From the Inside Flap
". . . as the Internet Age transforms our institutions the way the Industrial Age did 150 years ago, venture capital transforms the Internet Age. Venture Capitalists-with their access to huge and growing sums of money, their knowledge, their strategic advice, and their choices-literally determine what new companies will live or die."-Karen Southwick
Columbus had his Isabella. The Renaissance had its Medici. So, too, the New Economy has its venture capitalists-that select group of high-powered financiers with the vision to recognize the value of a new idea or breakthrough technology and the courage, tenacity, and wherewithal to transform entrepreneurial dreams into business realities. Without them, there would have been no PC industry, no Internet Age, no biotech revolution, and no e-commerce. Yet, despite the inestimable influence they've had on the course of contemporary history and everyday life, their identities and modus operandi remain shrouded in mystery.
In The Kingmakers, Karen Southwick, noted journalist and the Executive Editor of Forbes ASAP, strips away the veil of secrecy surrounding the venture capital industry to offer the first behind-the-scenes look at the individuals who populate it and the nitty-gritty details of how they work-and to profile some of their most spectacular successes and failures of recent years. She also doesn't hesitate to examine how venture capital excesses contributed to the dot-com demise and suggests ways the industry could reform itself.
Southwick traces the evolution of the industry, explaining why and how it got started, what it has been, what it is now, and what it is likely to become in the years ahead. Through a series of sharply drawn profiles and vignettes, she takes us into the thick of the action, where we observe, firsthand, VCs as they interview hopeful entrepreneurs, select boards for funded companies, shepherd companies toward IPOs, and decide which start-ups to fund and which to cut off. She brings us in for a close view of industry superstars such as John Doerr, Don Valentine, and Vinod Khosla, as well as a number of lesser lights, newcomers, and wanna-bes who are transforming the nature of the venture capital industry. And she takes us inside several struggling start-ups where we hear directly from the company executives themselves about the complex, often rocky relationships that exist between them and their VC handlers.
Offering an unparalleled look into the inner workings of the venture capital industry, The Kingmakers is exciting and important reading for entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and literally anyone wanting to acquire a better understanding of the forces driving the monumental changes in business and society wrought by the high-tech revolution.
From the Back Cover
Praise for The Kingmakers
"The Kingmakers-an accurate insider view of the very private world of venture capital, telling it like it is with no punches pulled."-Don Valentine, Sequoia Capital
"The Kingmakers is a terrific bird's-eye view of the playing field of the venture capital industry, describing the promise and concerns of the risk takers who have helped entrepreneurs build the equity economy."-Tim Draper, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
"This book provides a unique vision about how the kingmakers operated and thoughtful insights into how they will have to operate in the less forgiving future."-Bill Davidow, Mohr Davidow Ventures
"With a suitable balance of hard data and engaging detail, The Kingmakers offers valuable insight into the world of entrepreneurship. The long-term view taken by Southwick illuminates timeless lessons for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists alike."-Dave Witherow, President and CEO, VentureOne
"Karen Southwick has demystified venture capital. We would have preferred that she hadn't!"-Howard Anderson, YankeeTek Ventures
"Karen Southwick has the rare combination of skills necessary to cover an industry as complex, powerful, and secretive as venture capital. She understands both business and technology, she knows her way around the big money climate of Silicon Valley, and most of all, she is a bulldog reporter who always gets her story. And what a story she's found this time: unimaginable wealth in a volatile mix with power and prestige. It is a remarkable and important story, and Southwick tells it brilliantly."-Mike Malone, Author, Infinite Loop, The Virtual Corporation
