Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson – Venture Deals
Helpful guide to demystifying terminology, but more of a reference work than a book to read end-to-end.
A bunch of geeks figured out a better way to run a company and are now taking over the economy
The case that “data trumps opinions, provided your corporate culture doesn’t get in the way” contains little original thinking, but that – to be fair – is not the author’s objective
Venture Capital has been of major importance in the making of the tech industry in general, and Silicon Valley in particular.
Sebastian Mallaby – The Power Law
Nice as a description of the historical evolution of the VC phenomenon, but rather condoning in its evaluation.
From the start, WeWork’s business model was eerily similar to that of Regus while Adam Neumann’s main skill was conning investors
Eloit Brown and Maureen Farrell – The cult of We
The book is too overtly written with the benefit of hindsight, which makes the cautionary tale less compelling.
A start-up in retail should resolve significant friction in the value chain and/or the consumers’ lives
Christiane Lemieux and Duff McDonald – Frictionless
Story on repeat: X had a frustration, X is so privileged that she can raise at least a couple of $100k from friends and family, and X starts an amazing company to solve the problem – at least in theory – for herself and the rest of the world.
To become successful as a startup founder: copy everything you can and only invent what you must
JimMcKelvey – The innovation stack
The book is exactly what it tries to avoid: being just another entertaining founder story (in this case about Square).
Geoffrey Moore – Crossing the chasm
Written in an entertaining laid-back style that more business books could use and – above all – surprisingly relevant over 25 years after first publication in 1991.