Venture capital (VC) is a very complicated business. I was first exposed to the term when I was a senior in high school building my own company. I am as enamored by the industry and its complexities today, as I first was all those years ago. Below are a couple of books that I found to be very helpful in breaking down industry jargon. Of course, nothing can be a substitute for conversations and experience.
Venture Capital & The Finance of Innovation, Andrew Metrick and Ayako Yasuda
This is a very dense read, but it gives a thorough background on the venture industry. You can pdf an older version here. I came across this book when I pulled the syllabus for the Fall 2016 Venture Capital & the Finance of Innovation Course taught at Wharton by Professor David Wessels. The most updated version of the syllabus can be found here. The supplement Chapter 6: Frameworks for Valuation was also very helpful. I highly recommend you check it out.
Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist,
Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson
I go back to this book from time to time to refresh on concepts. It gives a great overview of how funding works for early-stage tech startups. This book is very well written, and I am a huge fan of Brad Feld. If you are interested in VC, it is definitely a book you should read. A shorter pdf version of it can be found here.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz
I absolutely love this book. It is much less about venture investing as it is about the struggles that entrepreneurs in startups face. I think it is extremely important for VCs to see things from the founder’s perspective and empathize. Starting a company from scratch and running it effectively is hard. A VC’s greatest asset is his or her ability to empathize with the entrepreneur and to help where possible.
High Growth Handbook, Elad Gil
This is another great reference book. It is relatively new, but Elad Gil is pretty well known in the VC startup world. This book covers everything from the role of the CEO, talent management, product management, and hypergrowth structures to marketing and M&A. This book is definitely a top choice. I also highly recommend you check out his blog post on What is a Good VC?
Mastering the VC Game, Jeffrey Bussgang
One of the first books I read when I was learning more about venture. It is very easy to follow, and Bussgang does a great job of turning a very complex industry into a page-turner through insightful circumstances. I finished this in one sitting because it is that interesting.
Something Ventured
This is a great documentary to watch on the history of venture capital. If you want something with the bigger picture (like me) and a better sense of how the VC role began and evolved. I started watching it one night at 12am upon a recommendation from a friend and thought I would fall asleep before finishing it, I ended up rewatching it until 3am because it was that good. It is available on amazon prime and Netflix. If it is not, it is definitely worth the couple of bucks to buy it on Itunes.
Road to a Venture Capital Career, John Gannon
For those of you who already have a pretty good idea of what venture is and are just looking for ways to break in, I highly recommend you read this book. It is a very quick read. You should also subscribe to his blog here.
@TheHungryVC 