The Pioneering Legacy of Georges Doriot: A Look at the Birth of Venture Capital

daniel pimentel neves: One of the best entrepreneurial stories that I have ever heard about!
Deep learnings of entrepreneurship, finance, economic development and overall life purpose.

Brazil on May 09, 2020

Bob: Great read, especially if you're a business/innovation nerd. Some thoughts on Doriot:

--When he ran ARD (and also as Quartermaster, to some extent) he was relentlessly pragmatic, which seemed really unusual given the times (business moved slowly, emphasis on tradition) and especially surprising given how much the French usually love bureaucracy (l'administration).

--Occurs to me that he is a lovable character (in the book, the author seems to like him too) and that business tycoons are lovable when their approach comes from optimism, rather than perfectionism or some adherence to engineering efficiency.

--He really evaluated people on what they could do, which is something I think we've lost today -- everything is about credentials now. Few people in business have the confidence to hire on ability, which is why so many promising young people end up running big startups. Big problem for F500 companies. I think they're screwed from a talent perspective.

--The "why" of his life would have been something like, "why aren't things better?" which in its critical aspect is a French way of thinking after all.

--Stunning how many human innovations -- not...

United States on Jul 02, 2016

Stefan M: An extremely insightful and superbly written book. A must read for any finance student looking understand the birth of venture capital.

United Kingdom on Mar 25, 2014

Herve Lebret: Not many people ever heard of Georges Doriot. I knew his name because I know a little about VC. But I did not know much about him. Now that I read Creative Capital by Spencer Ante, I know much more. As usual, when I comment books, I mostly do some copy-pastes. Here they are:

In 1921, Doriot came to America on a steamship. Even though he had no friends or family in the United States, never graduated from college, and dropped out of graduate school, the Frenchman became, arguably, the most influential and popular professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business. Over three generations, Doriot taught thousands of students [Page xiv].

He was early to recognize the importance of globalization and creativity in the business world. “A lot of the things that were attributed to Peter Drucker [link blog] were Doriot’s ideas” says Charles P. Waite [Page xv].

He believed in building companies for the long haul, not flipping them for a quick profit. Returns were the by-product of hard labor, not a goal. Doriot often worked with a company for a decade or more before realizing any return. That is why he often referred to his companies as his...

United States on Jun 14, 2013

Thomas M. Loarie: "Creative Capital" is the best read to date for me on the venture capital (VC) industry. In it, author Spencer Ante reconstructs what it was that made it an economic engine for the United States and the envy of the world.

While the book is centered on Georges Doriot, it weaves numerous themes from beginning to end - the creation of the European automobile industry; the imperfections of the US capitalist system, first with a shortage of capital for young companies then with the difficulty of regulatory agencies grasping a new, potent business model; the rise of Harvard as the world's leading graduate school of business; the creation of INSEAD, Europe's leading graduate business school: the application of science and technology to the art of war; the proactive involvement of a teacher as a mentor to students in and out of the classroom; a lifelong storybook romance; the creation and evolution of the venture capital industry; and the value of living one's life to better oneself, his/her family, and society.

Georges Doriot, The founder of the modern VC industry:

* Never graduated from college and dropped out of graduate school but became one of the most...

United States on Apr 04, 2010