Chapter 2

The Venture Capitalist Mindset

In This Chapter

arrow Understanding the venture capital business

arrow Joining a venture capital as a partner, not an adversary

arrow Sticking to the right type of venture capital for your industry

arrow Finding other types of venture capital or investment capital

You may think of venture capitalists mainly as people with money who help companies grow. Although this impression is accurate, there’s more to VCs and the venture capital business than that.

Venture capital firms are businesses whose mission is to make money by investing in other rapidly growing businesses. VCs make investments in emerging companies, the most risky investment class known. Although you may believe your company will be the next big thing, most start-ups (80 percent, in fact) lose money and fail. So you can see how venture capital can be a very difficult industry.

In this chapter, we explain what venture capitalists do, how venture capital funds work, why some VCs can work with you and some can’t, and more. By the time you’re done reading this chapter, you’ll know that not all VCs are ...

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