Nothing Ventured: The Perils and Payoffs of the Great American Venture Capital Game

Rating:
Summary: Very good anecdotal review of the VC process
Review: Compared to several other no less valuable VC "how to" texts, Robert Kunze's "Nothing Ventured" is unique in the fact that it is almost entirely anecdotal, filled with numerous war-stories (some won, some lost) that illustrate venturing concepts in a much less dry, textbook format. In fact, some of these illustrations are down-right riveting! When the book was published, Kunze, a senior, ambassador-like figure in the VC community, was in the thick of high tech investing. While other texts may better illustrate, (granted in their dryer, less engaging way), the basic essentials of general VC investing, Kunze's work gives better insight into the decision making process in high tech investing. No textbook to date has satisfactorily dealt with this exciting, high-wire industry, and it seems that Kunze's "case study" method may in fact be the best method to tackle it. While the technologies of the companies he reviews may no longer be cutting edge, the review process and problems encountered are still the same as today. While the dryer texts may provide the skeletal and musculature systems of VC investing, "Nothing Ventured" adds a bit of the heart, mind and soul to the picture.

Rating:
Summary: Good "war stories" based overview of an exciting business
Review: Kunze does an excellent job of overviewing the industry, from its origins, growth and key success factors, to a somewhat weaker prediction of the future. The real strength is that Kunze provides new entrants to venture capital with his arsenal of war stories that provide a nice back drop to all the theory and abstract advice. The author, at times, is a bit corny in his attempts to make himself seem like the ultimate nice guy even as he needs to fire his 10th entrepreneur. But behind all that is insight into how the pros find deals, analyze them, fund them, manage them and, most importantly, make money off of them. A highly recommended read