Pebble boss is hooked to Peter Thiel's 'Zero to One', says book has key takeaways for entrepreneurs

The smart accessory brand boss is a book lover who spends most of her time reading books that either make her laugh out loud or engulf her brain into an un-putdownable mystery.

For Komal Agarwal, Founder of Pebble, reading is a way to find new ideas. Currently she is juggling between 'Zero to One' by Peter Thiel and 'Blake Masters and A Gentleman in Moscow' by Amor Towles.

She told ET Panache, "Among the two I am quite glued to 'Zero to One' at the moment. The book is by an entrepreneur and an investor himself. It actually teaches several major lessons and helps put things in perspective. Founders need a vision to take their business from zero to one, there is no standard formula to entrepreneurship because it’s always each to its own and lastly ‘Each Moment happens once’, make the most of it. The book overall has several key takeaways for an entrepreneur."


Sharing the five books that are on her must read list, Agarwal said, "I am quite an avid reader and reading fiction especially takes me to my happy place. From my collection of books, the five must read would be:

'The Harry Potter' Series: This series obviously needs no introduction, and would take anyone on an adventurous ride, whether you are 15 or 50. The real values of courage, friendship, love and sacrifice, all woven brilliantly into a magical world. “We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on.” - Only this book can make us realise and believe something this simple yet important in the most colourful way possible.

'The Book Thief': Simplistically written, yet quite powerful. This book by Markus Zusak, depicts the heart-warming story of a girl, set against the mid war Nazi Germany. The simplest of the quotes by him leave an impact on the mind, “A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship.”

'The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck': I’m sure most of us can relate to this. Started off with this book intrigued by the title, but the more I read, more relatable it turned out to be. In our extremely fast paced lives, where every other thing seems to cause stress, this book helps to put our minds at ease by articulating simple solutions to the unnecessary burden we carry in our minds at all times. “The desire for more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically, the acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience.”

'The Little Prince': Reminds me of that the best in life can often be found in the midst of the worst. A very simple and easy message that we all have forgotten these days, mentioned in the book is “One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes”

'The Hard Things About Hard Things': This book by Ben Horowitz points out some of the obvious yet ignored issues that a growing organisation faces and how to go about handling them in the best possible way."

The smart accessory boss loves reading books that either make her laugh out loud or engulf her brain into an un-putdownable mystery. And thus, two authors she has grown up on and still enjoy are PG Wodehouse and Agatha Christie.

The amazing feel and smell of a physical book is irreplaceable, but Agarwal has shifted almost entirely to e-books because of easy access while constantly travelling, especially juggling multiple books at a time.