Done Deals

The Inside Story of the Venture Capital World as Told by the Industry's Elite Players

Arguably today's hottest industry, venture capital is a dynamic engine of wealth creation that has contributed both to America's soaring economy and to its undisputed technological dominance. Yet, in spite of the significant media attention the venture capital world has attracted, an air of mystery still surrounds the industry and its kingmakers.

In Done Deals, journalist Udayan Gupta provides a revealing history of this phenomenal industry as told through first-person accounts of its most influential players. Organized into five parts, the book chronicles the industry's humble beginnings and extraordinary present, highlights the key differences between West Coast and East Coast firms, and presents a vision of the future as told by industry veterans.

Throughout, the voices of more than thirty leading venture capitalists — from early pioneers such as Eugene Kleiner and Arthur Rock to current top players like Geoff Yang and John Doerr — reveal insights gleaned from their personal experiences in successful deal making. From how today's hottest deals — like Yahoo! and Amazon.com — got done, to what VCs look for in a business proposal, to how they set up partnerships and hand select top management teams, the collective wisdom of this elite group becomes an invaluable primer on exactly what it takes to succeed in this high-stakes world.

An engaging profile of a powerful indusry and an insider's handbook for how to transform entrepreneurial visions into profitable realities, this important book will help hopeful venture capitalists and entrepreneurs alike as they put together their own Done Deals.

• Fast Forward
• Robert Kagle, Benchmark Capital
• Michelangelo Volpi, Cisco Systems
• Bob Knox, Cornerstone Equity Investors
• Cleveland Christophe, TSG Capital Group
• Ann Winblad, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
• Geoffrey Yang, Institutional Venture Partners
• Mitch Kapor, Accel Partners
• Beginnings
• Benno Schmidt, J. H. Whitney & Co.
• Eugene Kleiner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
• Peter Crisp, Venrock Associates
• Lionel Pincus, Warburg, Pincus & Co
• Herbet Wilkins, Syncom Capital
• Sanford Robertson, Robertson Stephens
• Arthur Rock, Arthur Rock & Co
• West Coast
• Paul Wythes, Sutter Hill Ventures
• Don Valentine, Sequoia Capital
• Reid Dennis, Institutional Venture Partners
• Richard Kramlich, New Enterprise Associates
• Grant Heydrich and Kevin Fong, The Mayfield Fund
• Larry Sonsini, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
• East Coast
• Charles Waite, Greylock Management
• Richard M. Burnes, Jr., Charles River Ventures
• Peter Brooke, Advent International
• Kevin Landry, TA Associates
• William Egan, Burr Egan Deleage
• Steve Arnold, Jonathan Flint, and Terrance McGuire, Polaris Ventures
• Morton Collins, DSV Partners
• Edward Mathias, Carlyle Group
• Visions
• Jim Breyer, Accel Partners
• Jon Callaghan, @Ventures
• Steve Lazarus, Arch Venture Partners
• John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

A book about VCs, which is a bit unusual. But nothing in this book makes it worth reading.