Explanations to the inner workings of one of the least understood, but arguably most important, areas of business finance is offered to readers in this engaging volume: venture capital. Venture capitalists provide necessary investment to seed (or startup) companies, but the startup is only the beginning, there is much more to be explored. These savvy investors help guide young entrepreneurs, who likely have little experience, to turn their businesses into the Googles, Facebooks, and Groupons of the world. This book explains the often-complex methods venture capitalists use to value companies and to get the most return on their investments, or ROI. This book is a must-have for any reader interested in the business world.
The definitive guide to demystifying the venture capital business The Business of Venture Capital, Second Edition covers the entire spectrum of this field, from raising funds and structuring investments to assessing exit pathways. Written by a practitioner for practitioners, the book provides the necessary breadth and depth, simplifies the jargon, and balances the analytical logic with experiential wisdom. Starting with a Foreword by Mark Heesen, President, National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), this important guide includes insights and perspectives from leading experts. Covers the process of raising the venture fund, including identifying and assessing the Limited Partner universe; fund due-diligence criteria; and fund investment terms in Part One Discusses the investment process, including sourcing investment opportunities; conducting due diligence and negotiating investment terms; adding value as a board member; and exploring exit pathways in Part Two Offers insights, anecdotes, and wisdom from the experiences of best-in-class practitioners Includes interviews conducted by Leading Limited Partners/Fund-of-Funds with Credit Suisse, Top Tier Capital Partners, Grove Street Advisors, Rho Capital, Pension Fund Managers, and Family Office Managers Features the insights of over twenty-five leading venture capital practitioners, frequently featured on Forbes' Midas List of top venture capitalists Those aspiring to raise a fund, pursue a career in venture capital, or simply understand the art of investing can benefit from The Business of Venture Capital, Second Edition. The companion website offers various tools such as GP Fund Due Diligence Checklist, Investment Due Diligence Checklist, and more, as well as external links to industry white papers and other industry guidelines.
An engaging guide to excelling in today's venture capital arena Beginning in 2005, Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson, managing directors at Foundry Group, wrote a long series of blog posts describing all the parts of a typical venture capital Term Sheet: a document which outlines key financial and other terms of a proposed investment. Since this time, they've seen the series used as the basis for a number of college courses, and have been thanked by thousands of people who have used the information to gain a better understanding of the venture capital field. Drawn from the past work Feld and Mendelson have written about in their blog and augmented with newer material, Venture Capital Financings puts this discipline in perspective and lays out the strategies that allow entrepreneurs to excel in their start-up companies. Page by page, this book discusses all facets of the venture capital fundraising process. Along the way, Feld and Mendelson touch on everything from how valuations are set to what externalities venture capitalists face that factor into entrepreneurs' businesses. Includes a breakdown analysis of the mechanics of a Term Sheet and the tactics needed to negotiate Details the different stages of the venture capital process, from starting a venture and seeing it through to the later stages Explores the entire venture capital ecosystem including those who invest in venture capitalist Contain standard documents that are used in these transactions Written by two highly regarded experts in the world of venture capital The venture capital arena is a complex and competitive place, but with this book as your guide, you'll discover what it takes to make your way through it.
The new edition of the definitive guide for venture capital practitioners—covers the entire process of venture firm formation & management, fund-raising, portfolio construction, value creation, and exit strategies Since its initial publication, The Business of Venture Capital has been hailed as the definitive, most comprehensive book on the subject. Now in its third edition, this market-leading text explains the multiple facets of the business of venture capital, from raising venture funds, to structuring investments, to generating consistent returns, to evaluating exit strategies. Author and VC Mahendra Ramsinghani who has invested in startups and venture funds for over a decade, offers best practices from experts on the front lines of this business. This fully-updated edition includes fresh perspectives on the Softbank effect, career paths for young professionals, case studies and cultural disasters, investment models, epic failures, and more. Readers are guided through each stage of the VC process, supported by a companion website containing tools such as the LP-GP Fund Due Diligence Checklist, the Investment Due Diligence Checklist, an Investment Summary format, and links to white papers and other industry guidelines. Designed for experienced practitioners, angels, devils, and novices alike, this valuable resource: Identifies the key attributes of a VC professional and the arc of an investor’s career Covers the art of raising a venture fund, identifying anchor investors, fund due diligence, negotiating fund investment terms with limited partners, and more Examines the distinct aspects of portfolio construction and value creation Balances technical analyses and real-world insights Features interviews, personal stories, anecdotes, and wisdom from leading venture capitalists The Business of Venture Capital, Third Edition is a must-read book for anyone seeking to raise a venture fund or pursue a career in venture capital, as well as practicing venture capitalists, angel investors or devils alike, limited partners, attorneys, start-up entrepreneurs, and MBA students.
40 leading venture capitalists come together to teach entrepreneurs how to succeed with their startup The Entrepreneurial Bible to Venture Capital is packed with invaluable advice about how to raise angel and venture capital funding, how to build value in a startup, and how to exit a company with maximum value for both founders and investors. It guides entrepreneurs through every step in an entrepreneurial venture from the legalities of raising initial capital to knowing when to change tactics. Andrew Romans is the co-founder and general partner of Rubicon Venture Capital, a venture capital fund that invests in privately held technology companies and enables its investors to co-invest along side the fund on a deal-by-deal basis via innovative sidecar funds right up to IPO or M&A exit. Romans is also the founder and general partner of The Founders Club, a venture capital equity exchange fund and investor in later stage liquidity transactions.
Ten Leading private investors share their secrets to maximum profitability In The Masters of Private Equity and Venture Capital, the pioneers of the industry share the investing and management wisdom they have gained by investing in and transforming their portfolio companies. Based on original interviews conducted by the authors, this book is filled with colorful stories on the subjects that most matter to the high-level investor, such as selecting and working with management, pioneering new markets, adding value through operational improvements, applying private equity principles to non-profits, and much more.
Secure venture capital? Easy. Getting a business up and running or pushing a brilliant product to the marketplace requires capital. For many entrepreneurs, a lack of start-up capital can be the single biggest roadblock to their dreams of success and fortune. Venture Capital For Dummies takes entrepreneurs step by step through the process of finding and securing venture capital for their own projects. Find and secure venture capital for your business Get your business up and running Push a product to the marketplace If you're an entrepreneur looking for hands-on guidance on how to secure capital for your business, the information in Venture Capital For Dummies gives you the edge you need to succeed.
Get the Funding You Need From Venture Capitalists and Turn Your New Business Proposal into Reality Authoritative and comprehensive, Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur is an all-in-one sourcebook for entrepreneurs seeking venture capital from investors. This expert resource contains an unsurpassed analysis of the venture capital process, together with the guidance and strategies you need to make the best possible deal_and ensure the success of your business. Written by a leading international venture capitalist, this business-building resource explores the basics of the venture capital method, strategies for raising capital, methods of valuing the early-stage venture, and techniques for negotiating the deal. Filled with case studies, charts, and exercises, Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur explains: How to develop a financing map How to determine the amount of capital to raise and what to spend it on How to create a winning business plan How to agree on a term sheet with a venture capitalist How to split the rewards How to allocate control between founders/management and investors
Praise from Jason Mendelson (auth. Venture Deals), "Patrick brings an educator's perspective and an entertainer's sensibilities to his overview of venture capital." An approachable but disciplined overview of venture capital written by a professional musician turned business school professor over a 15-year period of teaching venture capital and startup classes at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. The book is a one-stop shop for understanding venture capital, distilling lessons from hundreds of interactions with VCs and founders. Readers of the book will learn: The core competencies of successful VCs What VC's are looking for in startups How venture capital differs from other forms of startup financing How the sharks on TV's Shark Tank are ruining venture capital The top two terms on any term sheet (and a few other key terms) Why VCs often behave like music industry professionals How to think like a VC Understanding how venture capital works in our economy can be of benefit to a wide variety of readers, from entrepreneurs to corporate decision-makers and everyone in between. This book treats venture capital as a topic of entrepreneurial strategy, not finance, and includes a background of the industry, an explanation of all aspect of the "VC Job Cycle" and a framework called "VC Razor" for performing due diligence. Learning how to think like a venture capitalist can help anyone become a better decision-maker. "Well organized, clearly articulated, this volume spans the gamut from beginner's overview to expert's guidebook. Venture Capital has never been more important, and this volume could not have been more timely." Jerome Engel, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business "Patrick lays out important concepts and insights in an easy to understand and digest form. As he clearly articulates in the book, the way that venture capitalists think is valuable to anyone in business." John F. Clarke, Dean of Graduate Programs, Tulane University Why Write Another Venture Capital Book? From the author: Over the years as I have taught venture capital classes and run a worldwide venture capital competition, I have struggled to find materials for my students. I have been frustrated by the simultaneous abundance and lack of available content. There is an abundance of terrific blogs written by VCs and founders, often teaching specific lessons derived from specific situations. Many VCs are prolific writers and have covered a wide variety of topics of the VC investment process. However, most blog postings have a very narrow scope, and they are not organized into a coherent body of work. They go deep in the weeds, but the forest gets lost. Similarly, there is also an abundance of textbooks that treat venture capital as a topic of finance. Wrong forest! Venture capital is undeniably a subset of private equity. However, approaching the industry from that perspective ignores the vast majority of what VCs actually do. If you would like to study venture capital as a finance subject, there are many other books that will serve you better than this one. Treating venture capital as a topic of finance overemphasizes the importance of numbers. For VCs, number play a large role, but just as important is the story about the numbers. In this regard, I will argue that VCs are more like journalists and filmmakers than financiers. What I have not been able to find is a holistic overview of venture capital as a topic of strategy, explaining its place in the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem. It is not simply entrepreneurial finance! VCs play a very important strategic role in commercializing technologies. Just as importantly, they employ specific strategies that we can learn and apply to our own entrepreneurial circumstances.
Shortlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year “A gripping fly-on-the-wall story of the rise of this unique and important industry based on extensive interviews with some of the most successful venture capitalists.” - Daniel Rasmussen, Wall Street Journal “A must-read for anyone seeking to understand modern-day Silicon Valley and even our economy writ large.” -Bethany McLean, The Washington Post "A rare and unsettling look inside a subculture of unparalleled influence.” —Jane Mayer "A classic...A book of exceptional reporting, analysis and storytelling.” —Charles Duhigg From the New York Times bestselling author of More Money Than God comes the astonishingly frank and intimate story of Silicon Valley’s dominant venture-capital firms—and how their strategies and fates have shaped the path of innovation and the global economy Innovations rarely come from “experts.” Elon Musk was not an “electric car person” before he started Tesla. When it comes to improbable innovations, a legendary tech VC told Sebastian Mallaby, the future cannot be predicted, it can only be discovered. It is the nature of the venture-capital game that most attempts at discovery fail, but a very few succeed at such a scale that they more than make up for everything else. That extreme ratio of success and failure is the power law that drives the VC business, all of Silicon Valley, the wider tech sector, and, by extension, the world. In The Power Law, Sebastian Mallaby has parlayed unprecedented access to the most celebrated venture capitalists of all time—the key figures at Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Accel, Benchmark, and Andreessen Horowitz, as well as Chinese partnerships such as Qiming and Capital Today—into a riveting blend of storytelling and analysis that unfurls the history of tech incubation, in the Valley and ultimately worldwide. We learn the unvarnished truth, often for the first time, about some of the most iconic triumphs and infamous disasters in Valley history, from the comedy of errors at the birth of Apple to the avalanche of venture money that fostered hubris at WeWork and Uber. VCs’ relentless search for grand slams brews an obsession with the ideal of the lone entrepreneur-genius, and companies seen as potential “unicorns” are given intoxicating amounts of power, with sometimes disastrous results. On a more systemic level, the need to make outsized bets on unproven talent reinforces bias, with women and minorities still represented at woefully low levels. This does not just have social justice implications: as Mallaby relates, China’s homegrown VC sector, having learned at the Valley’s feet, is exploding and now has more women VC luminaries than America has ever had. Still, Silicon Valley VC remains the top incubator of business innovation anywhere—it is not where ideas come from so much as where they go to become the products and companies that create the future. By taking us so deeply into the VCs’ game, The Power Law helps us think about our own future through their eyes.
