After whittling down hundreds of entries from around the world into a shortlist, a panel of expert judges picked out the most inspirational, innovative, and outstanding books of the year from 14 different categories.

Now in its sixth year, The Business Book Awards drive to make the business book world as inclusive as possible, celebrating diversity of authors and welcoming traditional, hybrid and self-published books.

One particular category that stood out for us was the Startup/Scaleup Book 2023. Here was the shortlist:

Exposure by Felicity Cowie

How to be a Founder by Alice Bentinck & Matt Clifford

Nailed It! by Jeanette Sklivanou

The Founder’s Survival Guide by Rachel E. Turner

The Direct-To-Consumer Playbook by Mike Stevens

The Business of Freedom by Lisa Zevi

Highly Commended

The Highly Commended award went to Lisa Zevi, The Business of Freedom.

The Business of Freedom is for everyone who loves their work but is sick of the corporate grind. It will help you decide if working for yourself is the right path for you. Step-by-step, it guides you through assessing your market and potential clients, packaging your offering, crunching the numbers, and getting clarity about what real freedom in your work means for you.

Winner

The Winner was Alice Bentinck & Matt Clifford, How to be a Founder.

An essential guide to equip the next generation of founders with the mindset and tools they need to take the leap to become globally successful entrepreneurs. Featuring a foreword by Reid Hoffman, Founder of LinkedIn, this handbook inspires aspiring founders and provides essential guidance and advice for people who want to build a successful company. It takes the reader from making the decision to plunge into entrepreneurship, through the process of choosing and developing an idea and team, all the way to raising capital and working with VCs and angel investors.

Further awards

The other winners across the rest of the categories included:

Sales & Marketing

Using Semiotics in Retail by Rachel Lawes

People, Culture & Management

The Future of Time by Helen Beedham

Business Book of the Year

Leader as a Healer by Nicholas Janni

International Business Book

Servants of the Damned by David Enrich

Smart Thinking Book

Disruption in Action by Alexandra Jankovich, Tom Voskes & Adrian Hornsby

Business Journey Book

In the Meantime by Nick Miller

Diversity, Inclusion & Equality

Positively Purple by Kate Nash

Specialist Business Book

Creativity for Scientists and Engineers by Dennis Sherwood

Short Business Book

Do/Deal/Negotiate Better. Find hidden value. Enrich relationships by Richard Hoare & Andrew Gummer

Wellness & Wellbeing

Energize by Simon Alexander Ong

Business Self-Development

Glow in the Dark by Mark Leruste

Work & Life

How to Fund the Life You Want by Robin Powell & Jonathan Hollow

Change & Sustainability

The Sustainable Business Handbook by David Grayson, Chris Coulter & Mark Lee

Congratulations to all of the winners and highly commended, it really was a night of celebration!