Venture Capital Investing: The Complete Handbook for Investing in Private Businesses for Outstanding Profits [Paperback]

David Gladstone (Author), Laura Gladstone (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 013101885X | ISBN-13: 978-0131018853 | Publication Date: August 23, 2003 | Edition: 1

In his classic bestseller Venture Capital Handbook, leading venture capitalist David Gladstone showed thousands of companies how to get funding and work with early stage investors. Now, in his revision of the classic, Venture Capital Investing, he looks at venture capital through the eyes of the investor. Gladstone shows all of you VC investors and angels exactly how to weed through scores of business proposals and find the gem that will deliver outstanding returns, especially in these soft economic times. You will learn what to look for in a business proposition; how to assess entrepreneurs and their management teams; how to evaluate financial statements, market niches, competitive environments, and product innovations; how to investigate a business that's already operating; and how to build effective partnerships with existing portfolio companies.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

• Venture capital and buyouts from the investor's perspective
• Start-to-finish advice on identifying winning business opportunities
• Evaluating management, finance, products/services, growth opportunities, and exit strategies
• Essential reading for every VC, leveraged buyout (LBO) funds professional, angel, and private investor

High risk, spectacular return...that's the idea behind VC investing. But smart investors reduce unnecessary risks and maximize return at every step.

You will discover realistic guidance for identifying hidden opportunities...assessing products and markets...evaluating entrepreneurs and managers...negotiating and closing deals...and much more.

Venture Capital Investing also includes insider's tools for expert investing: everything from sample due diligence questions to psychological assessments of entrepreneurs.

Whatever your role in investing in new companies, this book can help you reduce your misfires--and supercharge your profits.

Venture Capital Investing shows VC investors and angels exactly how to weed through scores of business proposals and find the gem that will deliver outstanding returns.

You'll learn how to assess entrepreneurs and their management teams, and systematically evaluate every facet of the opportunity they may or may not present. The authors walk you through assessing financial statements, market niches, and competitive environments; appraising the real value of new product and service innovations; and investigating businesses that are already operating. They also offer expert guidance on improving your odds by building effective partnerships with your portfolio companies.

The authors' best-seller Venture Capital Handbook is the top book for entrepreneurs seeking funding. Now, in Venture Capital Investing, they've created a classic for everyone who invests in small- and medium-sized businesses.

Due diligence, in detail
Expert, start-to-finish guidance on assessing VC investment opportunities

Will it fly? How high?
Just how good is that business concept?

Do they have what it takes?
Clear-eyed assessments of entrepreneurs and managers

Everyone has competition--no matter what they say
Hard-headed competitive evaluations: uncovering today's realities and tomorrow's

Negotiation and close: making a winning deal
Where the rubber meets the road

Finding your next great investment
Hidden sources of great investment opportunities

Adding value, improving your odds
Building winning partnerships with the companies you've invested in

About the Author

DAVID GLADSTONE founded Gladstone Capital and serves as its CEO and Chairman. He previously served as Chairman of American Capital Strategies, the largest public-traded leveraged buyout fund, and was past Chairman of Allied Capital, the largest public-traded mezzanine debt fund. With Laura Gladstone he wrote the classic book on obtaining financing for small- and medium-sized businesses, Venture Capital Handbook: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Raising Venture Capital. David Gladstone holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

LAURA GLADSTONE is a Principal of Gladstone Capital. Before joining the firm, she worked in equity research at ING Barings and Salomon Smith Barney, and she was a Syndication Lender at HSBC. She has also served as Marketing Director for Allied Capital Corporation.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (August 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 013101885X
• ISBN-13: 978-0131018853
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #609,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars VC Investing Basics, July 13, 2004

By 

EquesNiger (Prague, Czech Republic) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Venture Capital Investing: The Complete Handbook for Investing in Private Businesses for Outstanding Profits (Paperback)

Much updated from previous editions, David Gladstone's useful text provides a very cursory survey of deal and investment techniques, albeit for slightly later than "sexy" stage deals. However, as this book is designed for the novice, and as Lipper's text has fallen out of print, this sadly remains the only general text on VC investing for the inexperienced, and is useful in context of the level which it is designed to educate. While the many checklists may be somewhat annoying to seasoned VCs, they are probably indispensable to the novice investor, since they provide a summary framework when working through deal and business terms. And while the book is designed more for later stage (through certainly not LATE stage, as some have alluded to) deals, the book is, again, designed to educate the novice venture investor, who really shouldn't be doing high tech start-ups anyway. Irrespective of that, anyone who presumes to write a text on investing in high tech start ups would likely find his text applicable only for the next few months after printing. Ours is an industry that evolves very quickly, and changes rapidly in accordance to the latest trends. No one can teach you how to pick the winners in the trend that hasn't happened yet. Getting the basics from a text like Gladstone's, however, can give you the fundamentals on which to build that "knack".

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!, April 29, 2004

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Venture Capital Investing: The Complete Handbook for Investing in Private Businesses for Outstanding Profits (Paperback)

This book is a thorough, practical guide to the nitty-gritty of venture capital investing. This comprehensive, well-organized instruction manual summarizes the homework you should do before you make a venture capital investment, the paperwork needed to carry out the investment and the ongoing work you will have to undertake to have a prayer of seeing your investment pay off. If it is a little plodding, you can understand why. It covers a lot of ground. The authors compare venture capital investing to a partnership at one point, to a marriage at another. They don't attempt to sell you on venture investing. In fact, by telling you how difficult and labor intensive it is, they may even drive you away. We believe this book definitely belongs in the library of anyone who has ever taken a serious interest in venture investing. It will also help entrepreneurs who need venture capital financing by showing them how to evaluate their companies according to the criteria that serious investors are apt to use.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review - Venture Capital Investing by Gladstone, February 15, 2009

By 

Wong K. Po - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Venture Capital Investing: The Complete Handbook for Investing in Private Businesses for Outstanding Profits (Paperback)

This is a fantastic book to read. Simple and comprehensive with lots of good examples and discussions, good for novices as well as finance professionals.