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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