10 books on fundraising and venture capital for startup founders
Investing, especially via venture capital, is a niche industry that very few professionals understand. It’s easy to get distracted by noise and end up confused.
But fundraising is one of the most important milestones for your business. Being blank about this can make you vulnerable to swaying to wherever the wind is blown at you.
Hence, I have curated great books themed on various aspects of fundraising and venture capital that I enjoyed reading. I’ll share notes on them soon on my Merrative profile!
Books on startup pitching
Let’s start with the pitch deck. Equip yourself with the why what and how of your startup by following these three books. This will ensure you are able to present your startup with clarity.
To Sell is Human by Daniel H. Pink
In order to create a good pitch, one needs to know what ‘selling’ really means. This book is a great introduction to the psychology of ‘sales’ as an art and science in general terms, across various use cases.
Read this to get started with the fundamentals of pitching and sales.
Made to Stick by Chip Heath
When you are pitching your startup, you are pitching a vision of what your business idea could become and how it would make your investors wealthy. This would require you to understand how ‘ideas’ work and how to present them so that they are easily remembered by your listeners.
Read this book to include its tricks on making your pitch catchy and memorable.
Slide: ology by Nancy Duarte
Building slides is actually hard! Time and again, people make common mistakes across design, text, colors, etc with their presentations that seriously hamper your pitching efforts.
Read this book to learn the best practices for creating slides, making them easy to comprehend and visually appealing.
Books on getting started with fundraising
These books will help you understand what fundraising is and how the ecosystem works.
The Startup Game: Inside the Partnership Between Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs by William H. Draper III
This is a pro-entrepreneur book that would help you gain perspective on how venture deals work. It’s written by William Draper, who has spent 40+ years in silicon valley. He covers the history of venture capital, silicon valley culture, and how dynamics between investors and entrepreneurs shape the economy.
Read this book to get started with knowing the venture capital industry.
What Every Angel Investor Wants You to Know: An Insider Reveals How to Get Smart Funding for Your Billion Dollar Idea by Brian Cohen
Angel Investors often come in the early rounds of funding and form an important push to your fundraising journey. Apart from their usual cheque size, their investment strategy is also different from a venture capital firm.
Read this book to better understand their investing psychology and how to get the most out of their expertise.
Mastering the VC Game: A Venture Capital Insider Reveals How to Get from Start-up to IPO on Your Terms by Jeffrey J. Bussgang
This book is written by someone who has worked on both sides of the table. Author Jeffery is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. The book includes interviews with successful founders, including Jack Dorsey (Twitter) and Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn).
Read this book to get insights on fundraising from other successful founders and an author who shares perspectives from both sides.
Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist by Brad Feld
This book is targeted at entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and lawyers altogether to collaborate and navigate closing fundraising deals. It explains in layman's terms the various venture capital jargon and reading term sheets.
Read this book to know the technicalities of fundraising and clearing concepts related to it.
Books for learning the investment game
One of the ways to navigate the fundraising space is to read books that help make people better investors and venture capitalists. These books will give you a perspective on the other side of the table and how they function.
Angel Investing: The Gust Guide to Making Money and Having Fun Investing in Startups by David S. Rose
This covers the emotional and financial aspects of angel investing in risky, yet innovative ventures. It states how an angel investor impacts startups, how they can make themselves useful, select good bets, and conduct due diligence on potential deals.
Read this to understand how angel investors think, behave, and best practices to work with them.
#BreakIntoVC: How to Break Into Venture Capital And Think Like an Investor Whether You’re a Student, Entrepreneur, or Working Professional by Bradley Miles
This book helps its readers navigate the investment in technology space and develop the necessary mindset to make bets. It covers the fundamentals of investing, landing VC jobs, and developing a mental model of venture capitalists.
Read this book to get a sneak peek into the venture capital world and what makes them venture capitalists in the first place.
The Business of Venture Capital: The Art of Raising a Fund, Structuring Investments, Portfolio Management, and Exits by Mahendra Ramsinghani
This book is a part of the Wiley Finance collection that dives deep into the venture capital and private equity concepts. It covers the entire process of venture firm formation, fundraising, portfolio construction and management, exit strategies, and value creation.
Read this book if you’d like to get a comprehensive understanding of fundraising and Venture Capital as an asset class.
About Author:
Harshala is a writer and maker in the publishing, community, and marketplace industry. She is building merrative.com — a dribble for the publishing industry. Connect with her to hire writers and get engagement for your content creation efforts.
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