Venture Capitalists at Work: How VCs Identify and Build Billion-Dollar Successes

There are several things that make this an outstanding book - and certainly well suited for an audience far larger than just those entrepreneurs trying to figure out how to best work with VC. Fundamentally, this is an extremely revealing book on how one ought to do business, regardless of position or business domain. Although the arena is staged at the very heart of the venture capital world, the lessons apply universally. The importance of integrity, honest analyses of the situation, recognizing and responding to the need for change, building leading teams, innovating, inspiring - these are great buzzwords, but the beauty of this book is that it gives these buzzwords real life through true examples on one of the most vibrant stages of the business world.Another strength is that the book is extremely easy to digest. Focused, seemingly "real-time" interviews that pull you right into the heart of the conversation, as if you were there. It is also an easy book to put down, because each interview with a leading venture capitalist or entrepreneur is relatively short. I found I could pick the book up between appointments, digest a quick chapter (which pretty much always left me fired up for whatever it was that I was about to do next), and set it down without loosing sleep (literally and figuratively).In the weeks since I began reading this, I've written the name of this book and its author down on half a dozen white boards and suggested everyone in the room go pick up a copy - and suggest you do the same. Great work.

This book is a wonderful set of interviews from the best in the venture capital (VC) business, explaining how they invest and what they look for in technology companies that can reach great scale. This book is excellent for new venture investors who want to learn more about the business, as well as current VCs who want to hone their craft. Published in 2011, this set of interviews includes prominent VCs from the current generation, including Jim Goetz and Alfred Lin of Sequoia and Rich Wong of Accel; as well as seasoned professionals such as Ann Winblad of Hummer Winblad and David Cowan of Bessemer. The interviews probe each investor’s rationale behind their most successful deals. Being able to understand how Roelof Botha of Sequoia, for example, identified that the prevalence of broadband connections combined with innovations in broadband technology created an opportunity for YouTube, is highly instructive for the new VC. This is a must-read for venture investors.

Venture Capitalists at Work is a great resource for entrepreneurs who are raising, or thinking about raising, venture capital for their startup. While I am still reading the book, I have already been impressed by a number of aspects of it, including:1) The caliber and diversity of VC partners that the author has been able to tap into for his interviews.2) The no-nonsense, straight-to-the-point approach of his interviewing format, yielding very informationally rich responses.3) The honesty and directness of his interviewing subjects (even when talking about their failures), who seem eager to provide their candid responsesI am a serial entrepreneur with three startups under my belt and have spoken to over 100 VC partners over the last 15 years, either while pitching, or at social occasions and gatherings. Despite that, I still found the interviews interesting and informative.I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in getting an inside look into the world of venture capital and its main players. If you are interested in raising venture capital money, it will be of great help to know how some of the top VCs in the country think.

This is a book that is illuminatingly insightful and fits together brilliantly. It should come as no surprise if you are compelled to applaud while reading.The curtain has been pulled back in order for entrepreneurs and innovative business leaders around the globe to observe the clarity of thought and empirical observation skills that venture capitalists utilize to help build game-changing businesses. This collection of interviews serves as a guided tour, written in a simple style, which teaches lessons on how to approach generating tremendous value for new market opportunities, as well as disrupting established markets in need of cutting edge solutions. And furthermore, elaborates on how to execute these advances in such a way that rapid progress occurs in a remarkably short period of time, with a dramatic buzzsaw effect on large complacent companies.Fasten your seat belts, for you are about to embark on a journey into a world of revolutionaries, imaginative discoveries, and boundless possibilities. And during this tour, you will experience mind-expanding views and razor-sharp perspectives of: Venture Capitalists at Work!

I just finished reading this book and thought it was outstanding. I've read many books on the topic and this is definitely one of the best. The level of access to current venture capital investors and founders interviewed for this book was impressive and the information presented provided incredibly valuable insights into the world of VC Investing and what it takes to succeed in developing the "next big thing".In my opinion, the repetitive nature of the questions and how the answers were presented was very useful. I would recommend taking some notes as you read the interviews and while many of the answers given are very diverse you will also see important underlying themes emerge.Overall, I thought the book was well written and I highly recommend reading it.

I was recommened this book by a friend as a great guide to the way that US Venture investors think.The book follows interviews with the venture capitalists behind great successes like Twitter and YouTube. The clear focus on winning big above all else is inspiring to read about.I have enjoyed this format and will look at other books in the 'at work series'

prduct is great

this book reads a bit of a sales pitch about how awesome those VCs are, trying to sell them as geniuses when it could all be survivorship bias, for all we know.Also, after the fifth or sixth interview, they all read like the same interview, over and over. I dislike the culture of driving founders to work themselves to death for an uncertain payoff (maybe I am too much of a lazy european myself?). And the endless repetition of "B players hire C players" as if it that was a proven scientific theory got old really fast.