Done Deals: Venture Capitalists Tell Their Stories

With the growth of the Internet and the exploding number of startups, venture capital has become far more significant not only to the companies that benefit from the money but to investors curious about venture capitalists' analyses of the market. Gupta, a former Wall Street Journal staffer, has interviewed 35 of the most prominent figures in the venture capital world from across the country, including such key players as Mitch Kapor of Accel, Michelangelo Volpi of Cisco, Lionel Pincus of Warburg Pincus, and Steve Lazarus of ARCH Venture Partners. In their own words, these financial wizards discuss how they pick companies and what tools they use to evaluate new investments. For example, Arthur Rock, a patriarch of today's venture capitalists who invested in Apple and Intel, says, ""I think you have to be a technologist today, because there are so many different technologies converging that you have to understand where everything is coming from. When I started doing these deals, there was no competition. You could make some mistakes, and still not get very far behind. Today, if you make any mistakes, you're dead."" Readers looking for insights into the success of technology companies will certainly find some here. Although it would have enhanced the book for general readers if the editor had supplied more connective material between the interviews--supplementing the strong introduction--this title will undoubtedly attract attention in Silicon Valley or any tech industry hot spot where the names of the contributors are well known. (Oct.)