AgFunder's reading list for new VC analysts & associates
I heard that Vinod Khosla once said that “it takes seven years and $30m to make a venture capitalist.” As a new analyst or associate at a VC firm, VC can be hard to grasp and it typically takes 6-18 months to calibrate to the realities and constraints of the venture capital model.
To help new team investors joining AgFunder, I put together a reading list to help new investors calibrate to the realities and constraints of venture capital. These have been some of the most useful resources in the evolution of my own thinking. If there’s something you think I should include here, please shoot me a message.
Books
Zero to One - Peter Theil, Founders Fund
Monopolies and venture backable ideas
The Lean Startup - Eric Ries
Agile model for building startups
VC: An American History - Tom Nicholas
History of VC in America (Putting it all in context)
The Success Equation: Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports and Investing - Mike Mauboussin
Building Decision Process
Secrets of San Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It - Scott Kupor, a16z
Introduction to VC
Essays
The Babe Ruth Effect (2002) - Credit Suisse
Expected Value Theory in Investing
How To Be Successful (2019) - Sam Altman
CEO of Y-Combinator
Things We Learned About Series A Investing (2019) - Aaron Harris, Y-Combinator
Qualities of the best funds
Strong Opinions, Weakly Held — a framework for thinking(2017) - Ameet Ranadive - Instagram
A framework for making forecasts
Importance of Brand in generating great returns (2020) - Craig Thomas - Sapphire Ventures
Three Core Principles of Venture Capital Portfolio Strategy - Alex Graham
Moneyball for Venture Capital
70% of Value in Tech is Driven by Network Effects (2017) - James Currier, NfX
Network Effects
The 30 Best Pieces of Advice for Entrepreneurs in 2015 - First Round Capital
Relevant to entrepreneurs and VCs
The Best Venture Capitalists Harvest Optionality (2014) - Tren Griffin, 25iq
Optionality
Welcome to the Unicorn Club (2013) - Aileen Lee, TechCrunch, Nov 2013
The article that coined the unicorn concept and triggered a flood of money into venture
How to start a startup - Paul Graham, Y-Combinator
The basics
Mental Models - Farnam Street
Mental models for structured thinking
A Brief History of the World (of Venture Capital) - Nicolas Colin, The Family
History of VC
Interviews
Advance Man (2015) - James Stevenson, The New Yorker
Famous interview with Marc Andreessen at his peak in the public spotlight
Videos
How to start a startup - Y-Combinator
First YC/Stanford Startup Course by Sam Altman
PodCasts
Fred Destin, Partner @ Stride (2019) - 20 minute VC
Zal Bilimoria, Founding Partner @ Refactor (2018) - 20 minute VC
Fred Destin, GP @ Accel (2016) - 20 minute VC
Aydin Senkut (2016) - 20 minute VC
Top 20 of 20 Minute VC - 20 minute podcast interviews with top VCs
Websites/Blogs
The front page of every engineer in Silicon Valley
The first publication that mainstreamed early startup investing globally
Mark Suster @ Upfront
Chris Harvey, Emerging Fund Lawyer
History/Culture of Venture Capital
How the Kleiner Perkins Empire Fell - Polina Marinova, Fortune April 2019
Andreessen Horowitz is Blowing Up The Venture Capital Model (Again) - Alex Konrad, Forbes, April 2019
How VCs Can Avoid Another Bloodbath As the Cleantech Boom 2.0 Begins - James Temple, MIT Technology Review, November 2020
Misc
A Standard and Clean Series A Term Sheet - Y-Combinator
Term Sheet Templates - Clauses to Look Out For During Negotiation - Alex Graham
How to read a patent in 60 Seconds - Dan Shapiro
Venture Deals - Brad Feld: basics of a term sheet