The Business of Venture Capital: Insights from Leading Practitioners on the Art of Raising a Fund, Deal Structuring, Value Creation, and Exit Strategies (Wiley Finance) 2nd Edition

The Business of Venture Capital has been my venture capital bible. I am a doctoral student researching venture capital in life sciences and have read 100s of academic literature on venture capital. In a dissertation literature review, scholars are permitted to reference peer-reviewed journal articles and books written by experts. This book was a substantive source for me to understand how venture capital firms operate in real-world practice, such as the fund-raising process, investment process, governance, and exits. The author Ramsinghani is an expert on VC and constructed an engaging discourse on the entire spectrum of the venture capital process. The book is very comprehensively written (27 chapters) and includes well organized tables, charts, other visuals, and a reference list at the end of each chapter. The chapters on making the investment and the due diligence process were key for me. Instead of reading this book sequentially, I jumped between chapters based on the information I wished to extract. As a researcher, I can appreciate the abundant mini case examples, quotations, and references in this book that must have taken years to compile and consolidate. The most fascinating accomplishment of this book is that it can appeal to persons new to venture capital and to those who are more widely read on the subject. The Business of Venture Capital is the top resource for anyone interested in venture capital. Highly recommended.

Understanding a business landscape as complex and as difficult to gain access to as the venture capital industry necessitates a 360º view of that landscape in written form. For me, that's the value proposition Mr. Ramsinghani has provided with The Business of Venture Capital. The motivators of institutional investors, for example, are made clear by descriptions of the different kinds of limited partners. In detail and often via quotes taken from various conversations, the book shines light on what these different types of LPs are looking for, from high net worth individuals all the way through massive pension funds. In my case, it won't be likely that institutional investors are an option as I raise our fund. That said, I feel I have a path in developing our investment strategy with an eye toward growth such that in perhaps Fund II I will be able to begin those conversations. The book develops a number of key areas including valuations and convertibles all the way through board participation and exit paths. For a holistic view of the VC space, this is the book.

As someone who recently joined the Industry, this book came highly recommended by others in my firm and has been fundamental to my understanding of VC. Mahendra generously provides a behind the scenes look into a VC firm across dealflow, LP management, and the post-investment playbook.Mahendra's insightful explainer belongs in any venture capitalist's (or founder's) library alongside classics like Venture Deals, Startup Boards, and others.

When I started this book I was taking notes. At the middle it seemed to me that it has lost the excitement and after 6 months of taking a break and actually stop speculating and doing VC job, this book turns out to be awesome. You have to live it to really embrace the knowledge in it.

I've been in Silicon Valley for twenty years; I've worked at several dozen startups; I'm now with a venture funding group from China. Mahendra Ramsinghani's book is far away the most authoritative overview of how venture capital works. He uncovers how VCs get their money from investors (LPs) and their motivations and goals. This matters because it determines the framework within which the VCs work.The book also describes the interplay among partners within VC firms (the GPs) and how that affects authority, decision-making, and selection of funding. As with LPs, he also describes motivations and goals of the VCs.If you're building a startup, you must understand these issues. Decisions by others will affect your startup. The extensive information is invaluable.I've been discussing information in this book with friends who run startups; they didn't know many of these things.If you're building startups, seeking funding, or work in venture capital, I strongly recommend this book.

I hardly ever review anything on Amazon, but this is one that I had to submit. There are many good/great books on Venture Capital, but this is the most comprehensive. There is a very good amount of technical information that you can learn from immediately. On top of these technical sections, there is so much history in this book and excerpts and stories that are just fascinating. It's broken into sections that makes it extremely easy to navigate - while it's structured to be best read from start to finish, you can jump around if you're already familiar with certain sections. Overall, I recommend this book as high as possible for anyone interested in VC or entrepreneurship.

This book is mandatory reading for new hires in our venture firm - they are required to read it before their first day of work.No other book on venture capital captures the entire industry's dynamics. While other books may cover term sheets or technologies, or the history of the industry, this book lays out how and why the different players from LPs to GPs interact in the way they do. Starting with detailed descriptions of venture as an asset class and moving into venture firm strategy and culture and the process of diligence this book ties everything together in coherent package.