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Title: Zero Gravity: Riding Venture Capital from High-Tech Start-up to Breakout IPO by Steve Harmon, John Doerr ISBN: 1-57660-032-7 Publisher: Bloomberg Pr Pub. Date: October, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.31 (35 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Rolodex & personalities of VCs, but nothing in depth
Comment: I really wanted to like this book, since the subject needs updated attention. But it reads as if it was rushed to market (some typos, lots of jargon and repetition), contains many many pages of relatively useless charts (here is a list of 'Net companies that might or might not still be around; here is a list of famous VCs; here they are again and again; here is a list of money raised by round...) and little meaningful content (the valuation section -- key for the entrepreneur -- was a major disappointment). The interviews with Mr Harmon's VC friends and entrepreneurs were interesting and revealed a human side -- but nothing that was not already easy to get your hands on via magazines and newspaper articles. Mr Harmon seems like a really nice person as did all of the interviewees -- but know what you are looking for when you order this.
Rating: 3
Summary: Has Some Gravity
Comment: Those who have never been part of the fund raising process do not know what to expect when they go hat in hand to the venture capitalists. Trying to figure out how to approach them and what they want to see can be like solving a rubic's cube. How do you get the color green to come up?
Even as a former investment banker, I myself have to admit that things look different from the other side of the table when you are asking for money instead of advising people how to raise it. (Not to mention that my time in investment banking was spent looking at high yield and mezzanine deals--not venture capital). That being the case, a book like Steve Harmon's Zero Gravity comes in handy if you are trying to understand the mentality of the venture capitalist. Harmon had access to friends and acquaintances of his in the industry, such as famed VCs John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Ann Winblad of Hummer Winblad, who he queries on such things as what they look for in an investment. You also get to hear some short war stories on their investments in companies such as Excite.
Among Harmon's best advice is that you study the VCs as carefully--if not more carefully--than they are going to study you. Do you know what kind of companies each VC firm likes; do you know who their partners are? Zero Gravity has many pithy axioms that the entrepreneur will find helpful. Certain things about the book are annoying, though. For one thing, Harmon plugs his web site so often, you might think that you were viewing a particularly annoying pop up ad on the Internet. The book also has a lot of charts and tables that honestly are more filler than anything else, especially since a lot of the same information is available on the Internet for free. Still, the book is a quick read and probably one of the more accessible books on venture capital on which an entrepreneur can get his hands.
Rating: 5
Summary: good basic data and insightful pieces, but buy version 2.0
Comment: HAVING READ BOTH EDITIONS of this book (Zero Gravity and Zero Gravity 2.0 published in June 2001) cover to cover it is refreshing to see the practical and candid advice in version 2.0 in the new environment where venture capitalists are slower to commit investments. More than ever, entrepreneurs need insights into venture capital SINCE most venture capitalists are extremely careful about new investments.
Walking into a venture meeting without any kind of idea of what to expect is a sure-fire way of not getting funded, if you get a meeting at all. This book arms new entrepreneurs with what to expect and how to deal with some of it.
Harmon revised the book in version 2.0 since the environment changed for financing startups. eBay, Yahoo and others built themselves on the approaches in Harmon's first book. The second generation of tech startups will benefit from the new tougher approach described in Zero Gravity 2.0. Harmon has kept up with the changes, alerting entrepreneurs to the new landscape. The book's core foundation is the same in any era. The data, interviews with successful entrepreneurs and methodological approach to approaching venture capital is more important now than ever. The book IS NOT an encyclopedia unabridged HOW-TO guide. Harmon cautions entrepreneurs in Zero Gravity 2.0 with some sound advice on building a company relying on profits rather than an endless supply of venture capital.
Zero Gravity 2.0 IS a great primer for the necessary steps in getting funded. It is PART of getting ready to start a company.
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Title: The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor ISBN: 1578518520 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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