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Creative Capital

Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital

The biography of the man who invented venture capital.

by Spencer E. Ante

Spencer Ante tells the life story of Georges Doriot, the French immigrant, Harvard Business School professor, and World War II general who founded American Research and Development, the first modern venture firm. The book traces how Doriot's patient, builder-focused approach backed companies like Digital Equipment Corporation. It is both a personal biography and the origin story of an industry.

Founders meet the original venture investor whose philosophy of patient, hands-on company building still defines the best backers today. Doriot's emphasis on people and the long term is a useful counterweight to short-term thinking.

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