PS#010: New Year’s Reading List

Written By Mike Devlin

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone’s 2023 is off to a great start. 

I’m often asked what books I would recommend for learning more about venture capital. 

Well, since everyone is putting together their reading lists for 2023, I thought now would be a great time to share my top 3 venture capital and startup books (as well as some other recommendations).

Without further ado, let’s get started… 

#1) Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist 

This was the first book to show me the intricacies of venture capital financing.

Until reading this book, I really only thought through the business building side of venture capital and startups. In reality, that’s only half the game. The other half is making sure that you’re able to structure investments that align incentives for all parties.

Venture Deals, written by some all-time investors (Jason Mendelson and Brad Feld), provided a real, tactical introduction to venture terms, term sheets, valuations, and overall structuring.

I’d recommend reading this book when you’ve got a handle on the basics and want to start diving into more of the specifics. It’s something you’ll revisit throughout your venture journey.

You can find a copy here.

#2) Zero to One: Notes on Startups, Or How to Build the Future

This is a really cool book.

It’s a condensed version of a set of notes Blake Masters took for the CS183 class on startups, as taught by Peter Thiel at Stanford in the Spring of 2012. 

There’s not much fluff in this book. It really gets straight to the point of business building within the world of venture capital and startups. 

For VCs, the book dives into the details of industry/problem selection for startups. An important concept for filtering through the thousands of startup pitches to find the most promising investments. 

Understanding Thiel’s mental models for startup building and investing were a really helpful foundation as I sought to build my own. 

You can find a copy here.

#3) eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work

This book was one of the first ones that I read when learning about venture capital.

It told the story of Benchmark (a legendary firm in the VC industry) and some of their early investments. In a story-type format, it shared how the partners made investment decisions and supported their portfolio companies.

This offered a bit of a historical view of the VC industry and how some of the early firms were able to find great investments.

Personally, this was more of a fun read. I walked away excited to learn more. It pushed me to explore the industry further.

You can find a copy here.

A few other recommendations… 

These three books above were the ones that helped me in the early days of my venture capital journey. Maybe they will also work for you. 

If not, never fear, I have some other great books for you.

The list below contains books I would recommend for aspiring investors. Some of these books cover the history and dynamics of venture capital, while others cover the theories and strategies behind startup building. 

I’ve included a list and Amazon links to the books below. Enjoy!

Mike Devlin
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