Book summary
This book is a collection of lessons from some of the top venture capitalists and angel investors in the United States. Through the chapters, VCs share their experiences on how to build value in a startup by describing important aspects of how to pitch to VCs, when to pitch to VC’s, how to negotiate with VCs, etc. In addition, the book talks about practices that align founder’s interests with the growth of their company and consequently the growth of the VC investment. Not only does this strategy give the founder more liquidity preferences but also lowers the risk of investing for an investor.The book is written in the form of short essays contributed by various members of the VC ecosystem, with the author’s continuous narrative connecting the stories to his own anecdotes. Although ordered haphazardly, this book is a page turner due to the wisely penned stories and examples from such exemplary contributors.
About the author
Andrew Romans is the GP at Rubicon Venture Capital which is an early stage VC with offices in New York and San Francisco
Who should read it
- Entrepreneurs that
– Are thinking about raising venture capital
– Have raised venture capital
– Are thinking about raising a new round
– Are thinking about an exit
- Angel investors that
– Are interested in investing in early-stage companies
– Have invested in early-stage companies but want to do it better
– Want to ensure that their investments are set up for success
- Venture Capitalists – You just should read it if you haven’t already
Why you should read it
This book is unique in that, it is the first book that I have read which offers a view from the different vantage points i.e. from the perspective of the entrepreneur, angels, venture capitalists (early and growth stage), private equity guys and lawyers on issues that invariably come up whenever any two of the parties engage on a deal. This smashes the enigma that some members of this ecosystem create (or maintain) and provides tips on how to have the upper hand on a negotiation table. It teaches the reader how to question, negotiate and close a negotiation successfully.
3 things I learned from this book
- The importance of providing founders (and early investors) with liquidity at various points in the life cycle of a venture to
– Secure the commitment of the founders in the venture
– Provide money to early-stage investors & founders to back early-stage companies thereby creating deal flow for the VC as well as grow the ecosystem(The AVF team and I have started working on the viability of a structure described in the book along with our CA & Lawyers – more on this in a later post)
- The difference between patient capital and impatient capital and why it is important to match the start-up with the right kind of capital
- The preparation required by an entrepreneur (or even a VC) when pitching to investors
This was a big, big learning
- The difference between fundraising and raising a round of funding (very important!)
Where is it available
- This book is available on Amazon.
- It will be the first book for 2018 that I will be shipping out (physically or digitally) to all Artha investee founders (the team will reach out to you soon on this!)
B3/2018
47/2018
