VC
An American History
How risk-taking with other people's money built modern venture capital.
Tom Nicholas traces the origins of American venture capital from nineteenth century whaling voyages and cotton mills through the rise of firms like Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia. He shows how a distinctive appetite for long-shot, high-reward bets evolved into today's multibillion-dollar industry. The book blends economic history with the stories of the investors who shaped Silicon Valley.
Founders who understand where VC came from can read its incentives, return expectations, and quirks more clearly. The long view explains why investors chase outliers and how that logic shapes the deals founders are offered.
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