Fintech & Payments Reading List

Our curated list of the best books on fintech and payments, alongside the product management and leadership titles our team relies on. These are the reads we recommend to operators building, launching, and running card programs.

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Online Reading List

The best books on fintech, payments, product & leadership

Three handpicked lists: the essential reads on payments and fintech (our CardsFTW picks), the product-management canon (ProductFTW), and the leadership titles behind our CEO coaching. Each links to Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores.

CardsFTW Reading List

Payments Systems in the U.S.: A Guide for the Payments Professional
Looking Backward 2000-1887
The Field Guide to Global Payments
The Unbanking of America: How the New Middle Class Survives
One from Many: Visa and the Rise of Chaordic Organization
The Most Fun I Never Want to Have Again: A Mid-Life Crisis in Community Banking
Fintech: The New DNA of Financial Services
Debt: The First 5,000 Years, Updated and Expanded
The Anatomy of the Swipe: Making Money Move
Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman's Bank
Delinquent: Inside America's Debt Machine
Banking as a Service: Opportunities, Challenges, and Risks of New Banking Business Models
A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class

ProductFTW Reading List

Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
Principles of Product Management: How to Land a PM Job and Launch Your Product Career
Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
The Lean Product Playbook: How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products and Rapid Customer Feedback

CEO Coaching Reading List

Taking the War Out of Our Words
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
Scaling Up Excellence: Getting to More Without Settling for Less
You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters
The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate the Three Essential Virtues
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

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