High Tech Start Up, Revised and Updated: The Complete Handbook For Creating Successful New High Tech Companies

by John L. Nesheim

This revised and updated edition of Nesheim's underground Silicon Valley bestseller incorporates twenty-three case studies of successful start-ups, including tables of wealth showing how much money founders and investors realized from each venture.

The phenomenal success of the initial public offerings (IPOs) of many new internet companies obscures the fact that fewer than six out of 1 million business plans submitted to venture capital firms will ever reach the IPO stage. Many fail, according to start-up expert John Nesheim, because the entrepreneurs did not have access to the invaluable lessons that come from studying the real-world venture experiences of successful companies. Now they do.

Acclaimed by entrepreneurs the world over, this practical handbook is filled with hard-to-find information and guidance covering every key phase of a start-up, from idea to how to create a winning business plan, how to value the firm, how venture capitalists work, how they make their money, where to find alternative sources of funding, how to select a good lawyer, and how to protect intellectual property. Nesheim aims to improve the odds of success for first-time high-tech entrepreneurs, and offers an insider's perspective from firsthand experience on one of the toughest challenges they face -- convincing venture capitalists or investment banks to provide financing.

This complete, classic reference tool is essential reading for first-time high-tech entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs already involved in a start-up who want to increase their chances of success to rise to the top.

Genres: Business, Entrepreneurship, Startup, Management

342 pages, Hardcover

First published March 16, 2000

Reviews

[BradMD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Most information on the subject in the least quantity of words.

[Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1997 and revised in 2000, the book, which deals solely with high-tech companies, is inevitably dated. It assumes that proposals are printed, and it reminds the high-tech presenters that they're increasingly expected to present off a laptop. There's no mention of networking via social media or of seeking income via crowdfunding -- these technologies didn't exist yet. It warns employees that they should avoid accusation of stealing intellectual property from a former employer by not taking any "mag tapes or diskettes" when they leave a job. (I barely remember diskettes; what's a mag tape?)

The book is most valuable for its more enduring wisdom, such as when it advises companies to identify their sustainable competitive advantage, e.g. unfair advantage, compared to other companies, by preparing to answer the question: "What do you do better than any other company?" It advises prospective CEOs to consult a lawyer before soliciting a dime from anyone to start their company. There's a thorough explanation of the rules and procedures of seeking venture capital, much of which is probably still valid from a legal perspective.

In one place, it says that the core team member of a startup, compared with a manager in a large public company, faces "more likelihood of burn-out, and the breakup of already strained relations between family and friends" (Table 8-4, p. 151, cited to Saratoga Venture Finance). Yet elsewhere the author writes that, for start-up CEOs, "Burnout and heart attacks, marriage problems, and divorces are no more frequent than in other high-tech jobs." (p. 11) Not that the statistic, whichever way it truly leans, will change anyone's mind about starting their own company, but it does seem to be a contradiction in the text.

[CAC · Rating 4 out of 5]

really helped me when i was negotiating a job offer.

[Troy Swinehart]

and the stretch goal of 19 books for 2011. (Need to get them in now since the world ends next year.)

[Lori Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read book on startups for knowledge workers and aspiring entrepreneurs.