How to Secure Venture Capital Funding for Your Business: A Guide for Entrepreneurs

Ash E: I am reading this book for a class, but I wish I encountered it sooner. It is a good comprehensive study of VC - as far as I can tell from a student perspective.

Canada on Mar 16, 2019

Martin C: Unfortunately the copy I got was damaged so I had to return it, but flicking through it it covered the basics for raising venture capital but a lot has changed since the book was published and so it looked dated, crowdfunding is a game changer and its absence means that this may provide people with a good grounding (the fundamentals are the same) but it won't provide the full picture.

United Kingdom on Jul 24, 2017

wmosman: Good tips, but mostly outdated

United States on May 23, 2017

Jay A Crone: Great condition!

Canada on Oct 08, 2015

Yemi: I work in industry and within a financial discipline but not on the investor side. This covered a lot of practical aspects of deal making between founders and investors. It outlined risks, pitfalls and opportunities from investor and founder perspectives. I am not in a venture capital company but found it useful as an introduction to shareholder bargains. The rule of thumb statements should be taken as illustrations only because I think there is research to show empirically how many investments have done well in the past, achieved flat returns vs failed. Obviously the past is no guarantee of what will happen in the future. As with anything this will only be useful if relevant to work, practiced or used as an investor.

United Kingdom on Feb 05, 2015

George Beard: In Dermot Berkery's book "Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur" looks back with precise insights into a time when "Limited Partners" would invest millions in a VC fund. Berkery says on page 114 that LP's hopes were of getting at least 2.5 times their investment back over the (typically 10 year) life of that (LP or LLC) Venture Capital Fund.

So, around the turn of this, the 21st Century, LPs invested about $130 Billion in U.S. VC funds that, over 10 years LOST 4.2 percent. Subsequently, in 2009 and 2010 U.S. VC funding totaled about 10 times LESS, (click icon for Rock-A-Bye IP - A Dangerous Bargain for Inventors" complete with details in footnotes at [...]).

Given the 90% fall-off in U.S. VC funding, these days entrepreneurs are searching for background on the "Beacon Method" in such now-pertinent books as:

"Web-Based Venture Money - A Guide to Capital Formation" by John K. Romano and

"Take Your Company Public!: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Alternative Capital Sources" by Drew Field

United States on Jul 23, 2011

Andrew: My review will be a bit short of words but hopefully not so much of interest to a potential buyer/reader. We were raising VC capital for the first time in our lives. The project is a software development company with an existing and well-known FOSS product. The "management" (us) all had solid engineering background and that of a technical management as well. But not that extensive business one. So we were here - fresh MBA graduates who decided to start a VC-backed company. I must say here that the book help was tremendous. Despite the fact we had our MBA lessons about VC's, it wasn't nearly as useful as this book full of wise suggestions and useful information. For those who are eager to know the end of the story - we've raised the necessary capital and really planning to be a success story. Without this book we would have missed LOTS of subtleties. While you can actually grab almost everything relevant to a VC-funding from the web, it's wouldn't be nearly as productive as reading through Mr. Berkery's book.

United States on Jul 12, 2011

Allen O'Neill: I can honestly say that this book has changed the way I look at business, and building a company in general. It is laid out very clearly, uses easy to understand examples and is accessible to the non-financial guru! I talked to a VC recently who wryly said the book gave away to many secrets. Ultimately it's a very fair, insightful, from the hip guide, that will inform and educate you in many ways. I now recommend it to everyone I meet who is considering building an enterprise of scale - even if they don't think they need it - the wisdom is there!

If you are considering building something big - get this book first, and know the game!

United Kingdom on May 28, 2010

Home Deep Peaux: I am a veteran of several Silicon Valley startups, having gone to raise money, and watched money being raised, and invested my own as an angel.

This book is by far the best I've ever gone through, from the point of view of someone very experienced in the field, with the gift of being able to articulate not the theory, but the true practice.

The author goes through the mindsets of the investors and the entrepreneurs in an uncannily accurate manner. His chapters on what makes for a successful business plan is so right on, and everyone should measure their plan against his required attributes. If you don't match up, you really need to consider another idea, or do alot more creative thinking on your existing idea.

This was by far the best $50 I spent as a career startup type. Thanks to the author for keeping it very real and readable.

United States on Mar 01, 2009

Michael Hudson: I haven't finished it reading yet, but I learned more about business in the first thirty pages than I've learned in the rest of my entire life.

This book is built to give entrepreneurs the view of people who have money and vice versa. It covers presentations, milestones, business plans, and stock options.

I had never understood what preferred stock meant until I got this book.

It's very readable and not pretentious at all, even though it's talking about people giving you millions and millions of dollars. It's also focused on the point that without venture capital and people starting businesses, the economy just doesn't work.

Excellent book, I'm very happy with my purchase. It's also written very recently and takes into account a lot of other companies' recent experiences.

If you want to start a business that requires some capital and don't know much about business, this is the book you want.

United States on Oct 13, 2008