Leadership lessons: Advice and Book Recommendations from the Octopus Ventures Team

At Octopus Ventures, we spend a lot of time thinking about what helps founders and leaders grow. Whether you’re building a company, shaping a team, or developing your own approach to leadership, the habits you cultivate and the perspectives you adopt make a real difference.

To mark the start of the year, we asked our very own team to reflect on the guidance that has shaped how they work with the companies they support every day. In the first video, they share the best piece of leadership advice they’ve ever received – from building trust, to staying vulnerable, to leading by example. These are the principles that continue to guide how we show up for the founders we partner with.

As many founders know, leadership is an ongoing practice. It evolves as teams scale, challenges shift and new opportunities emerge. So for our next video, we asked the team to go a layer deeper: which books have genuinely influenced their thinking?

The answers span classics on credibility and communication, frameworks for building high performing teams, insights into motivation, and the value of a growth mindset. These are the titles that continue to shape how we work, make decisions and support leaders across our portfolio.

Wherever you are in your own leadership journey, we hope these perspectives – and the books behind them – offer something useful.