ABOUT BOOK
Secrets of Sand Hill Road (2019) unveils the inner workings of one of Silicon Valley’s most iconic streets. Many of the area’s top venture capital firms are located here and have played a part in funding some of the biggest names in tech today. VC insider Scott Kupor has worked with many of them, and share their secrets – allowing the rest of us to decipher the mystery of venture capital, how to get it and why it can make or break a company.
ABOUT AUTHOR
Scott Kupor is managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, one of the biggest names in venture capital, which holds more than $7 billion in assets. Over the years, they’ve invested in companies that have become household names, such as Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb and Groupon. Kupor also teaches courses on venture capital at Stanford University and co-founded the university’s Venture Capital Director’s College.
For many in the start-up world, the inner workings of VCs are a bit of a mystery. Fortunately, the author, Scott Kupor, happens to work at one of the biggest names in VC. you’ll learn some of his insights into the life cycle of VC-backed companies.
Along the way, you’ll discover
- what the Y Combinator is, and how it tipped the VC landscape in favour of entrepreneurs;
- why the author’s firm decided to invest in Airbnb; and
- how to prepare for your first VC pitch.
KEY POINTS
- The nature of venture capital has changed over the last few decades new models like – Y Combinator – Andreessen Horowitz
- There are three important things VC firms look at when deciding which early-stage companies to fund
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- Solid founder-market fit
- Product-market fit
- Market Size
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- Mastering the art of the pitch involves a delicate balance of both flexibility and determination
- Term sheets can be tricky to navigate, as they concern both economic and governance aspects of any venture
- Maintaining a healthy CEO-board relationship is key to the success of any VC-backed company
- At the end of a successful VC life cycle, boards are faced with two options for how companies may continue in the future
BOOK SUMMARY
With the advent of countless new tech start-ups in the early 2000s, the relationship between venture capitalists (VCs) and entrepreneurs changed significantly. Nowadays, one of the main characteristics VCs look for in companies is a founder who has a unique insight into the problem his product is trying to solve. Key to getting VCs on board with your product is mastering the art of the pitch, which involves exhibiting a willingness to adapt while still being 100 per cent committed to the validity of your idea. Once you get funding from VCs, the challenge then becomes maintaining positive relationships with them; a good term sheet can help with this. And if you make it through to an IPO or acquisition, you’ll have joined the small club of founders who made it.
REVIEWS
“Worth far more than its cover price… I wish I’d had it available to me when I was first looking for startup funding.” Eric Ries, bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way, from the foreword
“As someone who’s helped a small company become a huge, valuable company, I know firsthand the power of the startup ecosystem and entrepreneurship. This book is the definitive book on navigating VC as part of that.” Eric Schmidt, former executive chairman and CEO of Google; technical advisor, Alphabet
“I’ve observed thousands of founders and thought a lot about what it takes to create something important and to achieve outlier success. Kupor’s book takes founders who want to do both through everything from how VCs raise money and evaluate deals, to how to think about term sheets and set up boards. It’s a valuable resource for any founder who wants to work with VCs.” Sam Altman, partner and president Y Combinator; co-founder of OpenAI
“As more and more startups consider an IPO, it is exciting for us to play a part in giving millions of new investors the opportunity to share in the value and future growth of these seminal companies. But it all begins with the early investors who ‘venture’ into uncharted territory to help make these companies possible, by backing the entrepreneurs behind them. Secrets of Sand Hill Road is the definitive guide to how to engage the VC community, including governance and other best practices in a startup’s journey to a successful public company. Adena Friedman, President and CEO of Nasdaq; former managing director and CFO, Carlyle Group
“From acquiring startups, to leading a company, to working to select the next leader of an iconic company, I’ve seen it all. It’s become clear to me that startups drive the kind of innovation that big companies can’t easily do. Secrets of Sand Hill Road provides a useful overview for the next generation of leaders seeking to start such companies.”John W. Thompson, chairman, Microsoft; former CEO of Symantec
“Despite its explosive growth, the world of venture capital remains mysterious to many entrepreneurs seeking funding and to the public more generally. Scott Kupor provides an informative account of the way in which these investors select and nurture young companies. Josh Lerner, head of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School