Ian Cassel

Christian, MicroCap Investor, Finding Ideas @MicroCapClub, Studying Leadership @IntelligentFan

We may earn commissions for purchases made via this page

Book Recommendations:

IC

Recommended by Ian Cassel

@chriswmayer @RyanReeves_ Chris’s book is fantastic because its punch is the simplicity. Anyone else would have made it half as good and twice as many pages. (from X)

Revised and Updated, Featuring a New Case Study How do successful companies create products people can’t put down? Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging. Hooked is based on Eyal’s years of research, consulting, and practical experience. He wrote the book he wished had been available to him as a start-up founder—not abstract theory, but a how-to guide for building better products. Hooked is written for product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone who seeks to understand how products influence our behavior. Eyal provides readers with: • Practical insights to create user habits that stick. • Actionable steps for building products people love. • Fascinating examples from the iPhone to Twitter, Pinterest to the Bible App, and many other habit-forming products.

IC

Recommended by Ian Cassel

A great book: In 1872, right before he hit the big bonanza, Mackay warned his wife that the Consolidated Virginia could easily consume all of their money. His wife asked what would happen if it did. Mackay replied, “We’ll go broke and start over.” https://t.co/plH8B6J4p9 (from X)

“A monumentally researched biography of one of the nineteenth century’s wealthiest self-made Americans…Well-written and worthwhile” (The Wall Street Journal) it’s the rags-to-riches frontier tale of an Irish immigrant who outwits, outworks, and outmaneuvers thousands of rivals to take control of Nevada’s Comstock Lode. Born in 1831, John W. Mackay was a penniless Irish immigrant who came of age in New York City, went to California during the Gold Rush, and mined without much luck for eight years. When he heard of riches found on the other side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1859, Mackay abandoned his claim and walked a hundred miles to the Comstock Lode in Nevada. Over the course of the next dozen years, Mackay worked his way up from nothing, thwarting the pernicious “Bank Ring” monopoly to seize control of the most concentrated cache of precious metals ever found on earth, the legendary “Big Bonanza,” a stupendously rich body of gold and silver ore discovered 1,500 feet beneath the streets of Virginia City, the ultimate Old West boomtown. But for the ore to be worth anything it had to be found, claimed, and successfully extracted, each step requiring enormous risk and the creation of an entirely new industry. Now Gregory Crouch tells Mackay’s amazing story—how he extracted the ore from deep underground and used his vast mining fortune to crush the transatlantic telegraph monopoly of the notorious Jay Gould. “No one does a better job than Crouch when he explores the subject of mining, and no one does a better job than he when he describes the hardscrabble lives of miners” (San Francisco Chronicle). Featuring great period photographs and maps, The Bonanza King is a dazzling tour de force, a riveting history of Virginia City, Nevada, the Comstock Lode, and America itself.

IC

Recommended by Ian Cassel

This is a great read and only 130 pages. I give it to all the CEO's of the companies I'm invested with. This book describes the results of ten years of research into the unique management practices of companies that have prospered for over 100 years. https://t.co/Wzi9g8oX11 (from X)

What does it take for a company to survive for 100 years in the United States? And which ones have? “Lessons from Century Club Companies” will give you the answers. This book describes the results of ten years of research into the unique management practices of companies that have prospered for over 100 years. Previous studies of corporate longevity, such as “Built to Last” and “The Living Company,” profile a few very large, publicly-owned firms. But most companies over 100 years, as well as over 95 percent of all U.S. companies, are small- to medium-sized, private businesses. “Lessons from Century Club Companies” gives you – in the words of the companies and their leaders, themselves – the reasons for their remarkable performance over time. A must-read for leaders with the desire to manage for long-term success, and full of thought-provoking concepts for any business, young or old.

IC

Recommended by Ian Cassel

This is a great and under-appreciated book By the late 1970’s, Andrew Lanyi grew tired of Wall Street Research “most Wall Street research shoots for mediocrity and never quite makes it.” He wanted to find tomorrows blue chips today 👇 👇 (from X)

The author reveals how he finds companies on the verge of tremendous growth, and argues that the successful investor must understand the essence of a company

IC

Recommended by Ian Cassel

Amazing book https://t.co/7Ui2LtjThF (from X)

Greenlights book cover

by Matthew McConaughey·You?

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 6 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE! Discover the life-changing memoir that has inspired millions of readers through the Academy Award–winning actor’s unflinching honesty, unconventional wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction. “The No. 1 celebrity memoir of the past 10 years.”—USA Today “McConaughey’s book invites us to grapple with the lessons of his life as he did—and to see that the point was never to win, but to understand.”—Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me. Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life’s challenges—how to get relative with the inevitable—you can enjoy a state of success I call “catching greenlights.” So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality. Getting away withs, getting caughts, and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops. Hopefully, it’s medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot’s license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears. It’s a love letter. To life. It’s also a guide to catching more greenlights—and to realizing that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too. Good luck. The short dust jacket included with this hardcover edition is an intentional design choice.

IC

Recommended by Ian Cassel

13) I find it interesting that a man with so much to boast about never, ever boasted. If you enjoyed this story you will love this book about him: https://t.co/1mjaKacnya (from X)

After years of hard work and ensuing success, Mitzi Perdue offers unique and poignant insights to leaders and readers around the world through her biography of Frank Perdue, who revolutionized the chicken industry.Frank Perdue did chores as a child so young he needed two hands to hold a single egg. But from these humblest of beginnings, he built an empire that today spans the globe. Due to his intuitive sense of the market, there is hardly a person over the age of twenty-five who doesn’t know the tagline, “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.” Frank Perdue was an extremely thoughtful and thorough businessman. He studied every possible angle of business strategy, getting advice from every possible source, before making an important decision. This is his story, and also a personal story regarding the bond between Frank and Mitzi Perdue. A true case of love at first sight – they were engaged within 24 hours of their first date – and a remarkable partnership. The rich combination of Frank Perdue's life and career and the lessons he imparts, along with Mitzi’s journalistic talents, allow this book to resonate on multiple levels – as a biography, as a business book, and as the tale of a one-of-a-kind American entrepreneur.

IC

Recommended by Ian Cassel

@investing_city And probably the best book on entrepreneurship ever written https://t.co/Qr71BHVFCQ (from X)

In an autobiographical account of his rise to the pinnacle of the American retail business, the personal reminiscences of the late billionaire retailer are combined with dozens of interviews with Sam Walton's family and friends. Large first printing. Major ad/promo.

IC

Recommended by Ian Cassel

I finally read "The Man Who Solved The Market" on Jim Simons. I underlined this short sentence below in the book which is also the commonality in anyone that is successful. "Simons remained a stubborn optimist." Optimism bias is a great bias. (from X)

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award The unbelievable story of a secretive mathematician who pioneered the era of the algorithm–and made $23 billion doing it. The greatest money maker in modern financial history, no other investor–Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, Ray Dalio, Steve Cohen, or George Soros–has touched Jim Simons’ record. Since 1988, Renaissance’s signature Medallion fund has generated average annual returns of 66 percent. The firm has earned profits of more than $100 billion, and upon his passing, Simons left a legacy of investors who use his mathematical, computer-oriented approach to trading and building wealth. Drawing on unprecedented access to Simons and dozens of current and former employees, Zuckerman, a veteran Wall Street Journal investigative reporter, tells the gripping story of how a world-class mathematician and former code breaker mastered the market. Simons pioneered a data-driven, algorithmic approach that’s swept the world. As Renaissance became a market force, its executives began influencing the world beyond finance. Simons became a major figure in scientific research, education, and liberal politics. Senior executive Robert Mercer is more responsible than anyone else for the Trump presidency, placing Steve Bannon in the campaign and funding Trump’s victorious 2016 effort. Mercer also impacted the campaign behind Brexit. The Man Who Solved the Market is a portrait of a modern-day Midas who remade markets in his own image, but failed to anticipate how his success would impact his firm and his country. It’s also a story of what Simons’s revolution will mean for the rest of us long after his death in 2024.

IC

Recommended by Ian Cassel

@BoyarValue @chriswmayer Agreed. He spoke at our event three years ago. An amazing book and Chris is a generous person. https://t.co/KXKMEJpjL2 (from X)

This book is about 100-baggers. These are stocks that return $100 for every $1 invested. That means a $10,000 investment turns into $1 million. Chris Mayer can help you find them. It sounds like an outrageous quest with a wildly improbable chance of success. But when Mayer studied 100-baggers of the past, definite patterns emerged. In 100-Baggers, you will learn the key characteristics of 100-baggers why anybody can do this. It is truly an everyman's approach. You don t need an MBA or a finance degree. Some basic financial concepts are all you need - a number of crutches or techniques that can help you get more out of your stocks and investing. The emphasis is always on the practical, so there are many stories and anecdotes to help illustrate important points. You should listen to this book if you want to get more out of your stocks. Even if you never get a 100-bagger, this book will help you turn up big winners and keep you away from losers and sleepy stocks that go nowhere. After reading 100-Baggers, you will never look at investing the same way again. It will energize and excite you about what's possible. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

IC

Recommended by Ian Cassel

Intelligent Fanatics of India book launch is Today Rohith Potti and @poojabhula retell the stories of several great entrepreneurs in India - public and private companies. @IntelligentFan https://t.co/SlJLwbEItU (from X)

Intelligent Fanatics of India book cover

by Rohith Potti, Pooja Bhula·You?

Uncertainty is characteristic of the world we live in. Economies rise and fall, bubbles form and burst, policies change and evolve. The ever-changing business climate gets mirrored in sentiments of participants in the business ecosystem -- swinging between panic and euphoria. Yet during every downturn, we see Intelligent Fanatics emerge. The world’s best business builders, they are antifragile -- they don’t merely survive bad times, but strengthen themselves under stress. Intelligent Fanatics of India studies seven such carefully chosen entrepreneurs from the country. Hailing from diverse backgrounds and industries, the list ranges from private to public companies, first generation visionaries to tycoons of established family businesses, as well as turnarounds. The common thread? A pattern of intelligent fanaticism that has allowed them to build businesses that dominate and endure. The book attempts to decode this pattern based on the framework developed in our previous two volumes. While the stories are Indian, the insights can be applied in any part of the world. Whether you are an investor, business owner, aspiring entrepreneur, or interested in biographies of business leaders, this book is for you.

IC

Recommended by Ian Cassel

Such an amazing book https://t.co/IbVT7G9LDY (from X)

Open: An Autobiography book cover

by Andre Agassi·You?

From Andre Agassi, one of the most beloved athletes in history and one of the most gifted men ever to step onto a tennis court, a beautiful, haunting autobiography. Agassi’s incredibly rigorous training begins when he is just a child. By the age of thirteen, he is banished to a Florida tennis camp that feels like a prison camp. Lonely, scared, a ninth-grade dropout, he rebels in ways that will soon make him a 1980s icon. He dyes his hair, pierces his ears, dresses like a punk rocker. By the time he turns pro at sixteen, his new look promises to change tennis forever, as does his lightning-fast return. And yet, despite his raw talent, he struggles early on. We feel his confusion as he loses to the world’s best, his greater confusion as he starts to win. After stumbling in three Grand Slam finals, Agassi shocks the world, and himself, by capturing the 1992 Wimbledon. Overnight he becomes a fan favorite and a media target. Agassi brings a near-photographic memory to every pivotal match and every relationship. Never before has the inner game of tennis and the outer game of fame been so precisely limned. Alongside vivid portraits of rivals from several generations—Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer—Agassi gives unstinting accounts of his brief time with Barbra Streisand and his doomed marriage to Brooke Shields. He reveals a shattering loss of confidence. And he recounts his spectacular resurrection, a comeback climaxing with his epic run at the 1999 French Open and his march to become the oldest man ever ranked number one. In clear, taut prose, Agassi evokes his loyal brother, his wise coach, his gentle trainer, all the people who help him regain his balance and find love at last with Stefanie Graf. Inspired by her quiet strength, he fights through crippling pain from a deteriorating spine to remain a dangerous opponent in the twenty-first and final year of his career. Entering his last tournament in 2006, he’s hailed for completing a stunning metamorphosis, from nonconformist to elder statesman, from dropout to education advocate. And still he’s not done. At a U.S. Open for the ages, he makes a courageous last stand, then delivers one of the most stirring farewells ever heard in a sporting arena. With its breakneck tempo and raw candor, Open will be read and cherished for years. A treat for ardent fans, it will also captivate readers who know nothing about tennis. Like Agassi’s game, it sets a new standard for grace, style, speed, and power.