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VC Razor Publishing

Introduction

Posted on November 15, 2019November 15, 2019

Why Another Venture Capital Book?

The simple answer: I believe venture capital should be approached as a subject of entrepreneurial strategy, not finance. I have taught venture capital classes and run a global venture capital competition for over 15 years. Throughout that time, I have struggled to find materials for my students, frustrated by the simultaneous abundance and lack of available content.

There is an abundance of terrific blogs written by VCs and founders, usually teaching specific lessons relevant to specific circum-stances. Many VCs are prolific writers and have covered a wide variety of topics of the VC investment process. However, most blog postings have a very narrow scope and are not organized into a coherent body of work. They do a great job of examining each tree, but the forest gets lost.

Similarly, there are plenty of textbooks that treat venture capital as a topic of finance. Wrong forest! Venture capital is undeniably a subset of private equity. However, approaching the industry from that perspective ignores the vast majority of what VCs actually do: bring new technologies into the world by helping build companies, from tiny startups with a couple of cofounders to potentially hundreds of employees and millions of customers.

Treating venture capital as a topic of finance overemphasizes the importance of numbers and quantitative analysis. For VCs, numbers play a large role, but the story about the numbers is just as important. VCs are skilled at creating a narrative to explain their analysis. In this regard, I will argue that VCs are more like journalists and filmmakers than traditional financiers.

There are also numerous retrospective books written by VCs or venture-backed founders who share their war stories and worldviews. These are often coming from some specific angle, such as how to raise venture capital or how to become a venture capitalist. Several of these books are listed in the sources at the end of this volume.

What I have not been able to find is one source that provides a holistic overview of venture capital as a topic of strategy, explaining its place in the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem. It is not simply entrepreneurial finance! VCs play a very important strategic role in commercializing technologies. Just as importantly, they employ specific strategies that we can learn and apply to our own entrepreneurial endeavors.

In this book, we will focus on how venture capitalists make decisions. My goal is to teach you how to think like a VC. To do so, we’ll need to understand the context of their behavior as capitalists. But most VCs consider themselves company builders, not financiers. We will spend most of our time focusing on the venture side of venture capitalism, so to speak.

Intended Audience

Understanding how venture capital works in our economy can be of benefit to a wide variety of readers. Certainly, if you are a founder considering raising venture capital, you will benefit from understanding the behavior of your future equity partners. Further, you are your first investor, devoting your precious time, money, social capital and mental energy to your startup. You will benefit from learning how to think like an investor.

{end of excerpt}

Jason Mendelson, Foundry Group, Co-Author Venture Deals

"Patrick brings an educator's perspective and an entertainer's sensibilities..."
2019-11-16T19:02:11+00:00
"Patrick brings an educator's perspective and an entertainer's sensibilities..."
https://www.vcrazor.com/testimonials/jason-mendelson-foundry-group/

Jerome Engel, Faculty Director, UC Berkeley Venture Capital Executive Program

"Your book is a delight!!! I love the way you organized, conceptualized, visualized and told the story.”"
2019-11-16T19:01:43+00:00
"Your book is a delight!!! I love the way you organized, conceptualized, visualized and told the story.”"
https://www.vcrazor.com/testimonials/jerome-engel-uc-berkeley-haas/

Bill Reichert, Garage Ventures

"...a valuable explanation of how venture capital really works."
2019-11-16T19:02:33+00:00
"...a valuable explanation of how venture capital really works."
https://www.vcrazor.com/testimonials/bill-reichert-garage-ventures/

John F. Clarke, Dean of Graduate Programs, Tulane Univ.

"...the way that venture capitalists think is valuable to anyone in business."
5.0
2019-11-16T22:07:53+00:00
"...the way that venture capitalists think is valuable to anyone in business."
https://www.vcrazor.com/testimonials/john-f-clarke-tulane-univ/

Amazon Customer

"...learned a ton...a great primer to the topic of Venture Capital."
5.0
2019-11-16T22:26:32+00:00
"...learned a ton...a great primer to the topic of Venture Capital."
https://www.vcrazor.com/testimonials/amazon-customer/

John Ruhl, UNC Kenan-Flagler, VCIC Global Finalist

"...fortunate enough to advance to the VCIC global finals...attribute much of my early learning to this book.”
2019-11-18T00:15:59+00:00
"...fortunate enough to advance to the VCIC global finals...attribute much of my early learning to this book.”
https://www.vcrazor.com/testimonials/john-ruhl-unc-kenan-flagler-vcic-global-finalist/

Amazon Customer

"Professor Vernon does an exceptional job presenting the many interlocking concepts that drive how and why VCs evaluate and invest...
5.0
2019-11-16T22:28:12+00:00
"Professor Vernon does an exceptional job presenting the many interlocking concepts that drive how and why VCs evaluate and invest in companies."
https://www.vcrazor.com/testimonials/amazon-customer-2/

Amazon Customer “gls”

"Professor Vernon has done a great job effectively summarizing very complex concepts. A must read for people interested in VC...
5.0
2019-11-16T22:29:57+00:00
"Professor Vernon has done a great job effectively summarizing very complex concepts. A must read for people interested in VC and entrepreneurship."
https://www.vcrazor.com/testimonials/amazon-customer-gls/
5
4

The Book

2nd Edition, 331 pages, now available.

Paperback, $24.99 on Amazon.

eBook download, $14.99
$5 off with coupon code “VCIC”

Download the most popular chapter, VC Job Cycle Invest, for $1.49.

The Author

Patrick Vernon

Clinical Associate Professor
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
Director, Venture Capital Investment Competition

Videos

What is Venture Capital?

VC Job: Fundraise

VC Job Cycle: Invest

VC Job: Grow & Exit

Order the Book

  • One Chapter, VC Job Cycle: Invest $1.49
  • 2nd Edition Paperback on Amazon $24.99
  • 2nd Edition PDF $14.99

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