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Venture Capitalists at Work: How VCs Identify and Build Billion-Dollar Successes

Tarang Shah, Shital Shah · 1 HN points · 2 HN comments
HN Books has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention "Venture Capitalists at Work: How VCs Identify and Build Billion-Dollar Successes" by Tarang Shah, Shital Shah.
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Amazon Summary
"This is probably the single most valuable resource for the entrepreneurs aspiring to build successful companies" ―Ron Conway, Special Adviser, SV Angel, and investor in Facebook, Google, Twitter, Foursquare, PayPal, Zappos "I highly recommend Venture Capitalists at Work. This book captures the personalities and approaches of a number of leading VC practitioners and displays the heart and soul of the venture capital process, by offering an exclusive window into the voice of the practitioners." ―Gus Tai, Trinity Ventures "Venture Capitalists at Work is a foundational pillar in an entrepreneur's understanding and resources. This is a first in terms of the level of detail, quality of discussion, and value to the entrepreneur." ―George Zachary, Charles River Ventures and Investor in Twitter Venture Capitalists at Work: How VCs Identify and Build Billion-Dollar Successes offers unparalleled insights into the funding and management of companies like YouTube, Zappos, Twitter, Starent, Facebook, and Groupon. The venture capitalists profiled―among the best in the business―also reveal how they identify promising markets, products, and entrepreneurs. Author Tarang Shah, a venture capital professional himself, interviews rising VC stars, Internet and software investment pioneers, and venture investment thought leaders. You’ll learn firsthand what criteria venture capitalists use to make investments, how they structure deals, the many ways they help the companies they fund, avoidable mistakes they see all too often, the role of luck in a success, and why so many startups fail. Venture Capitalists at Work also contains interviews with those on the receiving end of venture money―entrepreneurs in high-profile startups that went on to achieve great success. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, an aspiring VC, an M&A professional, or an ambitious student, the knowledge you will gain from Venture Capitalists at Work could provide a significant shortcut to success. Other books in the Apress At Work Series: Coders at Work, Seibel, 978-1-4302-1948-4 CIOs at Work, Yourdon, 978-1-4302-3554-5 CTOs at Work, Donaldson, Seigel, & Donaldson, 978-1-4302-3593-4 Founders at Work, Livingston, 978-1-4302-1078-8 European Founders at Work, Santos, 978-1-4302-3906-2 Women Leaders at Work, Ghaffari, 978-1-4302-3729-7 Advertisers at Work, Tuten, 978-1-4302-3828-7 Gamers at Work, Ramsay. 978-1-4302-3351-0
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Hacker News Stories and Comments

All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this book.
http://www.amazon.com/Venture-Deals-Smarter-Lawyer-Capitalis...

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-VC-Game-Venture-Start-up/dp/...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Startup-Game-Partnership-Entrepren...

http://www.amazon.com/Term-Sheets-Valuations-Intricacies-Big...

http://www.amazon.com/Venture-Capitalists-Work-Billion-Dolla...

http://www.amazon.com/Raising-Venture-Capital-Serious-Entrep...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Start-Time-Tested-Battle-Harde...

I believe any one or more of those will get you going in the right direction. All of those I've either read, or have seen recommended highly enough by people I trust, that I feel comfortable recommending them. The Guy Kawasaki book is a good, basic introduction to starting a startup, although it's a little old now. I think most of it is still relevant though.

A lot of this stuff is probably on the 'net as well, but you may have to dig around for it a bit. Quora has a lot of good questions (and good answers) on VC / startup topics, so that might be worth a look. Also, a number of high profile VCs maintain blogs where they share a lot of useful information. Mark Suster comes to mind (http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/) and does Brad Feld (http://www.feld.com/wp/). Note that Brad Feld is the author of one of the above books.

I never liked founders at work, there's nothing in there which you could learn. Here's the rating which I would to the book just like what Derek sivers did 2/10 - http://sivers.org/book/FoundersAtWork . It just turns out Jessica and PG has tons of influence in hacker community that's why you here her book being recommended all the time.

Alternative : Try Venture capitalist at work by Tarang Shah

http://www.amazon.com/Venture-Capitalists-Work-Billion-Dolla...

⬐ jayzee
Ok, follow-up post 13 days' after technology's recommendation. I got the book and I read it and I did not find the advice actionable. He interviews a bunch of vcs (and a few founders) but mostly vcs and you hear the same thing that you expect:

- Startups fail because they run out of money

- VC's like to invest in smart passionate entrepreneurs who are solving a personal problem who are not in it for the money.

- VC's like either big markets or great teams or both

- etc etc

Some of the interviews were great (Howard Morgan) but the problem with interviewing active vcs is that they can't talk about the stuff behind the scenes. Often founder's who have had successful exits have no such qualms.

⬐
Dec 06, 2011 · 1 points, 1 comments · submitted by hornbaker
⬐ hornbaker
Tarang's a great guy. I spent a lot of time with him at my last startup when he was with SoftBank. The book has considerable coverage of Sequoia Capital which I found particularly interesting.
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