Demystifying Venture Capital

Book excerpt: Venture Capital is a marriage between 'people with money and no ideas' and 'people with ideas and no money'. It is a high-risk investment vehicle with the potential for manifold returns and the possibility of a complete investment written-off. Although it is essentially private money and smaller in size than traditional financing pillars, its impact has been phenomenal, even to the extent of transforming the way we live in the modern world. Yet the fact remains that the business of venture capital is not fully understood by startup founders and fund managers are also not familiar with the inner workings of other venture funds. And, as more public or tax-players’ money flows into this asset class, it begs a shift from the existing esoteric styles to more transparent and predictable operations. It would also be beneficial if the craft of venture capital is well understood by the business community and most importantly, policymakers as Demystifying Venture Capital: How it works and How to get primarily written to address these concerns, and to explain the subject in a nontechnical manner, as far as possible. A handbook for fund managers, startups, academicians interested in the subject, policy makers, and aspiring entrepreneurs, this book is unique as it has been written along with the top 25 venture funds in India as co-authors. The first part builds the concepts and theoretical framework of venture investing throughout the venture capital life cycle, giving readers a robust academic backdrop while the second part offer 25 first-hand accounts of how VCs invest, where they invest, what they look for while investing, providing invaluable insights into the minds and methods of VCs. All in all, this prototype is a first-of-its-kind endeavour to deliver a 360-degree + view of the Venture Capital universe.