The best entrepreneurs balance brilliant business ideas with a rigorous commitment to serving their customers' needs.

If you read (or listen) to nothing else on entrepreneurship and startups, listen to these ten articles by experts in the field. We've combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you build your company for enduring success.

Leading experts and practitioners such as Clayton Christensen, Marc Andreessen, and Reid Hoffman provide the insights and advice that will inspire you to: understand what makes entrepreneurial leaders tick; know what matters in a great business plan; adopt lean startup practices such as business model experimentation; be prepared for the race for scale in Silicon Valley; better understand the world of venture capital-and know what you'll get along with VC funding; and take an alternative approach to entrepreneurship: buy an existing business and run it as CEO.