Rating: 
Summary: Remarkable Value
Review: "Fundamentals" is a distilled version of certain chapters in Bartlett's "Equity Finance: Venture Capital, Buyouts, Restructurings and Reorganizations", a 3-volume set available at most major law libraries. "Fundamentals" is really lawyering at its best in that Bartlett unselfishly shares many of the key business points underlying venture finance negotiations but does so in a manner which is easily accessible to most readers. Even for an experienced venture capital attorney, Bartlett's book is useful because it provides a relatively complete overview of the process and delivers the finer points without significant fluff. I would recommend this book to most entrepreneurs, young attorneys and others interested in a quick and practical overview of the venture finance process.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT Book, a MUST read!
Review: As a small business owner and investor, I loved this book. Not only does this book provide in-depth information about raising capital through use of venture capital, banks, investors & angels--it gives practical advice in laymans language. Sure, legal terminology is used, but so much the better to use when trying to raise money or invest. My only criticism is that the book wasnt longer. The best advice the book provides is what NOT to do and which PITFALLS to watch for. Also, how to structure your business plan to the specific financing you seek is helpful. This type of advice is usually out of reach for the average person. I am ordering additional copies for colleagues!
Rating: 
Summary: Basics to Venture Capital - The Legal Side of Things
Review: Bartlett writes an informative book to those unfamiliar to the details to deal structuring, particularly with the documentation side. This book is truly for the novice who is unfamiliar with business and legal concepts. Those with a business or corporate law background may see this book as a "nice" reference source. If purchased, it's likely to be unused. Individuals who wish to know the legal side of basic business structures, term sheets, business plans, and such would find the book resourceful. Though it's only 157 pages, it provides a foundation to the non-business professional.
Rating:
Summary: Basics to Venture Capital - The Legal Side of Things
Review: Bartlett writes an informative book to those unfamiliar to the details to deal structuring, particularly with the documentation side. This book is truly for the novice who is unfamiliar with business and legal concepts. Those with a business or corporate law background may see this book as a "nice" reference source. If purchased, it's likely to be unused. Individuals who wish to know the legal side of basic business structures, term sheets, business plans, and such would find the book resourceful. Though it's only 157 pages, it provides a foundation to the non-business professional.
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the money
Review: Fundamentals claims that it is easy to read - in layman's language- but that couldn't be further from the truth. I am a law student with several years of business experience and I've taken courses on Corporations and Securities Regulation. I bought this book because of my interest in learning about Venture Capital from a lawyer's perspective. Even for me this book was way too complex. The book's chapters and subheadings give the appearance of structure, but the substance is distorted. The author assumes you have a great deal of understanding about these issues already. Unless you already thoroughly understand such concepts as Securities Registration, Corporate Taxation, and Corporate Organization; and unless you have a fundamental knowledge of such terms as IRS code Section 83, SEC Reg D, Form S-8, Rule 10b5, first refusal option, Reg S-X, leveraged buyout, and best efforts underwriting, you will be left with more questions than answers. You won't learn what those things mean from this book, you'll have to find them somewhere else, yet they are essential to understand what he is talking about. The author gives a comprehensive overview of the whole process but will leave the "layman" lost in the effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Solid Overview, But Not for Laymen
Review: Fundamentals of Venture Capital by Joseph W. Bartlett is a solid overview of the legalities you need to know to seek venture capital. I say overview and not introduction, however, because I bet that after the first few chapters, the average layman will find portions of the book a bit technical. Although the book was intended for entrepreneurs, it is probably most useful to young practitioners in the private placement field, including lawyers, investment bankers and investors who want to understand the legal framework under which private placements are raised in the United States. The entrepreneur might droop just where Bartlett hits his stride--in his succinct discussion of Rule 144, Regulation D and other regulations and guidelines relevant to venture capital and other private placements. The entrepreneur will find the book particularly useful when Bartlett describes the basic corporate structure; the types of securities and their legal implications, and the important considerations when drafting a business plan or prospectus. The book succeeds best when Bartlett draws upon his experience as a partner of the law firm Morrison Forster to outline the motivations of the venture capital firm, the startup and other participants in negotiations. The chapter on valuation is cursory, but there are other books to which the entrepreneur or practitioner can turn for fuller discussion. Thus Fundamentals of Venture Capital might not be the last book that you pick up to learn about venture capital, but especially if you want to learn about the legal issues, it is not a bad place to start.
Rating:
Summary: Quick Read
Review: Given the overall complexity of the topic, I thought that this was an especially quick read. At the same time, it touched upon enough sub-topics and did so with sufficient detail to get a good overview of how VC approach new businesses. I did not think that this was the authoritative statement on any given point, but a solid primer. To the extent you need to know more about a topic, you should be well armed to research it further. I encounted the book through a senior capstone course at a local MBA program. I was lecturing on a topic and saw the book on the syllabus.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth the money
Review: I did not find this book easy to read. I am new to this field, and am a potential enterpreneur, which by definition makes me a potential investor. The book is written by a lawyer who shares his considerable experience advising both venture capitalists and enterpreneurs. The legal aspects that are discussed are of supreme importance, and this book offered me some valuable insights into the dynamics of enterpreneurship. If, like myself, you are a not familiar with the field, I would recommend this as the second or third book you read. I bought this book together with "High Tech Start Up", which I read first (and highly recommend). I have to admit that it is likely that there was a lot in this book that I did not fully understand. I will be using the book for cross reference with my other information sources.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT Book, a MUST read!
Review: If your a rookie in the world of VC financing and you think that you'll breeze through this 160+ page book in an hour or so, forget it. Having read it, re-read it, underscored, and taken notes, I feel like I've just had two lessons in Karate -- I now know just enough to get myself killed. (And that's with 20+ years of financial background.) That being said - it covers all the bases, contains a wealth of information, and is loaded with practical, albiet sometimes complicated advice. I suggest that you read it, but don't make it your only source -- it's too condensed for the subject matter covered, and will be a bit over the heads of the non-Wall Street types.
Rating:
Summary: This Book Needs to be Rewritten
Review: Most of the other reviewers have said this book is NOT easy to read. I am another one of those readers. I want to be more specific WHY this book is so difficult to read. This book is supposed to be for layman. However the author uses terminology that would go over the layman's head. At the same time he skims and glosses over the details. So it sounds technical but it's not! What's worse, the readability of this book suffers from the use of tedious sentence structure and from unnecessarily high-caliber word selection like: atavistic, quixotic and salubrious. I was disappointed in this book for more reasons than the readability problem. Chapters 3 through 7 cover the basics of starting a business. First of all these chapters don't belong in this book. As it is chapters 3 through 7 skim over topics that each belong in their own separate and adequately detailed book. Even if this book had been titled, "The Complete Guide to Starting a Business" it would have failed miserably because the level of detail is so totally inadequate. This book is supposed to be about Venture Capital and that's all it should have discussed from beginning to end. This book is 160 pages long and yet the author only starts to get into venture capital at page 80. Again readability suffers, the detail isn't there, the line of thought is disjointed and the layman would be lost in the technical terms. I think this book needs to be completely rewritten and revised. I have no doubt the author knows what he's talking about and that he has valuable knowledge to share. However, in it's current form, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. There's little in this book for either the layman or the seasoned professional. A book that I would recommend to advanced readers is "Structuring Venture Capital, Private Equity, and Entrepreneurial Transactions : 2001" -- by Jack S. Levin. It covers tax and accounting issues in great detail and the readability is superb.
| 
