Shoe Dog — Phil Knight

Phil Knight's memoir reveals the 40 near-bankruptcy moments behind Nike's ascent, including a 1965 loan of $50 from his father to prevent collapse, proving that resilience beats capital. Sales data demonstrates Nike's revenue grew from $1 million in 1965 to $38 billion in 2023—a 3,800% increase over 58 years—outperforming The Hard Thing About Hard Things — Ben Horowitz's typical scalability narrative.