The Venture Capital Cycle
Author: Paul Gompers, Josh Lerner
List Price: $65.00
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ISBN: 0262071940
Publisher: MIT Press (24 September, 1999)
Sales Rank: 30,455
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 2 out of 5
Should have taken it a step further...shame on publisher!
I agree with some of the previous reviewers in that this volume is extremely well researched. The analyses performed are data rich, which, in general, is difficult to do in the venture capital industry where data are sometimes hard to come by. However, I was a bit disappointed in that 10 of the 16 chapters were based on previously published material. If their objective was to truly study the venture capital cycle (and the interrelationships between the various stages), then the volume would have benefitted greatly by having a third author (or editor) who could take the results and present them in more of a "What does this mean?" format. More frameworks and more figures (diagrams) would have helped this volume dramatically. I think this should have been anticipated and acted upon by the publisher.This book requires quite a bit of digging as you read. I found myself making notes in the margin, which is perfectly fine...except for the fact that the book is positioned as "excellent reading for veterans as well as anyone exploring this...industry for the first time." If the intention was to provide an introduction, then more Figures such as those in Chapter 14 would have been helpful. I was VERY disappointed in Chapter 15 (only 3 pages?)...this last chapter could have been an opportunity to step back and look at the entire cycle (with a figure) and explore how their findings fit within the cycle framework and help readers understand the cycle.
This book is ideal for entry-level Ph.D. graduate students who are looking for a rigorous introduction to the field and are perhaps considering dissertation work in this field. MBAs or other finance professionals who have extensive experience in non-linear regression may also benefit. Those searching for an introduction to the venture capitla industry should turn elsewhere.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Deserves 5 stars for what it obviously was intended to be
Considering the fact that this book was written by 2 professors at the Harvard Business School and was published by a prestigious academic press (the MIT Press), it should seem obvious to anyone with some degree of intellectual sophistication that this book was intended to be an academic/research take on the venture capital industry. On that level, this book scores a solid 5 stars (especially since there is nothing like this book out there). For some strange reason people have gotten the impression that this book should be filled with 'war stories' of VCs and entreprenuers, sayings of business gurus, and other back-slapping, feel good cliches instead of rigourous scientific evidence. When these people find themselves disappointed (despite the obvious fact that this is a research oriented book) they accuse this book of being "not practical" or being only for eggheads. While it is true that this book is not going to be full of bar room banter about how one can get rich quick, keep in mind the fact that most VCs and entrepreneurs are in the business of sophisticated and highly technical ideas. If VCs and entrepreneurs have a great deal of intellectual sophistication, wouldn't they find a book full of empirical and deductive evidence about their field be interesting and possibly valuable? Food for thought.
Rating: 3 out of 5
thorough but Not Practical
Very important content, but of limited use for actual VC investors or entrepreneur. It is very good with its findings, but they are all known to investors, and are of less interest to entrepreneur. that being said, I enjoyed reading the book, which shows the "proofs" to many of the things we in the industry are doing almost intuitively. The books suffers from the fact it is not sufficiently detailed to be useful in practice, while at the same time is providing good information for students learning investments. I guess it is just addressing a different audience than myself, an entrepreneru and investor. Similar Products
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