# Book review: Secrets of Sand Hill Road - URL: https://www.petrikajander.com/secrets-of-sand-hill-road/ - Author: Petri Kajander - Date: 2019-08-07 - Language: en - Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/1018a6478/podcast/play/98857312/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-1-22%2F395326743-22050-1-e2e4a99a526b2deb.mp3 - Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyw4liOZwxA Over the years VC industry has become more developed and accessible. The mysteries of first decades are gone and most of the industry practices are already common knowledge. Yet, they may still not be evenly distributed among entrepreneurs. Scott Kupor’s new book belongs to the must-read category for every founder who needs venture funding. [Secrets of Sand Hill Road](https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Sand-Hill-Road-Venture/dp/059308358X) complements John Nesheim’s classic [High tech start up](https://www.amazon.com/dp/068487170X/) together with a more recent [Venture Deals](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M3UIVW3/) by Brad Feld & Jason Mendelson and [The Hard thing about hard things](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062273205) by Ben Horowitz. The book walks through the funding process step-by-step and explains the logic and pitfalls along the way. The topic is broad so there are only so many things one can tell in a chapter or two. Kupor manages to explain the basics and still keep it interesting for more advanced readers. Andreessen Horowitz is in the exact epicentre of venture funding and over the course of ten years they have become one if not the leading VC company in the world. This provides some insights and views to the thinking and processes for non-Silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurs. If the fundraising is already bread-and-butter for many the latter part of the process is something that may interest industry players: discussion about exits. Most of them are acquisitions, and IPOs can be put off for 10-15 years if not forever thanks to regulations and large later stage funds. Kupor puts his legal background in good use by explaining some legal cases that have direct impact on practical startup life and company governance. Board member rights and especially duties are something seldom thought about before the actual circumstances are already in motion. There may not be perfect solutions for conflict of interest situations but certainly one can be prepared and acknowledge the risks in advance. VC industry is very much ruled by power law results. The best performing funds reap most of the industry profits and it is more or less self-perpetuating force in action. The best deal flow and investors flock together making diversification a bad idea among VC funds. A very small industry by numbers have a disproportionally large impact on society. VC-backed companies shine in net jobs created and money invested in R&D among all companies, and especially vis-à-vis publicly listed ones in the States. The role of the entrepreneur is not something to be too envious about. Secrets of Sand Hill Road shine some light on the minefields waiting for entrepreneurs before their glorious exit event in 7-15 years ahead. The gold pot may be there at the end of the rainbow together with unicorns but who gets most of it is the billion-dollar question. ## Transcript (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyw4liOZwxA, YouTube's automatic captions) [0:03] Road over the years VC industry has become more developed and accessible the mysteries of first decades are gone and most of the industry practices are already common knowledge yet they may still not be evenly distributed among entrepreneurs Scott Cup's new book belongs to the mustre category for every founder who needs Venture funding secrets of Sand Hill Road compliments John nesheim's classic high-tech startup together with a more recent Venture deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson and the hard thing about hard things by Horowitz the book walks through the process step by step explains the logic and pitfalls along the way the topic is Broad so there are only so many things one can tell in a chapter or two c for manages to explain the basics and still keep it interesting for more advanced. [1:06] Readers Andress in horrorwitz is in the exact epicenter of venture funding and over the course of 10 years they have become one if not the leading VC company in the world this provides some insights and Views to the thinking and processes for non-silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurs if the fundraising is already bread and butter for many the latter part of the process is something that may interest industry players discussion about exits most of them are Acquisitions and IPOs can be put off for 10 to 15 years if not forever thanks to regulations and large later stage funds Cur puts his legal background in good use by explaining some legal cases that have direct impact on practical Style up life and Company governance board member rights and especially Duties are something seldom thought about before the actual circumstances. [2:11] Are already in motion there may not be perfect solutions for conflict of situations but certainly one can be prepared and acknowledge the risks in advance VC industry is very much ruled by power law result s the best performing funds reap most of the industry profits and it is more or less self- perpetuating force in action the best deal flow and investors flock together making diversification a bad idea among VC funds a very small industry by numbers have a disproportionally large impact on society VC backed companies shine in net jobs created and money invested in R&D among all companies and especially VV publicly listed ones in the states the role of the entrepreneur is not something to be too envious about. [3:16] Secrets of Sand Hill Road shine some light on the minefields waiting for entrepreneurs before their glorious exit event in 7 to 15 years ahead the gold pot may be the there at the end of the rainbow together with unicorns but who gets most of it is the billion dooll.