Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It Kindle Edition

If I were to describe Scott Kupor’s Secrets of Sand Hill Road in a word, it would be “mistitled.” A more appropriate title would be something along the lines of The Basics of Sand Hill Road. The book does a solid enough job of covering the entire venture backed startup lifecycle in an easy to follow way. However, it’s hard to see how one could classify Kupor’s writing as revealing secrets.Here and there, Kupor shares some really cool legal case studies that I’ve never come across, such as in the chapter about board member duties. Now that’s quality insight even someone who’s been in the ecosystem for 5+ years can appreciate! And it’s also something that Kupor, a lawyer by training, is particularly well positioned to share. I sincerely wish we’d gotten more of those case studies, legal or otherwise, because they make the whole journey through the startup lifecycle all the more interesting.Instead, Kupor at times dons the Captain Obvious cape, with pronouncements such as “building relationships [with potential acquirers] is important.” Thanks, Scott, who would’ve thought?!At the same time though, I recognize I may not be the target audience for this book. Kupor likely synthesized versions of startup/VC classes he teaches at Bay Area universities. I could imagine a sophomore at another university (one not smack dab in the middle of VC country) reading this book and finding it quite helpful, as she decides whether to found a startup and pursue the venture funding route.It’s worth mentioning though that a significant share of the same content is also covered in Jeff Bussgang’s Mastering The VC Game. And while I haven’t read it, I’ve heard very positive things about Brad Feld’s Venture Deals. In all likelihood, reading either of these three books is probably a good enough basics crash course on venture funding of startups.

A sanitized, kiss-ass, exercise in pandering to your bosses at a16z. My biggest complaint is Kupor’s SJW virtue signaling threaded throughout the chapters. What a creep.

Five stars to the marketeers at Andreesen Horowitz who came up with the misleading title of the book. Three stars for the rest of the book. There are no “secrets” in the book. It is essentially a tutorial of how venture capital works.It’s reads like a Venture Finance textbook without the chapter summaries. I can imagine that most of this came from Scott’s lecture notes while teaching Venture Law at Stanford.While the title might sell a lot of books it really won’t help Scott’s reputation as someone who can talk to entrepreneurs about what matters to them.If appropriately titled and marketed to aspiring VCs and lawyers it might have been four stars.

This is one of perhaps three books I wish I had before I started my companies, and then began my subsequent venture capital fund. Crystal clear, detailed, interesting — filled with remarkable stories and data, but also empathy and personal experience. Wonderfully written. Must read.

This book won't actually teach you how to get money from VCs but it will give you the guidelines you need to approach fund raising properly. However, this is a book that should be read by anyone wanting to approach VCs for funding. It is a very good overview of the industry that explains the jargon, operations and motivations of VCs. The price of this book is so low for the value it gives that there is no reason not to buy it if you are even contemplating interfacing with the VC community.

Wow. As soon as I heard about this book I knew I was going to read it. But I had low expectations. I'd heard the author promoting his book on several podcasts and when I heard him say things like, "In my book, I pull back the curtain and reveal the secrets used at VC firms," I prepared myself for disappointment.Boy, was I pleasantly surprised to be wrong!-The author breaks down all the lingo, jargon, and highfalutin finance double-speak that sounds made up to the layman-He helps you understand not just the relationship between the VC and the startup, but also the relationship between the VC and the LP-You get to see the incentive structures LP's and VC's typically agree on, helping you (the entrepreneur) understand what motivates all the parties involved-The book provides a mock term sheet with realistic numbers and devotes a chapter to each section of the term sheetI could go on and on....This definitely isn't a casual read - especially once it gets to the sample term sheet. The book can dive deep into details and abstractions (there were several sections I had to read multiple times - but I guess that's why I'm not a VC!), and that's exactly what makes it so enjoyable to read.

Scott Kapur provides a three dimensional view of the venture capital transaction, from the incentives VCs face, what they look for as a result, and the documents that are generated to make their preferred outcomes more likely. Coming after having read Brad Feld's "Venture Deals," I would suggest reading both.Every startup founder should read this book early and often.

I've been an entrepreneur for most of my career. Wish I would have read this book a long time ago (or grown up) earlier. This book helps you see things from the perspective of a VC and see how they think. If your product is just a marginal improvement, or a lifestyle business, VC's have no interest. Being charming or persistent won't change this fact. Very illuminating, and Scott shares this perspective in a non arrogant and articulate way.

Great book for entrepreneur beginners. Also great for startup employees to get a better sense of the funding process

5* across the board. Scott (who I used to work with in the late ‘90s) does a brilliant job demystifying the VC industry and tells you exactly what you need to do to be able to raise venture capital. Highly recommend. 🙌🏼

Lots of books about VC financing and raising investment, however this book gives a genuine behind the scenes look at topics that other books don’t seem to touch on

This book is all you need to know about the world of VC, the machinations, how to structure term sheets, what to watch out for, why people behave the way they do etc. This is a work of passion. Every single concept is illustrated with examples. Just chapters 9 and 10 are worth more than the cover price. Definitive guide for entrepreneurs. Easy read too because the author clearly is a master of the subject. Highly recommended

I used this book to educate myself about how Venture Capital works. My LinkedIn review got over 4500 views, much more than the number of LinkedIn connections I have. Great book written in an easy to read and lucid style. Recommend reading for startup founders, even if they are not raising funds. As Eric Ries says in the foreword "Worth far more than its cover price - I wish I had it available to me when I was first looking for startup funding". And I wish that I was a startup founder right now or working at a VC fund.