Essentials of Venture Capital

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xv

1 Industry Overview 1

What Is Venture Capital? 1

How Venture Capital Works 8

Performance Expectations 16

Venture Capital in Crisis 28

Summary 37

Notes 38

2 Careers and Organization 39

Launching a Career 39

Nurturing Your Career as a Venture Capitalist 43

Firm Structure and Organization 54

Planning for the Future 60

Summary 64

Notes 66

3 Fundraising 67

Fundraising Is a Venture Capitalist’s Number-One Priority 68

What Limited Partners Want 71

Working with Limited Partners 73

Why Invest in Funds That Lose Money? 80

First-Time Funds 89

Bigger Funds 97

The Future of Fundraising 99

Summary 101

Notes 103

4 Investing Basics 105

What Makes a Good Deal? 105

Macroeconomics of Investing 109

Investment Process 114

Stock Classifications 118

Typical Preferred Stock Clauses 120

Stock During Different Stages of Development 128

Syndication 131

Valuation 133

Summary 140

Notes 142

5 Finding Investments 145

Gathering Opportunities 146

Hunting for Investments 148

Growing Your Own Investments 159

Alternative Methods 163

Missed Opportunities 169

Summary 170

Notes 172

6 Getting the Money Back 175

Gains from Investment 176

Going Public 178

Getting Acquired 188

The IPO Crisis 195

Solving the IPO Problem 197

Are Fewer IPOs a Bad Thing? 200

New Strategies and Adaptations for Liquidity 204

Summary 216

Notes 219

7 Booms, Bubbles, and Busts 223

Riding the Waves 225

Boom Beginnings 230

Bubbles 237

Busts 242

Summary 249

Notes 251

8 Going Global 253

Strategies for Foreign Investing 254

Venture Capital Outside the United States 263

Israel 264

China 270

India 277

Russia 283

Europe 288

The Rest of the World 296

Summary 300

Notes 303

About the Author 307

Index 309