilemmas by @noamwass (founder issues) High Growth Handbook by @eladgil (general) Monetizing Innovation by @madhavansf (pricing) Traction by @yegg/@jwmares (growth) Understanding Michael Porter by Magretta (strategy) | I learned so much about growing a startup from reading High Growth Handbook by @eladgil which launched today. I'm planning on giving a copy of the book to all of my portfolio companies | If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies. | The author has nononsense, highly applicable advice to any operator transitioning a company from the proverbial garage to the next stage and beyond. | The author's advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A.”
Source →“@eladgil Love this book | A great book. | Founder book recs: Founder's Dilemmas by @noamwass (founder issues) High Growth Handbook by @eladgil (general) Monetizing Innovation by @madhavansf (pricing) Traction by @yegg/@jwmares (growth) Understanding Michael Porter by Magretta (strategy) | I learned so much about growing a startup from reading High Growth Handbook by @eladgil which launched today. I'm planning on giving a copy of the book to all of my portfolio companies | If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies. | The author has nononsense, highly applicable advice to any operator transitioning a company from the proverbial garage to the next stage and beyond. | The author's advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A.”
Source →“@eladgil Love this book | A great book. | Founder book recs: Founder's Dilemmas by @noamwass (founder issues) High Growth Handbook by @eladgil (general) Monetizing Innovation by @madhavansf (pricing) Traction by @yegg/@jwmares (growth) Understanding Michael Porter by Magretta (strategy) | I learned so much about growing a startup from reading High Growth Handbook by @eladgil which launched today. I'm planning on giving a copy of the book to all of my portfolio companies | If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies. | The author has nononsense, highly applicable advice to any operator transitioning a company from the proverbial garage to the next stage and beyond. | The author's advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A.”
Source →“@eladgil Love this book | A great book. | Founder book recs: Founder's Dilemmas by @noamwass (founder issues) High Growth Handbook by @eladgil (general) Monetizing Innovation by @madhavansf (pricing) Traction by @yegg/@jwmares (growth) Understanding Michael Porter by Magretta (strategy) | I learned so much about growing a startup from reading High Growth Handbook by @eladgil which launched today. I'm planning on giving a copy of the book to all of my portfolio companies | If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies. | The author has nononsense, highly applicable advice to any operator transitioning a company from the proverbial garage to the next stage and beyond. | The author's advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A.”
Source →“@eladgil Love this book | A great book. | Founder book recs: Founder's Dilemmas by @noamwass (founder issues) High Growth Handbook by @eladgil (general) Monetizing Innovation by @madhavansf (pricing) Traction by @yegg/@jwmares (growth) Understanding Michael Porter by Magretta (strategy) | I learned so much about growing a startup from reading High Growth Handbook by @eladgil which launched today. I'm planning on giving a copy of the book to all of my portfolio companies | If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies. | The author has nononsense, highly applicable advice to any operator transitioning a company from the proverbial garage to the next stage and beyond. | The author's advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A.”
Source →“@eladgil Love this book | A great book. | Founder book recs: Founder's Dilemmas by @noamwass (founder issues) High Growth Handbook by @eladgil (general) Monetizing Innovation by @madhavansf (pricing) Traction by @yegg/@jwmares (growth) Understanding Michael Porter by Magretta (strategy) | I learned so much about growing a startup from reading High Growth Handbook by @eladgil which launched today. I'm planning on giving a copy of the book to all of my portfolio companies | If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies. | The author has nononsense, highly applicable advice to any operator transitioning a company from the proverbial garage to the next stage and beyond. | The author's advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A.”
Source →“@eladgil Love this book | A great book. | Founder book recs: Founder's Dilemmas by @noamwass (founder issues) High Growth Handbook by @eladgil (general) Monetizing Innovation by @madhavansf (pricing) Traction by @yegg/@jwmares (growth) Understanding Michael Porter by Magretta (strategy) | I learned so much about growing a startup from reading High Growth Handbook by @eladgil which launched today. I'm planning on giving a copy of the book to all of my portfolio companies | If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies. | The author has nononsense, highly applicable advice to any operator transitioning a company from the proverbial garage to the next stage and beyond. | The author's advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A.”
Source →Recommended by 12 notable people, including Keith Rabois and Cleo Abram
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Reading Profile
Should I read this?
It reads like a compressed operating manual from a C-suite insider. The value is in its pattern-matching across hypergrowth companies—concrete advice on hiring executives, managing boards, and internationalization, often boiled down into bullet lists. The book wastes no words, which suits a time-pressed founder, but the absence of narrative or failure cases makes it feel more like a reference doc than a strong read. It’s most useful when you’re in a specific bind and need a fast, opinionated direction.
Read this if...
- •A Series B CEO who just closed funding and must hire a VP of Engineering without derailing the culture—this gives a step-by-step on role definition, sourcing, and integration.
- •A startup COO navigating an expansion into a second country who needs a structural playbook for legal entities, tax, and hiring, not theory.
- •An angel investor advising portfolio companies who wants a concise, pattern-based lens to diagnose scaling pitfalls before founders hit them.
Skip this if...
- •You'll likely put it down in the first third if you're pre-revenue and need customer discovery advice; the board governance and organizational design chapters feel dense and premature.
- •The back half drags if you're reading cover to cover—each chapter runs the same bullet-list playbook, becoming repetitive once you've internalized the format.
- •You'll lose interest around the international expansion section if you came for founder stories; the book is dense with directives and offers no narrative relief.
High Growth Handbook is the playbook for growing your startup into a global brand. Global technology executive, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor Elad Gil has worked with high-growth tech companies including Airbnb, Twitter, Google, Stripe, and Square as they’ve grown from small companies into global enterprises. Across all of these breakout companies, Gil has identified a set of common patterns and created an accessible playbook for scaling high-growth startups, which he has now codified in High Growth Handbook. In this definitive guide, Gil covers key topics, including: - The role of the CEO - Managing a board - Recruiting and overseeing an executive team - Mergers and acquisitions…
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:hard
Length:326 pages (Medium)
Audience Fit
- A Series B CEO who just closed funding and must hire a VP of Engineering without derailing the culture—this gives a step-by-step on role definition, sourcing, and integration.
- A startup COO navigating an expansion into a second country who needs a structural playbook for legal entities, tax, and hiring, not theory.
- An angel investor advising portfolio companies who wants a concise, pattern-based lens to diagnose scaling pitfalls before founders hit them.
- You'll likely put it down in the first third if you're pre-revenue and need customer discovery advice; the board governance and organizational design chapters feel dense and premature.
- The back half drags if you're reading cover to cover—each chapter runs the same bullet-list playbook, becoming repetitive once you've internalized the format.
- You'll lose interest around the international expansion section if you came for founder stories; the book is dense with directives and offers no narrative relief.
Check formats, pricing, and availability options for Kindle, physical print, or audiobooks directly.
View available editions on AmazonKey themes
Why recommended
Recommended by 23 sources and appears in Books Recommended by Investors, Most Recommended Books, and Entrepreneurship.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Brian Armstrong
“@eladgil Love this book | A great book. | Founder book recs: Founder's Dilemmas by @noamwass (founder issues) High Growth Handbook by @eladgil (general) Monetizing Innovation by @madhavansf (pricing) Traction by @yegg/@jwmares (growth) Understanding Michael Porter by Magretta (strategy) | I learned so much about growing a startup from reading High Growth Handbook by @eladgil which launched today. I'm planning on giving a copy of the book to all of my portfolio companies | If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies. | The author has nononsense, highly applicable advice to any operator transitioning a company from the proverbial garage to the next stage and beyond. | The author's advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A.”
View sources (5) ▾80%
Appears In
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider Good to Great by Jim Collins. Recommended by 32 sources.
“The book walks you through a multi-year research project, contrasting spectacular performers with mere survivors. The core insight—that sustained greatness hinges on disciplined people, thought, and action—feels sturdy and actionable. But the book’s arguments rely on retrospective selection of companies, and some of its darlings later faltered. You’ll find a methodical, almost monastic tone that rewards patience but may irritate if you want contemporary, tech-savvy lessons.”
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Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.