-
Backable
- The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance on You
- Narrated by: Suneel Gupta, Carlye Adler, Landon Woodson, Natalie Naudus
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $29.65
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Masters of Scale
- Surprising Truths from the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs
- By: Reid Hoffman, June Cohen, Deron Triff
- Narrated by: William DeMeritt, Reid Hoffman
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Behind the scenes in Silicon Valley, Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn, investor at Greylock) is a sought-after adviser to heads of companies and heads of state. On each episode of his podcast, Masters of Scale, he sits down with a guest from an all-star list of visionary founders and leaders, digging into the surprising strategies that power their company’s growth. In this book, he draws on their most riveting, revealing stories - as well as his own experience as a founder and investor - to distill the secrets behind the most extraordinary success stories of our times.
-
-
Excellent book!! my eyes are wider.
- By Azgeoblue7 on 10-11-21
By: Reid Hoffman, and others
-
Change
- How to Make Big Things Happen
- By: Damon Centola
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most of what we know about how ideas spread comes from best-selling authors who give us a compelling picture of a world, in which "influencers" are king, "sticky" ideas "go viral", and good behavior is "nudged" forward. The problem is that the world they describe is a world where information spreads, but beliefs and behaviors stay the same. When it comes to lasting change in what we think or the way we live, the dynamics are different: beliefs and behaviors are not transmitted from person to person in the simple way that a virus is.
-
-
Complex Contagion
- By Dave B on 08-19-21
By: Damon Centola
-
Ask More
- The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change
- By: Frank Sesno, Wolf Blitzer - foreword
- Narrated by: Frank Sesno, Wolf Blitzer
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What hidden skill links successful people in all walks of life? What helps them make smart decisions? The answer is surprisingly simple: They know how to ask the right questions at the right time. Questions help us break down barriers, discover secrets, solve puzzles, and imagine new ways of doing things. But few of us know how to question in a methodical way. Emmy-award-winning journalist and media expert Frank Sesno aims to change that with Ask More.
-
-
Good questioning techniques to gain knowledge
- By Michael on 03-02-17
By: Frank Sesno, and others
-
Your Next Five Moves
- Master the Art of Business Strategy
- By: Patrick Bet-David
- Narrated by: Patrick Bet-David
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the creator of Valuetainment, the number-one YouTube channel for entrepreneurs, and “one of the most exciting thinkers” (Ray Dalio, author of Principles) in business today, comes a practical and effective guide for thinking more clearly and achieving your most audacious professional goals.
-
-
Mediocre; few actionable take-aways.
- By Michael on 10-31-20
-
Principles
- Life and Work
- By: Ray Dalio
- Narrated by: Ray Dalio, Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ray Dalio, one of the world's most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he's developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create unique results in both life and business - and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.
-
-
Idea-meritocracy/Principles Reference
- By Patrick Eberle on 06-30-18
By: Ray Dalio
-
The Charisma Myth
- How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism (Int'l Edit.)
- By: Olivia Fox Cabane
- Narrated by: Lisa Cordileione
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What if charisma could be taught? For the first time, science and technology have taken charisma apart, figured it out, and turned it into an applied science: In controlled laboratory experiments, researchers could raise or lower people's level of charisma as if they were turning a dial.
-
-
AWEsome
- By Mohamed Anwar on 11-19-19
-
Masters of Scale
- Surprising Truths from the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs
- By: Reid Hoffman, June Cohen, Deron Triff
- Narrated by: William DeMeritt, Reid Hoffman
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Behind the scenes in Silicon Valley, Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn, investor at Greylock) is a sought-after adviser to heads of companies and heads of state. On each episode of his podcast, Masters of Scale, he sits down with a guest from an all-star list of visionary founders and leaders, digging into the surprising strategies that power their company’s growth. In this book, he draws on their most riveting, revealing stories - as well as his own experience as a founder and investor - to distill the secrets behind the most extraordinary success stories of our times.
-
-
Excellent book!! my eyes are wider.
- By Azgeoblue7 on 10-11-21
By: Reid Hoffman, and others
-
Change
- How to Make Big Things Happen
- By: Damon Centola
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most of what we know about how ideas spread comes from best-selling authors who give us a compelling picture of a world, in which "influencers" are king, "sticky" ideas "go viral", and good behavior is "nudged" forward. The problem is that the world they describe is a world where information spreads, but beliefs and behaviors stay the same. When it comes to lasting change in what we think or the way we live, the dynamics are different: beliefs and behaviors are not transmitted from person to person in the simple way that a virus is.
-
-
Complex Contagion
- By Dave B on 08-19-21
By: Damon Centola
-
Ask More
- The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change
- By: Frank Sesno, Wolf Blitzer - foreword
- Narrated by: Frank Sesno, Wolf Blitzer
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What hidden skill links successful people in all walks of life? What helps them make smart decisions? The answer is surprisingly simple: They know how to ask the right questions at the right time. Questions help us break down barriers, discover secrets, solve puzzles, and imagine new ways of doing things. But few of us know how to question in a methodical way. Emmy-award-winning journalist and media expert Frank Sesno aims to change that with Ask More.
-
-
Good questioning techniques to gain knowledge
- By Michael on 03-02-17
By: Frank Sesno, and others
-
Your Next Five Moves
- Master the Art of Business Strategy
- By: Patrick Bet-David
- Narrated by: Patrick Bet-David
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the creator of Valuetainment, the number-one YouTube channel for entrepreneurs, and “one of the most exciting thinkers” (Ray Dalio, author of Principles) in business today, comes a practical and effective guide for thinking more clearly and achieving your most audacious professional goals.
-
-
Mediocre; few actionable take-aways.
- By Michael on 10-31-20
-
Principles
- Life and Work
- By: Ray Dalio
- Narrated by: Ray Dalio, Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ray Dalio, one of the world's most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he's developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create unique results in both life and business - and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.
-
-
Idea-meritocracy/Principles Reference
- By Patrick Eberle on 06-30-18
By: Ray Dalio
-
The Charisma Myth
- How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism (Int'l Edit.)
- By: Olivia Fox Cabane
- Narrated by: Lisa Cordileione
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What if charisma could be taught? For the first time, science and technology have taken charisma apart, figured it out, and turned it into an applied science: In controlled laboratory experiments, researchers could raise or lower people's level of charisma as if they were turning a dial.
-
-
AWEsome
- By Mohamed Anwar on 11-19-19
-
Super Founders
- What Data Reveals About Billion-Dollar Startups
- By: Ali Tamaseb
- Narrated by: Dean Temple, Catherine Ho, Jason Culp
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ali Tamaseb has spent thousands of hours manually amassing what may be the largest dataset ever collected on start-ups, comparing billion-dollar start-ups with those that failed to become one - 30,000 data points on nearly every factor: number of competitors, market size, the founder’s age, his or her university’s ranking, quality of investors, fundraising time, and many, many more. And what he found looked far different than expected.
-
-
Great book
- By An All time Amazoner! on 12-13-21
By: Ali Tamaseb
-
Why Startups Fail
- A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success
- By: Tom Eisenmann
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why do startups fail? That question caught Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann by surprise when he realized he couldn’t answer it. So he launched a multiyear research project to find out. In Why Startups Fail, Eisenmann reveals his findings: six distinct patterns that account for the vast majority of startup failures.
-
-
Shades of gray between startup failure and success
- By Greg Fisher on 04-04-21
By: Tom Eisenmann
-
How to Be Better at Almost Everything
- Learn Anything Quickly, Stack Your Skills, Dominate
- By: Pat Flynn
- Narrated by: Pat Flynn
- Length: 4 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In How to Be Better at Almost Everything, best-selling author, fitness expert, entrepreneur, and professional business coach Pat Flynn shares the secrets to learning (almost) every skill, from marketing to music to martial arts to writing and relationships, teaching how to combine interests to achieve greatness in any field. His direct, “Generalist” approach to self-improvement gives you the tools you need to make your mark on the world and make buckets of money - without losing your soul.
-
-
All you need for a fullfiled and productive life!
- By JC on 02-13-19
By: Pat Flynn
-
How I Built This
- The Unexpected Paths to Success from the World's Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs
- By: Guy Raz
- Narrated by: Guy Raz
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Great ideas often come from a simple spark: A soccer player on the New Zealand national team notices all the unused wool his country produces and figures out a way to turn them into shoes (Allbirds). A former Buddhist monk decides the very best way to spread his mindfulness teachings is by launching an app (Headspace). A sandwich cart vendor finds a way to reuse leftover pita bread and turns it into a multimillion-dollar business (Stacy’s Pita Chips).
-
-
GET THIS BOOK!
- By Mattye LaSuer on 01-16-21
By: Guy Raz
-
Build a Better Brain
- Using Neuroplasticity to Train Your Brain for Motivation, Discipline, Courage, and Mental Sharpness
- By: Peter Hollins
- Narrated by: Russell Newton
- Length: 4 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite our best efforts, most of the time, we act without thinking. We make poor decisions. But this isn’t our fault! It’s just how our brains are programmed. Now, you don’t have to be a scientist to understand how to use your brain’s instincts to your advantage instead of your downfall. Build a Better Brain has one goal: to help you improve your life by understanding how your brain works and learning to taking advantage of it.
-
-
Enlightening book on the application of neuroscience
- By Ryan D on 04-25-19
By: Peter Hollins
-
How to Persuade and Get Paid
- The Sales Workshop for Everyone
- By: Phil M. Jones
- Narrated by: Phil M. Jones
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How to Persuade and Get Paid is a sales training program that combines information and entertainment to teach you exactly what it takes to create success in today’s challenging marketplace.
-
-
How to Win Friends & Influence People for the Modern Age
- By Bryan Eisenberg on 02-11-19
By: Phil M. Jones
-
Unapologetically Ambitious
- Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success on Your Own Terms
- By: Shellye Archambeau, Ben Horowitz - foreword
- Narrated by: Shellye Archambeau, Dan Triandiflou
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Full of empowering wisdom from one of Silicon Valley's first female African American CEOs, this inspiring leadership book for fans of Dare to Lead and Start with Why offers a blueprint for how to achieve your personal and professional goals, drawn from the author's own compelling story of how she weathered life's difficulties to build massive success.
-
-
A Must for Every Ambitious Professional
- By Jasper W. Kuria on 12-30-20
By: Shellye Archambeau, and others
-
A Minute to Think
- Reclaim Creativity, Conquer Busyness, and Do Your Best Work
- By: Juliet Funt
- Narrated by: Juliet Funt
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In A Minute to Think, Juliet Funt, a globally recognized warrior in the battle against busyness, provides a powerful guide that will give you the permission, framework, and specific direction you need.
-
-
Thought Provoking
- By Amazon Customer on 11-13-21
By: Juliet Funt
-
Late Bloomers
- The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement
- By: Rich Karlgaard
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a society where kids and parents are obsessed with early achievement, from getting perfect scores on SATs to getting into Ivy League colleges to landing an amazing job at Google or Facebook - or even better, creating a start-up with the potential to be the next Google or Facebook or Uber. We see software coders becoming millionaires or billionaires before age 30 and feel we are failing if we are not one of them.
-
-
That phrase does not mean what you think it means
- By Eric R on 07-14-21
By: Rich Karlgaard
-
Seeing What Others Don't
- The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights
- By: Gary Klein
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Insights—like Darwin's understanding of the way evolution actually works, and Watson and Crick's breakthrough discoveries about the structure of DNA-can change the world. We also need insights into the everyday things that frustrate and confuse us so that we can more effectively solve problems and get things done. Yet we know very little about when, why, or how insights are formed—or what blocks them. In Seeing What Others Don't, renowned cognitive psychologist Gary Klein unravels the mystery.
-
-
Not enough actionable ideas
- By Blair on 02-24-15
By: Gary Klein
-
The Passion Paradox
- A Guide to Going All In, Finding Success, and Discovering the Benefits of an Unbalanced Life
- By: Brad Stulberg, Steve Magness
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 4 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness once again team up, this time to demystify passion, showing readers how they can find their passion, sustainably harness its power, and avoid its dangers. They ultimately argue that passion and balance - that other virtue touted by our culture - are incompatible, and that to find your passion, you must lose balance. And they show how to develop the right kind of passion, the kind that lets you achieve great things without ruining your life.
-
-
Take the time to listen to this book
- By J.Reznick on 06-03-19
By: Brad Stulberg, and others
-
Rich Dad Poor Dad
- What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
- By: Robert T. Kiyosaki
- Narrated by: Tim Wheeler
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With an incredible number of 5-star reviews, Rich Dad Poor Dad has challenged and changed the way tens of millions of people around the world think about money. With perspectives that often contradict conventional wisdom, Kiyosaki has earned a reputation for irreverence and courage. He is regarded worldwide as a passionate advocate for financial education. His easy-to-understand audiobook empowers you to make changes now - and enjoy the results for years to come.
-
-
Wow. This book is one big bad advice
- By Amazon Customer on 12-20-18
Publisher's Summary
A groundbreaking book that boldly claims the key to success in business is not talent, connections, or ideas, but the ability to persuade people to take a chance on potential.
No one ever makes it alone. But how come some people can get investors to believe in their ideas while others - sometimes with even better ideas - fall flat? What is it about certain people that make us want to take a bet on them? What is it that makes them backable? As it turns out, it's not what you think. Backability is not driven by having the best experience, the finest pedigree, or the most innovative ideas. In fact, many highly successful people are backed long before they are qualified. We tend to view these people as lucky. But the decision to back them is neither an accident nor a mistake and rarely the result of good luck.
Drawing from his own business experience, countless interviews with some of tech's biggest innovators, and compelling case studies of classic success stories like Howard Schultz and Elon Musk, Gupta breaks down the six qualities of backable people who get others to take a bet on them. Backable pulls back the curtain on the illusive X factor that some people just seem to have and instead offers concrete tools like crafting the right pitch and appropriately scaling a project's vision. Anyone from aspiring entrepreneurs to start-up stars can master these skills and jump-start their next big idea.
Critic Reviews
“The most successful people aren’t just brilliant...they’re backable. This is the quality I look for most in leaders I recruit and entrepreneurs I fund - now I have a great name for it and a playbook for what it takes. Whether you want to get ahead inside a company or build a start-up from the ground up, this fascinating book is a must-read.” (Reid Hoffman, co-founder of Linkedin)
“This book is truly brave. I felt like I was sitting with Suneel as he unveiled secret steps that anyone can take to stand out and achieve their dreams.” (Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, best-selling author of Brave Not Perfect)
"Backable provides a super-readable and actionable look at how to make your ideas take flight. Whether you're pitching a brand-new startup or an idea for your company's next product, you'll find a wealth of insights and stories throughout." (Mike Krieger, co-founder of Instagram)
What listeners say about Backable
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nikolai Yinger
- 04-17-21
I like it
good book full of thought provoking stories. some chapters felt a little bit repetitive.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- kareem
- 10-10-21
Practical yet critical advice
I have read dozens of books on how to sell oneself. Backable differentiates itself by providing concrete stories from those that have proven to be backable and why stakeholders take a bet on the "backable".
I found the last chapter of interviews especially helpful. It wraps up many of the critical lessons I personally had to learn through experience. I wish I knew of these tips from the start.
Suneel has saved you countless hours of mentor meetings and months if not years of advice/lessons all wrapped up in a weekend's read.
Whatever you're working on refining, whether you're at the beginning or deep in it, take a step back and read Backable. You'll be glad you did it.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Daniel K Jackson
- 01-15-22
Great book
If you have to pitch anything to anyone, you should read this very helpful book.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ROVAN DSOUZA
- 06-10-21
Must read
Interesting & informative . Liked the style of the author. Must read for all age group to understand startups.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alloyd
- 03-12-21
Best book of the year!
If you listen to one book this year, make it this one. It’s moving, enlightening, inspiring, and just really fun to read. Suneel’s insights are unique and happened to overturn some of my long-term beliefs. Turns out it’s not about charisma, but conviction. It’s not about having all the answers, but getting the audience to feel they are a part of your idea. This book is full of fascinating stories, interviews, and pearls of wisdom from the author’s entrepreneurial life. He shares his life’s lessons from a place of humility. I feel like I made all the same mistakes so many times, and yet failed to learn these important lessons until reading this book. This book is for every entrepreneur, every business leader, every sales person, and anyone with an idea that requires others to buy in. Suneel is a great storyteller, so the audio book version is fantastic. Listen to it, you won’t regret it!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- StarchMD
- 02-06-22
Major impact already
I needed to find a way to get potential employees interested in me. Jim Camp’s & Chris Voss’ negotiation styles & techniques were critical in starting the negotiation process but Suneel Gupta’s approach w/ starting w/ a story was critical in at least getting the discussion started. His “narrative approach w/ story-telling w/ a central character” let me rebrand myself w/ my new tough experiences, helped show why I had experiential insight which was hard to find on Google, & how my insight was leading the trend in improving this part of the world in healthcare in a way which not only our patients but my associates would benefit immensely... especially in the time of the great resignation.
Additionally, I was worried about the shortness of the listening time but his lengthy addenda which included so many great stories & solid examples on how this approach worked made the book exceedingly worthwhile. I am elated that I chose to listen to this great book!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Neil Greer
- 01-12-22
Innovation Masterpiece
Thank you for this book. I use it in my business and give it to startups I fund.
Progress in new ideas is only made at the intersection of boldness and vulnerability. Love it!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Or
- 09-03-21
Such a fascinating and practical book!
There are a few books I have listened to that are this well written, yet at the same time this practical. Highly recommended!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Carsten Korch
- 03-13-21
I simply loved this book from the beginning to the end.
Not only does Suneel open your mindset, he also tweaks many thoughts and turn them into usable insights and tips you can implement easily right away.
I work in sales and after reading “Backable” I tweaked my pitch with a few of Suneel’s tips which changed my presentation from “better is better” to “different is better” and now it’s working much better.
Thank you, Suneel
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brent Hemelt
- 03-03-21
Phenomenal
This book changed the way I look at my future. Sincerely hope anyone reading this gives it a shot! Promise you will be captivated from the very first story about the first woman ever employed by Ford ;)
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- SAB
- 03-13-21
straightforward take home massages
yes. this book is good. rekindled my ideas and a gave me room to feel inexperienced and OK at the same time. I will for sure use some of the tips as I move forward
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- James Murray
- 04-01-21
A concise manual in Idea To VC Pitching
This is the perfect book to read when you are in the space of "I have this idea/ideas and if it's going to work I'll need some backing, should I go for it and if so, how?". Well done Suneel.