Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A wealth of practical info on VC but difficult to read, March 23, 2000
This is a very practical book, delving deep into the issues around the process of raising VC financing. But it probably has a wrong title- this is not exaclty 'fundamentals of venture capital' that the author is discussing (maybe for the author with his 35 years experience in this industry it seems so). The author goes much further than simply explain the basic things- he describes a lot of issues that are not trivial. This actually makes the book very valuable, in that it is not of the 'Idiot's guide to..' variety. However, it would have been even more valuable had the author described the nature of the issues in more detail. The book is very short (120 pages), and it seems way too little to describe the nature of the issues raised there, which makes it difficult to understand them.Another drawback of the book is its language- I feel that many things could have been explained in plain English, and this is not a small issue. Some parts of the book are simply impossible to read. I understand that after being a partner in a law firm for many years it's difficult not to use obsure words that can only be found in legal texts, but anyway, this definitely detracts much from the value of the book. The author could have better adhered to the KISS principle ('keep it simple stupid') that he himself mentioned in the book. But again, I'm not a native speaker, so I may be wrong. A good thing about the book is that it is written with humor and sometimes even sarcasm, which makes it interesting to read for someone who appreciates dry wit.
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74 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
This Book Needs to be Rewritten, March 5, 2002
Most of the other reviewers have said this book is NOT easy to read. I am another one of those readers. I want to be more specific WHY this book is so difficult to read. This book is supposed to be for layman. However the author uses terminology that would go over the layman's head. At the same time he skims and glosses over the details. So it sounds technical but it's not! What's worse, the readability of this book suffers from the use of tedious sentence structure and from unnecessarily high-caliber word selection like: atavistic, quixotic and salubrious. I was disappointed in this book for more reasons than the readability problem. Chapters 3 through 7 cover the basics of starting a business. First of all these chapters don't belong in this book. As it is chapters 3 through 7 skim over topics that each belong in their own separate and adequately detailed book. Even if this book had been titled, "The Complete Guide to Starting a Business" it would have failed miserably because the level of detail is so totally inadequate. This book is supposed to be about Venture Capital and that's all it should have discussed from beginning to end. This book is 160 pages long and yet the author only starts to get into venture capital at page 80. Again readability suffers, the detail isn't there, the line of thought is disjointed and the layman would be lost in the technical terms. I think this book needs to be completely rewritten and revised. I have no doubt the author knows what he's talking about and that he has valuable knowledge to share. However, in it's current form, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. There's little in this book for either the layman or the seasoned professional. A book that I would recommend to advanced readers is "Structuring Venture Capital, Private Equity, and Entrepreneurial Transactions : 2001" -- by Jack S. Levin. It covers tax and accounting issues in great detail and the readability is superb.
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT Book, a MUST read!, April 27, 2000
By A Customer
As a small business owner and investor, I loved this book. Not only does this book provide in-depth information about raising capital through use of venture capital, banks, investors & angels--it gives practical advice in laymans language. Sure, legal terminology is used, but so much the better to use when trying to raise money or invest. My only criticism is that the book wasnt longer. The best advice the book provides is what NOT to do and which PITFALLS to watch for. Also, how to structure your business plan to the specific financing you seek is helpful. This type of advice is usually out of reach for the average person. I am ordering additional copies for colleagues!
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