Monday, August 17, 2015

"The Startup Game" by William H. Draper - Review

I am naturally curious about people who can create values from "zero".   

One things that really interests me is the dilemma that exists in startup world: people who have financial resources lack scientific or engineering knowledge, and people who have scientific and engineering knowledge lack necessary financial resources.

I thought this book would provide some answers to this dilemma. The author, William H. Draper, is  third generation venture capitalist.

However, book failed to live up to my expectations. First of all, the author's background disqualifies him, in my view, to pontificate about startups. He was born in very well to do family. His father was General in US army and later became one of the first venture capitalists in USA. It appears that the author had never experienced difficulty associated with starting something new. He talks about venture risk but he himself never really risked anything substantial in his work. He just happened to be lucky enough to have an access to surplus money due to his connections (that existed due to his family position). 

Book fails to explain how to raise money and how to understand which idea is worth of investment. The author did not mention what was his personal ratio of successful versus failed investments. Every person with common sense and someone else's money could make random investment decisions, out of which some would end up to be successful. The author himself admits that one good investment can be worth of 9 failed investments. I do not think that to have such ratio would require specialized education or knowledge.

David Usharauli  

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