Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist [Kindle Edition]

Brad Feld (Author), Jason Mendelson (Author), Dick Costolo (Foreword)

Book Description

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.

Product Details

• File Size: 440 KB
• Print Length: 245 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0470929820
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (July 5, 2011)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005CDYQSM
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #150,734 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book For The Startup Greenhorn September 12, 2011

By Justin Hanney

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Being an entrepreneur of a fledgling startup is akin to being a greenhorn on an Alaskan crab fishing boat - the goal is to simply not die. You are constantly surrounded by grizzly veterans who have seen the ups and downs before you. But deep down inside, those veterans are there to help you as long as you ask for it and prove that you can work up to their expectations.

This book is an introduction to one of the first lessons a startup entrepreneur needs to learn, raising money. While not necessarily the most difficult part of a startup, it's one of the most time consuming and potentially error prone. Brad and Jason are the grizzly veterans who will navigate you through the Term Sheet, Capitalization Table and 100 other terms you never thought you needed to know. All you have to do is ask, understand and absorb the knowledge they give to you.

I highly recommend this book for those beginning their adventures of raising money for their startup. It's a true life saver. Buy this book. Study this book. Know this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book for people new to the startup world. July 6, 2012

By Rattasak S.

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

There's not much more I can add to what has already been written here by other reviewers, but
I come from an engineering background, and this was the first book on this topic that really
helped me grok the what things to keep in mind over the entire process involved in creating a
startup (fundraising, pitching, contracts, etc.). Additionally, it will get you well versed
in the vocabulary of this area so that you can feel comfortable when deciding what aspects
are important to you during negotiations. In summary, this is a great book if you are just
getting into the startup world and come from an engineering background and want to feel
comfortable navigating unknown (to you) waters.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Business Book September 21, 2011

By Peter J. Neame

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

First - a disclaimer. I'm unlikely to actually need most of the information in this book. However, as I manage a small business, I have had to take an interest in the process. As I (attempt to) write software for light entertainment, the occasional fantasy of starting a software business crosses my mind.

I found this book enormous fun to read - there are a lot of insights into the process of negotiation, into the mechanics of of funding a startup and into the processes that go towards making a business successful. There's a brief and very lucid discussion of game theory, how it works (and how it doesn''t work). All written in a serious but not heavy style. Even better - there's a section on how VC companies work, what motivates them and how to avoid annoying them.
And the side bars on "the entrepreneurs perspective" underline the need for you to remember that the VC is a collaborator, not an adversary. But he/she wants to get paid too!

This is not a book for entrepreneurs alone, or even just entrepreneurs and VCs. This is the business book you should read in 2011, whatever you do. Fascinating, well written, and very helpful stuff.

If I should start a software business (yeah, right!) these are the guys I'd give the first chance to refuse to fund my efforts. This book has been written, I am sure, with the intention of improving the author's efficiency by increasing the pool of educated entrepreneurs. If entrepreneurs are talking the same language as the VCs, they are much more likely to be taken seriously and much more likely, therefore, to be funded.