eBoys: An Insider's Look at the World of Venture Capitalists

StriverStriver: Brilliant story telling by Stross

United Kingdom on Nov 07, 2020

Not public: Excellent piece about Silicon Valley. Timeless.

Germany on Jun 15, 2020

JJJ: Reads like a novel. Excellent behind the scenes account of the daily activities of a top-notch Venture Capital fund. Goes through the emotions and angst of evaluating early start up companies with an emphasis not only on making a profit but guiding these entrepreneurs in the building of their businesses.

United States on Mar 03, 2020

Evan Gow: I use the word "venture guy" here as the author mentions the partners at Benchmark never referred to themselves as venture capitalists.

If you want to try to experience the life of a VC without having actually had the job, eBoys is a great place to start. Granted, the story take place in the 90s when venture capital and entrepreneurs were making mind boggling returns and exits. I imagine the story of a VC would be very different today.

The one contention I had with eBoys is that it's story kind of wound around a bunch of stories. Sometimes it was a narrative of the Benchmark partners from an outsider perspective, and other times, it revolved the entrepreneurs. This is fine, but it would make leaps from one narrative to the next sometimes. This is generally just a problem faced by any book with multiple narratives. I think the author could have done a better job, but it is still applaudable.

United States on Jun 22, 2014

Kevin Kwok: The comments from many others reviewers that the author is biased are definitely true. There is a clear bias towards Benchmark and against KPCB. As long as the reader goes in understanding this, however, this book is a must read. Few, if any, books on venture capital have the access that Stross had, especially to a firm like Benchmark. Gives a really good sense of the experience of a venture capital firm. More importantly, anyone who follows current venture capital firms will be amazed the many differences in the industry even 10 years ago.

United States on Jan 13, 2013

HyperReviewer: I really enjoyed (and you will too), this documentary of the inside workings of a well known Silicon Valley venture capital company. Like many others, I had always associated funding as the sole value a VC firm brings to a startup. However, this book enlightend me as to the other core values brought to the table (staffing, business structure, management, etc.).
The book is written in strong and very engaging narrative, I spent a few days of my vacation at a sunny resort...under a shade umbrella reading this book (the water slide had to wait !). The eBay story alone was facinating, as was the previous histories of each of the founders...and there was more ! I recommend this book to anyone who understands the silicon valley "environment", also to those having a sincere wish to do so.

United States on Jul 10, 2000

Norman Guadagno: If you have ever been involved with Venture Guys (as I have), or contemplated that you might want to start you own company and go get funding from them, then this book will provide considerable insight into their overall mindset and the way that they do business. Stross does an admirable job of keeping technical lingo to a minimum and carefully examining the "how" and "why" behind the Benchmark investments. With such successes as eBay, Scient, and Webvan in their portfolio, the team at Benchmark provides a great model for the venture community as a whole. Likewise, the book does not paint everything in happy colors and shows some of the notable failures that have occurred over the past few years. This is a fine book for anyone who wants to understand more of the money side of the companies driving the New Economy as well as for anyone that wants to see how deals really get done. The character development is a little weak, but that is fairly standard in business books.

United States on Jun 18, 2000