Lightspeed Business: Find It, Fund It, Build It, When There's No Margin for Error

Rating:
Summary: Excellent primer for entrepreneurs
Review: Barr and Weintraut's work gives concrete advice to tomorrow's leaders on how to position and structure their businesses in order to attract venture capital and ultimately, win. The emphasis is on internet startup financing but I think young CEOs targeting other industries may benefit too. The subjects covered vary from really simple observations based on common sense such as the importance of focusing on the customer and why it is important to hire the best folks you can get, to more complicated issues such as how much equity to give to whom and what to expect will happen to the capitalization structure over time.

The book is peppered throughout with specific Internet company war stories from the last decade that well illustrate their insights and keep the prose entertaining and punchy. I would definitely recommend this book for folks interested in founding or working at a startup, especially first-time entrepreneurs that haven't had much experience with venture capitalists.