Last updated: 20 January 2021. When I began researching the classic and modern venture capital books for this page, I was blown away by the sheer number of venture capital books available to buy today.
Beyond my top 5 venture capital books, I've also curated some reading lists arranged by different learning needs. Whether you're the founder of a small start-up looking to raise some cash, or you're the principal of a leading firm - there's a reading list here that's right for you.
The prices of venture capital books can range from £9 for a short & autobiographical paperback, to £70 for a comprehensive textbook which explores most facets of this exciting industry.
It's worthwhile knowing that even some of the more expensive titles can even be read for free with Amazon's Kindle Unlimited free trial. Click on any title below to see the latest price from Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases which helps to support this site. This does not impact how I compile the list. Happy reading!
Venture capital books for interview preparation
Books to help you land an internships or those who are aspiring for a career in venture capital
Venture capital books on how to get the best deal
Mastering the process of negotiation to get more what you want from a transaction
Venture capital books on how to get funded
Attracting new investment is one of the most difficult parts of running a start-up
Detailed venture capital books for industry professionals
Find technical reference guides and detailed insights into the venture capital business
Financial Expert tip: The hardcover versions of technical venture capital books are in high demand! They can recoup up to 80% of their cover price when sold in good used condition.
Therefore if you plan to eventually sell back a title, your net cost could be as low as 20% of the cover price.
Click on the covers below to look at the used prices of these titles on Amazon to understand what cash back you could expect.
Stories from the inside - secrets of venture capital
Autobiographies and other revelations from experienced industry veterans
Books for investors in Venture Capital
Books to satisfy the curiosity of investors considering an investment in a venture capital trust
Download all these venture capital books for free with Kindle Unlimited
You DON'T even need a Kindle device to download booksHere's a useful tip that will save you £100+ on venture capital books. Sign-up to Amazon's Kindle Unlimited free trial, which offers access to all titles for free for 30 days.
- There's no obligation to continue with a paid subscription.
- You don't even need a Kindle to enjoy - any device will do.
If you're cost-savvy, you'll already be calculating the savings you could unlock and the knowledge you could gain by downloading 5 books over the next 30 days.
My Top 5 Venture Capital Books for 2022
Click covers to see latest reviews and prices1. The Business of Venture Capital - Mahendra Ramsinghani
Financial Expert Rating:
Synopsis:
"The Business of Venture Capital, Second Edition covers the entire spectrum of this field, from raising funds and structuring investments to assessing exit pathways.
Written by a practitioner for practitioners, the book provides the necessary breadth and depth, simplifies the jargon, and balances the analytical logic with experiential wisdom.
Starting with a Foreword by Mark Heesen, President, National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), this important guide includes insights and perspectives from leading experts.
Those aspiring to raise a fund, pursue a career in venture capital, or simply understand the art of investing can benefit from The Business of Venture Capital, Second Edition."
Who this book is for:
A comprehensive guide for those who are serious about immersing themselves in venture capital firms.
Whether you're new to the industry or you're an insider, you'll find a wealth of content in this book.
- How to raise a venture fund
- The due diligence process
- Exploiting exit pathways
The book includes many interviews with best-in-class practitioners.
As is becoming standard for text-book grade material these days, The Business of Venture Capital comes with access to a companion website with lots of additional material.
Financial Expert Rating:
Synopsis:
"How do venture capital deals come together? This is one of the most frequent questions asked by each generation of new entrepreneurs.
Surprisingly, there is little reliable information on the subject. No one understands this better than Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson. The founders and driving force behind the Foundry Group—a venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage information technology companies—Brad and Jason have been involved in hundreds of venture capital financings.
Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist is a must-have resource for Any aspiring entrepreneur, venture capitalist, or lawyer involved in VC deals as well as students and instructors in related areas of study."
Who this book is for:
The fourth edition of Venture Deals is an outstanding piece of educational literature.
This is a book for those who need to understand the detail. Those who want to be part of the deal and hold the professionals and other partners to account.
This book includes great chapters on:
- The VC term sheet and other misunderstood aspects of capital funding
- Building collaborative and supportive relationships between entrepreneurs and investors
- Includes extensively revised and updated content throughout to increase readability and currency
- Real-world examples of VC strategy
Financial Expert Rating:
Synopsis:
"Every startup needs capital, and ambitious start-ups seek it on Sand Hill Road – Silicon Valley’s dream street for entrepreneurs. That’s where you’ll find the biggest names in venture capital, including the famed VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, where lawyer-turned-entrepreneur-turned-VC Scott Kupor serves as managing partner.
Whether you’re trying to get a new company off the ground or scale an existing business to the next level, you need to understand how VCs think.
Secrets of Sand Hill Road is the first book that shows you exactly how VCs decide where and how much to invest. It will help you get the best possible deal and make the most of your relationships with VCs.
Filled with Kupor’s first hand experiences, insider advice, and practical takeaways, Secrets of Sand Hill Road is the guide you need to turn your startup into the next unicorn."
Who this book is for:
Secrets of Sand Hill road earns its position at number 3 in this list with its obsessive focus on the entrepreneur.
In each page, you can see the desire of Scott to help and nurture you through insightful stories and surprising revelations.
Expect to learn:
- Why most VCs typically invest in only one start-up in a given business category
- Why the talent you need most when raising venture capital is your storytelling ability
- How to handle a 'down round', when you have to raise funds at a lower valuation
- Why bridge financing is generally a bad idea
This is just small sample of the information contained within. Get ready to satisfy your intrigue and curiosity!
Synopsis:
"Getting a business up and running or pushing a brilliant product to the marketplace requires capital. For many entrepreneurs, a lack of start-up capital can be the single biggest roadblock to their dreams of success and fortune.
Venture Capital For Dummies takes entrepreneurs step by step through the process of finding and securing venture capital for their own projects.
Find and secure venture capital for your business
Get your business up and running
Push a product to the marketplace
If you're an entrepreneur looking for hands-on guidance on how to secure capital for your business, the information in Venture Capital For Dummies gives you the edge you need to succeed."
Who this book is for:
It's clear, it's concise, and it lays out all the inner-workings of the VC industry in a simple and readable format.
Perfect for VC newcomers of all shapes and sizes.
The eternal appeal of the '...for dummies' series is that the tight editing standards, and quality appointment of authors means that many of the financial books in the series are excellent reads in their own right.
I rank the UK edition of 'Investing for Dummies' in my top 10 best investing books list overall.
Venture Capital for Dummies, by Nicole Gravagna is certainly not to be overlooked simply because of its bright packaging.
Financial Expert Rating:
Synopsis:
"Mastering Private Equity was written with a professional audience in mind and provides a valuable and unique reference for investors, finance professionals, students and business owners looking to engage with private equity firms or invest in private equity funds.
From deal sourcing to exit, LBOs to responsible investing, operational value creation to risk management, the book systematically distils the essence of private equity into core concepts and explains in detail the dynamics of venture capital, growth equity and buyout transactions.
Who this book is for:
Mastering private equity is a book clearly written with a professional audience in mind.
Blending content from both academics and practitioners in the field gives the book a great combination depth and breadth.
That's why I'm happy to place this title by Claudia Zeisberger at #5 in my best venture capital books ranking.
Download all these venture capital books for free with Kindle Unlimited
You DON'T even need a Kindle device to download booksHere's a useful tip that will save you £100+ on venture capital books. Sign-up to Amazon's Kindle Unlimited free trial, which offers access to all titles for free for 30 days.
- There's no obligation to continue with a paid subscription.
- You don't even need a Kindle to enjoy - any device will do.
If you're cost-savvy, you'll already be calculating the savings you could unlock and the knowledge you could gain by downloading 5 books over the next 30 days.
The best venture capital books are needles in a haystack
"In a world where we have too many choices and too little time, the obvious thing to do is just ignore stuff."
As I eluded to in the introduction, there's a vast array of venture capital books available online and in local book shops.
In fact, it's probably easy to think of it as an oversupply.
Despite the large selection of books I've shortlisted above, I've in fact only shown you a small slice of the total VC book market. This is the tip of a big iceberg.
Why is this the case? Perhaps it's because many venture capital principals see authoring as an easy way to increase their visibility and respectability in an industry which is built upon networks and reputations.
Perhaps it's because the careers of venture capital titans tend to burn intensely and leaves many with long retirements, in which penning a book is an interesting way to spend ones time.
Naturally, this isn't a big problem. Sites like this one can help you to sift through this towering stack of titles and highlight the most useful or best value books out there.
Venture capital trusts are high risk investments
"About eighty per cent of venture investments don’t pay off. Occasionally, though, there is a wild success, and, since the nineteen-seventies, such successes have transformed American business."
Venture capital trusts carry a high level of risk to investors. For this reason, venture capital investments are not marketed to inexperienced investors.
Even wealthy investors are strongly advised to limit their asset allocation to a maximum of 10% of their total portfolio.
Although VCTs diversify investors money across a portfolio of companies, venture capital trusts are still a high risk asset class.
Small businesses are sensitive to the economic cycle, the availability of finance and have a high rate of failure.
Often, 90% of the returns of a VCT are driven by just 10% of the investments. In a fund of 30 companies, this could translate to just 2-3 companies.
With this context, it's easy to understand why the total return of even the best UK venture capital trusts funds can still be so hit and miss from fund to fund.
If a VCT manager fails to find these diamonds in the rough, then the overall returns of the fund will suffer accordingly.
Picking the best venture capital books
This make it quite difficult to pick the 5 best venture capital books available to review. Unlike some other specialist finance topics, there is actually an abundance of different titles covering venture capital. Perhaps too many! One of the reasons is that the books seem to cater to a number of subtly different audiences:
- Raising funding as an entrepreneur using venture capital
- Insights into how the industry works behind the scenes
- Understanding the venture capital mindset in advance of a job interview
- Optimising a venture capital deal
- Advice on starting or running a venture capital fund
I found that each audience demands an entirely different book. Beyond the basics principles of how venture capital deals work, each different perspective calls for an entirely different set of tips and ideas.
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