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Book
Review
DONE
DEALS
Venture Capitalists Tell Their Stories
Edited By Udayan Gupta, Harvard Business School
Press
In
Done Deals, journalist Udayan Gupta explores the
history of Venture Capital as told through the
eyes of some of the industry's most influential
players.
Thirty-five leading venture capitalists - from
early pioneers, such as Eugene Kleiner and
Arthur Rock to current industry stars Geoff Yang
and John Doerr - reveal their insights developed
from personal experiences in successful deal
making.
You will learn how today's hottest deals - Yahoo
to Amazon.com were done. Done Deals also reveals
how venture capitalists set up partnerships and
hand pick top management teams. The collective
wisdom of these stories spells out what it takes
to succeed in the high-stakes world of venture
capital investment.
Organized into five parts (Fast Forward,
Beginnings, West Coast, East Coast and Visions),
the book examines the industry's humble
beginnings to its extraordinary present. Done
Deals also highlights the critical differences
between West Coast and East Coast firms, and
presents a glimpse at the industry's future
according to industry veterans.
Until a few years ago, the Venture Capitalists
were relatively unknown. Today, they have
emerged into financial stars and some have
become familiar names, especially in financial
circles.
Gupta attributes much of the infatuation with
Venture Capitalism to the Internet. Although
many dot.com companies have withered, the
strongest have shown incredible potential for
profits. As Venture Capitalists show returns far
exceeding other asset classes, other investors
plunge more money into the industry.
For example, the size of the Venture Capital
industry has nearly doubled in the last 10
years. In 1999, Venture Capital funds raised $30
billion and invested nearly the same amount. At
the beginning of the 1990s, only $3 billion was
raised, of which about $1.5 billion was turned
back into deals.
Gupta is the founder of biztrail.com, a
multimedia news and information publisher. A
small-business development strategy consultant
and free-lance business journalist, he is a
Walter F. Bagehot Fellow in Economics and
Business Journalism at Harvard. He served as a
Senior Special Wrier for the Wall Street Journal
for over a decade.
By Frank
Szivos
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